ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Jackson Schultz (Sr., Millersville, Md.) won three events in a 166.5-133.5 victory by the Navy men's swimming and diving team (9-3) over Columbia (5-2), Saturday afternoon at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis.  

The Mids never trailed, but never had any kind of comfortable advantage either as the teams alternated event wins pretty much from start to finish.

Navy won the opening 200 medley relay, then won the second, fourth and sixth individual swimming events.  Everet Andrew (So., Wilmette, Ill.) won the 200 free (1:36.72), Schultz won the 100 breast (54.54) and Austin Lockhart (So., Fort Mills, S.C.) won the 50 free (20.63).  Lockhart would lead a 1-2-3 Navy finish in the shorter of the two sprint freestyle races to give it a 77-54 lead.

"Going into this meet," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts, "we were anticipating nothing short of a very competitive meet.  Columbia was entering with a really strong combination of dual meet record and in-season performances.  They have multiple event winners plus strong depth, so we knew we did not have a lot of room for error.  

"I felt we opened the meet really well with a 1-3 finish in the 200 medley relay backed up by a 2-3-4 showing in the 1000 free.  At this point, we knew we had a shot and that it would come down to racing and competing event by event."

The one-meter diving results made the score 81-69, then another 1-2-3 showing by the Mids in the 100 free -- with Andrew winning (44.23) -- stretched the margin out to 97-72.

The second half of the meet was similar to the first in that Columbia won the 200 back, Schultz won the 200 breast (1:58.97), the Lions won the 500 free and Patrick Colwell (Jr., New Canaan, Conn.) won the 100 fly (48.10).

The remainder of the meet saw Columbia win the three-meter board, Schultz win the 200 IM (1:49.85) and Navy win the 400 free relay.

"A special shout out to our Class of 2023, which has been terrific for us throughout their careers and especially this year," said Roberts.  "They embody all that the Naval Academy instills and are going to make terrific officers and leaders for our Navy and Marine Corps.  We also would like to say thank you to the Class of 2023 parents who did all of the work getting them ready to be successful at the Naval Academy.  It was truly awesome to see so many who were able to travel from all over the United States to be present today."

Navy will next compete at the Bucknell Invitational on Jan. 28 to start the championship portion of its season.