ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Six members of the Navy men's swimming team will travel to Indianapolis, Ind., to compete in the USA Swimming Olympic Team Trials.  The event runs June 15-23 and will be contested in Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.

This is the first time the trials will be held inside a football stadium and marks the return of the event to Indianapolis for the first time since 2000.

The trials will be televised daily by either NBC, USA Network or Peacock.

The qualifying period for the trials ran from Nov. 30, 2022 to June 4, 2024.  Swimmers needed to post a qualifying time in a long course meter (50 meter length) pool to advance to the meet.

Matt Murphy, who served as the captain of this year's Navy team as a senior, was the first Mid to qualify for the 2024 trials as he posted a time of 2:14.51  in the 200 breaststroke on Feb. 23, 2023, to better the qualifying standard of 2:15.99.  The Mullica Hills, N.J., resident who will be a surface warfare officer, previously competed in the 200 breast at 2020/21 Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb.

"The one thing I remember the most about the trials a couple of years ago was walking out onto the pool deck and seeing displayed on the big screen 'United States Olympic Trials,'" said Murphy.  "The shivers that went down my spine are something I will never forget.  This really is one step away from the pinnacle of our sport, the Olympics.  To finally make that event was a really big deal.

"You see some of the greats walking around the deck.  Michael Phelps, Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky; some of the biggest names in our sport.  It is pretty surreal to think I am sharing a pool deck and lanes with them."

Also heading to the trials for a second-straight time is Jonah Harm.  The 2024 Navy graduate from Placerville, Calif., competed in the trials three years ago in the 100 fly and qualified in the same event this year.  Harm attained a time of 53.23 on Dec. 8, 2023, to beat the standard of 53.59.  The future Navy flight officer was the 2023 and '24 Patriot League Swimmer of the Year.

Harm was one of three Mids to qualify for the trials on that December date.  Juan Mora, a rising sophomore from Folsom, Calif., and Michael Phillips, a rising junior from Chanhassen, Minn., who earned second-team all-league accolades this season, both punched their respective tickets to Indy in the 200 breast.  Mora qualified with a time of 2:15.31 and Phillips touched the wall in a time of 2:15.61.

The lone Mid to qualify for the trials in two events is Ben Irwin, who will compete in both backstroke events.  Irwin, a rising sophomore from Buford, Ga., who was named the 2024 Patriot League Rookie of the Year, first attained a qualifying time of 55.66 in the 100 back on Feb. 29, 2024, then posted an effort of 2:10.69 in the 200 back on April 27.  He bettered the standard by three-hundredths of a second in the 100 back and qualified on the number in the 200 back.

"It was an amazing feeling," said Irwin of when he attained his first qualifying time.  "It was right after the Patriot League Championship.  Going into the race I thought I would just see what happens and go race.  I hit the wall and saw that I was a couple hundredths below the cut.  My team was so excited.  I saw their reaction and it was a great feeling.

"Competing at the trials has been a dream of mine since I was a kid.  I grew up in a swimming family.  We always watched the trials.  It has the best swimmers in the US and the world.  I said that I wanted to be at that meet someday.  Being in lane at the trials with Ryan Murphy would be so cool.  I grew up watching him swim backstroke.  He has been such a dominant force in the backstroke.  It I got to see him, it would be super cool."

Completing the list of Navy qualifiers is Patrick Colwell.  The 2024 graduate from New Canaan, Conn., qualified in the 100 fly with a time of 53.45 on April 27.  A time of 53.59 was needed to advance to the trials.  Colwell, who earned first-team all-league honors in 2022, '23 and '24, received Naval officer for his service assignment.

"The experience is definitely huge," said Murphy.  "Jonah and myself are going for a second time and we are bringing four other guys with us for the first time.  We can shed some light on the experience.  I know it will still hit me when I first walk on the pool deck.  This year it is in a different venue.  A lot of firsts, but this will be a special moment.

"I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my swimming career.  I have been swimming since I was five years old.  If you had told my five-year-old self that I would retire at the 2024 Olympic Trials, I think the five-year-old me would have been pretty proud."

Navy has sent at least one swimmer to nine-straight Olympic Trials (since 1992).

Navy Schedule at the Trials
Sunday, June 16
Ben Irwin - 100 backstroke
Tuesday, June 18
Juan Mora, Matt Murphy, Michael Phillips - 200 breaststroke
Wednesday, June 19
Ben Irwin - 200 backstroke
Friday, June 21
Patrick Colwell, Jonah Harm - 100 butterfly