ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championship returns to Lejeune Hall in Annapolis this week.  The meet runs Feb. 21-24 and features men's and women's teams from all 10 league members.

The Navy women's team has won 11-straight league titles and the Navy men's team has won the last 19 crowns.

This is the 14th time Lejeune Hall has played host to the championship.  The remainder of the league has played host to 19 championships, with Bucknell's Kinney Natatorium ranking second on the list with 10 prior host duties. 

Schedule (Click the date for the ESPN+ Video Link)
Wed., Feb. 21 - 1 p.m. - women's 3M diving trials and consolation final
Wed., Feb. 21 - 5 p.m. - finals for 200 medley relay, women's 3M diving, 800 free relay
Thur., Feb. 22 - 10 a.m. - prelims for 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free
Thur., Feb. 22 - 1 p.m. - men's 1M diving trials and consolation final
Thur., Feb. 22 - 6 p.m. - finals for 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, men's 1M diving, 400 medley relay
Fri., Feb. 23 - 10 a.m. - prelims for 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free 100 breast, 100 back
Fri., Feb. 23 - 1 p.m. - women's 1M diving trials and consolation final
Fri., Feb. 23 - 6 p.m. - finals for 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, women's 1M diving and 200 free relay
Sat., Feb. 24 - 10 a.m. - prelims for 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly
Sat., Feb. 24 - 1 p.m. - men's 3M diving trials and consolation final, early heats of 1650 free
Sat., Feb. 24 - 6 p.m. - finals for 1650 free (top seeded heat only), 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, men's 3M diving, 400 free relay

Tickets
Advance tickets for the meet can be purchased through the Navy Ticket Office at NavySports.com and at THIS LINK.  Tickets also can be purchased at the main entrance to Lejeune Hall prior to the start of each session.  Tickets are $10 for a single session of prelims, $15 for a single session of finals and $50 for an all session ticket.

Attending the Meet
Those without an approved ID card need to park outside of the USNA.  The simplest method to gain access is to park ($10) at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (enter off of Taylor Ave.) and ride the free shuttle bus (originating from and returning to the Blue Angel jet).  The shuttle bus will run from 4-9 p.m. on Wednesday and 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.  

Another option is to park downtown and walk through the gate one visitors center.

Those ages 18 and older must provide a government-issued ID card to gain entry and those ages 17 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.

Multimedia Links
ESPN+ will stream all 11 sessions of the championship.  Note that there is a different link to access each stream.  A complete listing of links can be found HERE.

The Meet Mobile app will have live swimming results –– updated after the conclusion of each event –– and DiveMeets.com will have live results from the diving events.

Format
A new format debuts at the 2024 championship as a C final has been added to every individual swimming event.  The top-eight finishers in an event from the morning trial heats will compete in the A (championship) final.  Those finishing in ninth through 16th place will compete in the B (consolation) final.  Swimmers who place 17th through 24th will compete in the C final.   All three finals will be contested at night, with each of the 24 finalists earning points.

In diving, the top-eight finishers in the afternoon trials will compete at night in the championship final.  The ninth through 16th place divers will compete in the consolation final held after the end of the trials.  Divers who place 17th through 24th will not compete in a C final, but will be awarded points corresponding to their placement in the trial heats as if there was a C final.

The individual point totals are (descending order from first through eight place in the respective final):
Championship Final - 32, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22
Consolation Final - 20, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11
C Final - 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Points for the relay events are 64, 56, 54, 52, 50, 48, 46, 44, 40, 34.

Women's Preview
Navy enters the championship having won the last 11 team titles and 21 championships in all.  No other team in any league sport has won as many titles as the Navy women's swimming and diving team.

The Mids won last year's championship by 183.5 points over second-place Army despite the Mids winning only one individual swimming title and three relay event crowns.  

This year's Star Meet was not decided until the 400 free relay as the Mids defeated the Black Knights by only 14 points.

Based upon times posted this season, Navy swimmers are seeded first in four events, second in five and third in four, while Army swimmers have six top seeds, six second seeds and three third seeds.  Navy has a No. 2 seed in one diving event and Army has a No. 3 seed in the other.  The Mids have posted the top time in two relay events and are ranked third in another, while the Black Knights have posted one top time and two second-best efforts.

American (two), Boston (two) and Loyola (one) are the additional teams in the league with a top-seeded swimmer or diver.  Boston also has the No. 2 seed in three events and the No. 3 seed in one, while both Bucknell and Colgate have two No. 3 seeds.

Mids who enter the meet as the top-seeded swimmer are Ela Habjan, 100 back, 200 back; Maya Novack, 100 free and Caroline Irwin, 200 fly.

Navy returns 11 of its 12 all-league recipients from a year ago.  This includes first-team performers Gabi Baldwin, Sarah Eldridge, Cameron Horner, Caroline Irwin and 2023 league rookie of the year Lauren Walsh.

Men's Preview
The Mids have competed at 19 previous Patriot League Championships and have placed first each year.  That is the longest winning streak of any league team in any sport.

Last year's championship was not decided until the final strokes of the last event of the meet.  The Mids rallied from a 47-point deficit with three events remaining to edge Army by 10 points thanks to the Mids winning the 400 free relay by less than four-tenths of a second.  Navy totaled three first-place finishes in the individual swimming events last year, but won all five relay event titles and added a sweep of the two first-place finishes in the diving events.

This year's meet is expected to be similarly close as Navy edged Army in the Star Meet by seven points.

Navy swimmers have recorded the top time in the league in six events, the No. 2 time in four events and the No. 3 time in four events.  Army enters the meet with seven top seeds, eight second seeds and six third seeds.  The Mids rank first, second and third in  each of the diving events and hold the top seed in three relay events plus a second and a third seed.  The Black Knights have posted one top time, two second-seeded times and two third-seeded times in the relay events.

The only other team in the league with a top-three seeded swimmer or diver is Loyola (one No. 2 seed, three No. 3 seeds).

Navy's top seeds are Jonah Harm, 50 free, 100 fly; Finn Gelbach, one-meter diving, three-meter diving; Ben Irwin, 100 back, 200 back; Juan Mora, 200 breast and Patrick Colwell, 200 fly. 

The Navy men's team also brings back 11 of its 12 all-league honorees from the 2023 championship.  Headlining the list are Harm and Blakeman Shaw, who were named the league's swimmer and diver of the year, respectively.  Joining them are first-team all-league performers Everet Andrew, Colwell and Zach Stump.