ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Five Navy swimmers and four relay teams have officially received their invitations to compete at the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championship in two weeks. The announcement of the field for the national championship slated to be held March 25-28 in Atlanta was made Wednesday.
The five individual event qualifiers are the most for the Mids the 1970 team also sent five to the NCAA Championship.
The new qualifying procedures for the meet provided automatic berths to swimmers who won the conference championship in an event with a winning time that also met or bettered a national standard. That meant Navy's
Ben Denman-Grimm,
Ben Irwin,
Dean Jones,
Chase Maier and
Michael Phillips all qualified for the meet with their respective winning efforts during the Patriot League Championship. Those Mids also will be able to compete in additional events in which they had posted a qualifying time at some point during the season.
Irwin earned automatic qualification by winning the 100 fly and 200 back finals at the Patriot League Championship. He also will be able to swim in a third event, the 100 back. This will be Irwin's second-straight national championship as he previously qualified for the 2025 meet in the same three events.
Denman-Grimm advanced through winning the 50 free final at the league meet and also qualified for the 100 free event through his best time on the year. Jones earned his invitation by winning the 500 free title at the Patriot League Championship, which also allows him to compete in the 200 free. Maier punched his ticket to Atlanta by winning the 1650 free and Phillips garnered qualification by winning the 200 breast title.
Navy's 200 medley relay team earned an invite to the championship by meeting the automatic qualifying time with its winning clocking at the Patriot League Championship. Navy's 200 free, 400 free and 400 medley relay teams also will be able to compete at the championship through their meeting the provisional qualifying time in their events.
Navy last qualified a relay team for the NCAA Championship in 2021.
This is the ninth time in the last 12 years in which a Navy swimmer or diver from both the men's and women's teams have qualified for the respective NCAA Championship meets.
Lauren Walsh will compete for the women's team in the 100 breaststroke on March 19.
Both meets will be held at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center.
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The Navy diving season came to an end this week with the Zone A Diving Championship being held in Lejeune Hall.
Finn Gelbach narrowly missed advancing to the NCAA Championship in the one-meter event as he totaled 644.35 points to place sixth on the board. Only the top-four divers in the event advanced to Atlanta, with Gelbach finishing less than four points out of that coveted fourth-place finish. He also placed 11th in platform diving and 13th in the three-meter event.
Mackenzie Kim reached the finals in both the women's three meter and platform events. She placed 13th in the springboard event and 15th in tower diving.
Navy's NCAA Championship Meet Schedule - Women
Thursday, March 19: 100 Breast /
Lauren Walsh
Navy's NCAA Championship Meet Schedule - Men
Wednesday, March 25: 1650 Free /
Chase Maier; 200 Medley Relay
Thursday, March 26: 100 Fly /
Ben Irwin; 200 Free /
Dean Jones; 200 Free Relay
Friday, March 27: 100 Back /
Ben Irwin; 200 Breast /
Michael Phillips; 500 Free /
Dean Jones; 50 Free /
Ben Denman-Grimm; 400 Medley Relay
Saturday, March 28: 100 Free /
Ben Denman-Grimm; 200 Fly /
Dean Jones; 200 Back /
Ben Irwin; 400 Free Relay
Women's Zone A Diving Championship Scores
1M Prelims:
Lily Barrett - 31st / 226.55;
Claire Ellish - 52nd / 199.05
3M Prelims:
Mackenzie Kim - 11th / 282.30
3M Finals:
Mackenzie Kim - 13th / 544.30
Platform Prelims:
Mackenzie Kim - 12th / 199.50
Platform Finals:
Mackenzie Kim - 15th / 389.10
Men's Zone A Diving Championship Scores
3M Prelims:
Finn Gelbach - 9th / 321.75;
Luke Ogren - 32nd / 275.30;
Anthony Sciulli - 39th / 258.70
3M Finals:
Finn Gelbach - 13th / 632.20
1M Prelims:
Finn Gelbach - 2nd / 333.70;
Anthony Sciulli - 22nd / 284.60;
Luke Ogren - 30th / 271.10
1M Finals:
Finn Gelbach - 6th / 644.35
Platform Prelims:
Finn Gelbach - 10th / 278.15
Platform Finals:
Finn Gelbach - 11th / 559.25
