2025 Patriot League Champs: Army Men Win First Title Since 2001, Navy Women Extend Streak

2025 Patriot League Championships 

• February 19-22, 2025
• Kinney Natatorium — Lewisburg, Penn. 
• SCY (25 Yards) 
• Start Times: prelims – 10 am ET/finals – 6 pm ET 
  • Day 1: finals only – 5 pm ET 
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Navy (12x)
  • Men: Navy (20x)
• Championship Central 
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results 
• Livestream 
• Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Day 3 Recap
• Complete Results

Army Men Win First Patriot League Title Since 2001

The Army men pulled off an upset to win the 2025 Men’s Patriot League Championship, snapping Navy’s winning streak that lasted for 20 seasons. Army scored 1611.5 points, beating Navy, the runner-up by 16.5 points. Loyola finished third overall with 1213 points.

The Black Knights came into the final day of competition with a 58-point lead over Navy, which the Midshipmen erased after the finals of the men’s 100 freestyle, taking the lead, 1296 to 1289.5 with four events remaining. The gap remained at 6.5 points after the men’s 200 breaststroke, but Army pulled ahead by 29.5 points after the 200 butterfly, the final individual swimming event of the meet.

Diving is one of Navy’s greatest strengths and the Midshipmen went 1-2-4 in the ‘A’ flight of the men’s 3-meter, narrowing the lead back to 6.5 points with the men’s 400 freestyle relay remaining.

This is the same situation the teams found themselves in two years ago in this same pool: whichever team won the relay would win the meet. Two years ago, Navy pulled out a come-from-behind victory to win and extend their title streak. This year, Army’s quartet of Johnny Crush, Kohen Rankin, Thomas Hadji, and Wes Tate won the relay in a league record of 2:52.20 to secure the overall win. Meanwhile, Loyola’s Caleb Kelly, Patrick Hayburn, Joe Hayburn, and Brennan Coyle out-touched Navy by a hundredth for the silver medal in the event.

Crush earned Men’s Swimmer of the Meet and Men’s Rookie of the Meet, becoming the first swimmer in Patriot League history to earn both titles in the same season.

Army Event Winners:

• 800 freestyle relay: Thomas Hadji, Jack Pogue, Johnny Crush, Wes Tate — 6:18.62 (league record)
• 500 freestyle: Wes Tate, senior — 4:18.25
• 200 IM: Joey Kling, junior — 1:45.42
• 400 medley relay: Johnny Crush, Kohen Rankin, Daniel Verdolaga, Thomas Hadji — 3:05.20 (league record)
• 100 butterfly: Daniel Verdolaga, freshman — 46.88
• 400 IM: Alex Edwards, senior — 3:48.97
• 100 breast: Kohen Rankin, junior — 51.64 (championship record)
• 100 back: Johnny Crush, freshman — 45.32
• 100 free: Thomas Hadji, sophomore — 43.31
• 200 breast: Kohen Rankin, junior — 1:54.14
• 400 freestyle relay: Johnny Crush, Kohen Rankin, Thomas Hadji, Wes Tate — 2:52.20 (league record)

Navy Women Extend Winning Streak To 13 Team Titles

The race for the team title was not as close on the women’s side of the meet, as Navy pulled away from the other programs to win its 13th consecutive title with a final score of 1514.5. Army finished as the runner-up with 1246 points, 268.5 points behind the Mids. Bucknell was third, also cracking the 1000-point barrier with a final score of 1090.5.

The margin of victory highlights Navy’s impressive depth. This year, the Mids did not win a single individual event title in the pool. The two times they stood on top of the podium from swimming events were the 200 and 400 medley relay.

But despite other schools like Loyola and Army having swimmers who won three individual events at these championships, no school was able to come close to Navy because of the team’s depth. The discipline this depth was most on display was the breaststrokes, where Navy went 2-3-4-5 in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke finals.

Navy’s diving group is also strong on the women’s side, and the team collected many points from the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, led by junior MacKenzie Kim’s diving sweep. Her wins on both boards earned her the Women’s Diver of the Meet honor.

Navy Event Winners:

• 200 medley relay: Ela Habjan, Lauren Walsh, Caroline Irwin, Catherine Weaverling — 1:39.17
• 3-meter diving: MacKenzie Kim — 323.90
• 400 medley relay: Ela Habjan, Lauren Walsh, Caroline Irwin, Tiffany Shields — 3:37.50
• 1-meter diving: MacKenzie Kim, Navy — 296.30

Day Four Highlights

Ben Irwin Completes Dirty Double, Likely Earns NCAA Berth

Navy’s Ben Irwin won the 200 backstroke/200 butterfly dirty double for the second straight year. First, the sophomore exploded in the 200 backstroke, swimming a Patriot League record of 1:40.04. Crush was able to hang with Irwin for the first 50 yards but then Irwin swam away, splitting 48.52/51.52 on the way to gold.

The swim is a lifetime best for Irwin, improving on the 1:40.71 he swam at the 2024 ECAC Championships. It’s also an NCAA ‘B’ cut, and as the NCAA invited time has been stabilized at 1:40.62 for the past two seasons, Irwin has likely earned his first trip to the NCAA Championships with this swim.

He also moves onto the mid-major all-time top 10 list with the swim. He’s now eighth, just ahead of the 1:40.28 Crush swam earlier this season. J. Hayburn was second, swimming a school record of 1:42.17. Crush took bronze in 1:42.64 as Hayburn split 26.06 to get past him on the final 50. The top four swimmers earned NCAA ‘B’ cuts as Joey Kling clocked 1:43.12.

