ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Navy had 15 different swimmers and divers win at least one individual event Saturday as the men's and women's teams each defeated UMBC and William & Mary in Lejeune Hall. In the women's meet, the Mids (2-1) defeated the Retrievers (1-2), 162-123, and the Tribe (3-2), 170-124. The Navy men's team (2-1) registered a 161-125 win over UMBC (1-2) and a 153.5-113.5 victory over William & Mary (1-4).
The Navy teams collectively won 23 events -- including men's 400 free relay --on the day.
"The team did a really good job from beginning to end with their racing and competing," said Navy men's swimming head coach
Bill Roberts. "I thought we had a really strong week of training, and was pleased with how each person was able to get up today and attack their events. Several were able to drop time from a week ago and also just put together really solid swim races."
"We were very pleased with the fight our team displayed today," said Navy women's swimming head coach
John Morrison. "Coming off of an intense week of training in the pool and in the weight room, it was awesome to race very well against two very strong teams. William & Mary brought incredible energy and grit and it made for a great racing environment."
Winning a pair of events for the Navy women's team was
Ela Habjan. She first posted a 55.02 to win the 100 back race by almost 2.5 seconds, then recorded a 2:02.39 to win the 200 back by nearly 1.5 seconds.
The Navy men's team saw four Mids earn a pair of victories.
Blakeman Shaw swept the diving events with scores of 327.23 on the one meter and 338.10 on the three-meter board. He won the former by almost 32 points and the latter by just under 21 points. Each score bettered the NCAA Zone Diving Championship qualifying score of 300 on the one meter and 320 on the three meter.
Luca Oliva started the men's individual event portion of the meet by swimming the 1000 free in a winning time of 9:25.69 to win the race by eight seconds. He would go on to post a time of 4:34.82 to win the 500 free by three seconds.
Juan Mora was the third Mid to double on the day. He touched the wall in a time of 54.73 to win the 100 breast by six-tenths of a second and 48.99 to finish first in the 100 fly by exactly one second.
Completing the list was
Zach Stump, who won both backstroke races. He first tallied a time of 50.31 to win the 100 back by 1.17 seconds, then recorded a 1:50.41 to win the 200 back by 1.7 seconds.
Additional event winners for the Navy women's team were
Megan McGrath in the 200 free (1:51.88),
Caroline Irwin in the 200 fly (2:04.85),
Maddie Koutavas in the 200 breast (2:18.94),
Elsie Delacruz in the 200 IM (2:05.73),
Lily Barrett in three-meter diving (243.08) and
Mackenzie Kim on the one-meter diving board (282.75).
"It was nice to have a diverse group of event winners," said Morrison. "Megan did an awesome job of setting the tone with a wire-to-wire win in the 200 free. Ela followed with the 100 back. Caroline and
Clarice Spencer went 1-2 in the 200 fly, which was huge as it brought us closer to William & Mary. Ela and
Allie Maloney followed suit in the 200 back. Maddie had a great win in the 200 breast, then Caroline and Elsie closed the individual races with wins. The divers stepped up with two wins, and we had a great 400 free relay effort."
Winning an event for the Navy men were
Evan McKelvey in the 200 free (1:41.32),
Nate Sukeena in the 200 breast (2:07.17) and
Coleman Yates in the 200 IM (1:53.39)
Also,
Austin Lockhart and William & Mary's Aiden Bond shared the victory in the 50 free with identical times of 20.61.
Navy won the women's free 400 relay and the Navy men won both the 200 medley and 400 free relays.
"It was good to race two weeks in a row, and we are excited to get back to work for Friday," said Morrison.
"We are looking forward to continuing to find ways in which we can improve and look forward to the week ahead as we get ready for another meet Friday," said Roberts.
Navy will return to Lejeune Hall Friday at 4 p.m. to play host to George Mason, Loyola and LSU.
