LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Navy swimming and diving teams combined for six gold medals Friday at the Patriot League Championship in Lewisburg, Pa., to hold first place by 33 points in the men's contest and 143.5 points in the women's standings with one day left in the meet.  

The lead in the men's standings changed hands five times Friday night.  Army began the day in front of Navy by seven points.  The Mids led 343.5-325.5 after the 100 fly and 392.5-368.5 after the 400 individual medley.  The Black Knights regained a 437.5-428.5 lead following the 200 freestyle.  Navy took the lead again by one point -- 472.5-471.5 -- after the 100 breast.  Army then led, 520.5-514.5, following the 100 back, but Navy regained the lead, 587.6-560.5, after the diving event.  The Mids extended their advantage to 627.5-594.5 following the closing 200 free relay.

The Navy women's team entered Friday with a 22.5 point lead on Army.  It would grow to a 543.5-400.5 cushion by the end of the night.

"We are extremely pleased with how the team performed today," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts.  "The energy and excitement is off the charts.  Tonight's session was all about finding ways to be better each time out.  We couldn't be more proud of how the team has responded session by session through three days."

"It was a terrific day for the Mids," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison. "Coming off of a solid second day, we are proud of the way we performed this morning.  This evening, the men and the women fed off of each other for some amazing performances."

"I couldn't be prouder of our divers tonight," said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald.  "They stepped up to the pressure and had outstanding dives.  The environment was electric, which was aided by all of the support from the men's and women's swimming teams."

100 Butterfly
American's Mimi Watts edged Navy's Caroline Irwin (So., Buford, Ga.) for the victory in the women's final.  Watts posted a time of 52.76 to better the 53.15 recorded by Irwin.

Irwin was joined in the championship final by Catherine Weaverling (So., Glen Mills, Pa.), who placed fifth in a time of 55.09, and Jennifer Luong (So., South Riding Va.), who finished in sixth place with her effort of 55.16.

Jonah Harm (Jr., Placerville, Calif.) was the defending league champion, is the league record holder and posted the top time in the morning trial heats.  He made his seed stand as his time of 45.87 gave him the victory over teammate Patrick Colwell (Jr., New Canaan, Conn.), who placed second with a time of 46.87.  Harm missed tying his own school and league record by six-hundredths of a second, but did break his own meet record of 46.27.

400 Individual Medley
Sarah Eldridge (Fr., Brielle, N.J.) was the top Navy finisher in the women's championship final.  Her clocking of 4:21.72 gave her a third-place showing, one place in front of Haley Harris (So., St. John's, Fla.) with her time of 4:23.30.

The top-three swimmers in the men's final finished within one second of each other.  Navy's George Brooker (Fr., Carlsbad, Calif.) wound up in third place with a time of 3:51.28.  Zach Stump (Fr., Westerville, Ohio) followed in fifth place two-tenths of a second later (3:51.47) and Jake Douberly (So., Saint John's, Fla.) finished in seventh place with a clocking of 3:54.39.

200 Freestyle
It was a 1-2 finish for the Navy women's team in the championship final.  Cameron Horner (Jr., Hebron, Md.), who took second in last year's final, entered the evening as the top seed and she would win the title with a time of 1:47.59.  Placing second was Gabi Baldwin (Jr., Lake Elmo, Minn.) with an effort of 1:47.71.  Tiffany Shields (So., Escondido, Calif.) also had a strong result as she placed fifth with her time of 1:48.95, as did Hannah Pratt (Jr., Fishers, Ind.) who placed sixth (1:49.79).

Everet Andrew (So., Wilmette, Ill.) won the men's final for the second year in a row.  Tonight, he posted a time of 1:35.26 to win the race by almost eight tenths of a second.  Conor Cranfield (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) earned the bronze medal for the Mids with his time of 1:36.62.

100 Breaststroke
Three Mids finished among the top-five swimmers in the women's final.  Lauren Walsh (Fr., Shelton, Conn.) placed second (1:01.50), Riley Gavigan (Jr., East Setauket, N.Y.) finished in third place (1:01.57) and Reagan Johnson (Sr., Charlotte, N.C.) earned fifth place (1:02.35).  Additionally, Maddie Koutavas (Fr., St. John's, Fla.) posted a time of 1:02.82 to finish in seventh place.

Navy also earned the silver medal in the men's 100 breast final.  Jackson Schultz (Sr., Millersville, Md.) missed repeating his crown from a year ago by three-hundredths of a second with a time of 52.64.  Navy's James Lee (Sr., La Canada, Calif.) just missed a podium finish as he placed fourth with a time of 53.86.

Also for the Navy men, Nate Skeena (So., Catonsville, Md.) won the consolation final.

100 Backstroke
Megan Murphy (So., West Palm Beach, Fla.) was the lone Mid to advance to the championship final in the women's race.  She would place fifth with a time of 55.98.  

Teammate Luong had a solid consolation final as she won the race in a time of 56.03.

Loyola's Patrick Hayburn won the final with a time of 47.73, with the 2-3-4 swimmers finishing within three-hundredths of a second of one another.  Mids claimed third and fourth, respectively, as Harm posted a 48.12 and Colwell completed the race in a time of 48.13.  

Men's One-Meter Diving
Navy's divers had a nearly ideal evening as Mids placed first, second, fourth and fifth in the championship final.  Blakeman Shaw (So., Coral Gables, Fla.) recorded a score of 364.95 to win the final by almost 25 points over teammate George Moore (Jr., New Canaan, Conn.).  Anthony Sciulli (Fr., Powell, Ohio) finished fourth with a score of 299.95 and Zach Peng (So., Oakton, Va.) totaled 298.85 points to finish in fifth place.  

Shaw won the three-meter event on Wednesday and Moore finished with the silver medal two days ago.

200 Freestyle Relay
Navy had posted the fourth-best time in the event this season, but held the lead at every exchange to win the race by over one second.  Comprising the winning time of 1:31.67 were Irwin, Maya Novack (Jr., Cedarburg, Wis.), Pratt and Shields.

The best race of the day was saved for the last one as Army and Navy went stroke-for-stroke throughout the relay.  Just eight-tenths of a second separated the teams at the end, with the Mids recording a time of 1:18.53 to not only win the race but also break the Navy (1:18.92), league (1:18.92) and meet (1:19.05) records.  Harm was the first swimmer in the water and he was followed by Austin Lockhart (So., Fort Mills, S.C.), Andrew and Garrett McGovern (Jr., Nashville, Tenn.).

Competition resumes Saturday at 10 a.m. with trial heats.  

Scores - Women
1. U.S. Naval Academy 543.5
2. U.S. Military Academy 400.5
3. Bucknell University 324.5
4. Boston University 242
5. Lehigh University 223
6. Loyola University 195
7. American University 162
8. Colgate Raiders 150.5
9. Holy Cross, College of the 118
10. Lafayette 55

Scores - Men
1. U.S. Naval Academy 627.5
2. U.S. Military Academy 594.5
3. Bucknell University 366.5
4. Loyola University 318
5. Boston University 147
6. Lehigh University 133.5
7. American University 121.5
8. Lafayette 96
9. Holy Cross, College of the 89
10. Colgate Raiders 85.5