He was back up in the last individual event of the meet, the 200 butterfly. He clocked another lifetime best for his second gold medal of the session with a 1:42.99. The time was another NCAA ‘B’ cut for him as he won the race by 2.62 seconds.

Webber, Watts, and Mead Go Three-for-Three

Army junior Molly Webber, American fifth-year Mimi Watts, and Loyola fifth-year Lily Mead each picked up their third individual event win of the championships on the final day of the meet.

Mead did so by breaking her second Championship record of the meet and sweeping the backstroke events. Earlier, she broke her Patriot League record to win the women’s 100 backstroke (52.68) and won the 200 IM. She left no doubt as to who would win the 200 backstroke, turning in 26.72. She built her lead from there, turning at the halfway point in 55.41 and splitting 59.69 in the second half to stop the clock at 1:55.10. Mead broke the championship record, set by Navy’s Jamie Miller in 2019, by four-hundredths.

Webber completed her sweep of the 200/500/1650 freestyles with a lifetime best and program record of 16:30.96 in the mile. As in the 500 freestyle, Webber and Bucknell freshman Clara Renner marked each other closely through the first half of the race. Then, Webber kicked into another gear, slowly but surely gaining ground on Renner. The freshman didn’t let her get as far away as she did in the 500 freestyle, but Webber picked up the victory by .58 seconds.

Meanwhile, Watts flipped third at the halfway point of the women’s 100 freestyle final, four-hundredths behind Clara Williams and Sara Ketron. She split a field-best 26.13 on the final 25 yards, which gave her enough room to get her hand on the wall for gold in 50.40, two-hundredths ahead of Williams. Navy’s Tiffany Shields earned bronze in 50.57. Watts claimed the 50 free/100 fly/100 free trio at her final Patriot League Championships.

These three swimmers each earned 96 points and shared the Women’s High Point Award. Mead was named the Women’s Swimmer of the Meet.

Army Sweeps 1650 Free, 200 Breaststroke, 400 Free Relay

The Black Knights swept the 1650 freestyle and 200 breaststroke event titles at these championships. After Webber earned her win in the 1650 freestyle, Brice Barrieault picked up the men’s 1650 freestyle win for the second time in his collegiate career, swimming, and NCAA ‘B’ cut of 15:11.27. His teammate Tate finished behind him in 15:13.30, and NCAA ‘B’ cut of his own, while BU freshman Giovanni Sullo took third (15:21.69).

Before Rankin completed his sweep of the men’s breaststroke events, junior Catriona Gilmore did the same on the women’s side. Gilmore had a close battle with Navy junior Lauren Walsh in the 100 breaststroke and it was the same story here in the 200 breast. Walsh went out first, hitting the 100-yard mark at 1:03.41 to Gilmore’s 34.68.

Gilmore made her move on the second 100. She out-split Walsh on the third 50 with a 34.07, closing the gap to two-hundredths. She then turned in a 34.68 on the final 50, getting her hands on the wall in 2:12.41. Walsh clocked 2:12.57 as both swimmers earned NCAA ‘B’ cuts.

The program also won both the women’s and men’s 400 freestyle relay titles. Before the drama of the men’s race, Williams (50.88), Angie McKane (49.98), Meghan Cole (49.71), and Webber (49.70) dominated the women’s race. The quartet swam 3:20.27, beating silver medalists Bucknell (3:22.48) by over two seconds as Williams and Webber won their second medals of the session.

Other Event Winners

Former 400 IM champion Haley Newman took second in that event this year but earned the second Patriot League title of her career in the 200 butterfly. The BU junior was running third with 50 yards remaining but split a field-best 30.38 to get her hands on the wall for gold in 1:58.94. The swim is a season-best for her as she chased down Navy’s Irwin (1:59.41) and Weaverling (2:00.33) who earned silver and bronze, respectively.

Army sophomore Hadji won a close race with 50 freestyle champion Caleb Kelly in the 100 freestyle. Kelly flipped first at the halfway point in 20.64, two-tenths ahead of Hadji. The Black Knight split 22.47 on the final 50 yards and stopped the clock at 43.31. He won by a tenth and Kelly added to his medal collection from this week with a 43.41 for silver. Everet Andrew was also sub-44, clocking 43.91 for bronze.

Awards

Men:

• Men’s Swimmer of the Meet: Johnny Crush, Army
• Men’s Diver of the Meet: Blakeman Shaw, Navy
• Men’s Rookie of the Meet: Johnny Crush, Army
• Men’s Swim Coach of the Year: Brandt Nigro, Army
• Men’s Diving Coach of the Year: Tim Fisher, Navy
• Men’s High Point Award: Ben Irwin, Navy (92 points)

Women:

• Women’s Swimmer of the Meet: Lily Mead, Loyola
• Women’s Diver of the Meet: MacKenzie Kim, Navy
• Women’s Rookie of the Meet: Clara Renner, Bucknell
• Women’s Swim Coach of the Year: Ed Pretre, Colgate
• Women’s Diving Coach of the Year: Tim Fisher, Navy
• Women’s High Point Award: Mimi Watts, American/Molly Webber, Army/Lily Mead, Loyola (96 points)

Final Standings:

Men:

1. Army — 1611.5
2. Navy — 1595
3. Loyola — 1213
4. Bucknell — 952.5
5. BU — 626.5
6. Lehigh — 425
7. Lafayette — 368
8. Holy Cross — 355
9. American — 348.5
10. Colgate — 307

Women:

1. Navy — 1514.5
2. Army — 1246
3. Bucknell — 1090.5
4. Loyola — 809.5
5. BU — 727
6. Lehigh — 701
7. American — 554
8. Colgate — 505.5
9. Lafayette — 354
10. Holy Cross — 346