2019 PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 20 – Saturday, February 23
- Bucknell University (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Navy men (15x) & Navy women (7x)
- Live results
- Championship Central
The Navy men and women both extended their leads on day 4 of the 2019 Patriot League Championships, even though both lost the day’s relay.
Women’s Day 3 Recap
- Navy – 606
- Army – 333
- Bucknell – 316
- Boston University – 302
- Lehigh – 284
- Loyola – 184
- Colgate – 119
- Holy Cross – 116
- American – 100
- Lafayette – 68
The Navy women started out the day in dominant fashion, winning all but 1 of the evening session’s 5 individual events.
That began with a 53.48 victory in the 100 fly from Navy junior Delaney Walz, followed by her teammate Sydney Harrington in 54.01.
In the next race, Boston University’s Carlyn Soares took the 400 IM, running away in 4:16.16. That’s the BU womens’ first-ever Patriot League title in that event, and also their first Patriot League title outside of the distance freestyle and diving events.
Navy had their 2 heaviest hitters in the next 2 events to get their winning ways back on track. First, freshman Martina Thomas won the 200 free in 1:45.21. That’s just a few tenths shy of what it took to qualify for NCAAs in that event last year. It also gives Thomas a 2nd individual event win of the meet already, after topping the 500 free on Wednesday.
After that, two-time defending Patriot League swimmer of the year Lauren Barber won the 100 breaststroke in 59.93. That makes her the first-ever Patriot League swimmer to break 1 minute in that event, clearing her own Championship Record of 1:00.77, and her overall record of 1:00.51 from 2016: when she was just a freshman. That time is .01 seconds faster than Andrew Mering’s estimate for an NCAA invite this year, though her 200 IM from Thursday is already a near-lock for a second-straight NCAA invite.
Navy junior Jamie Miller finished-off the Navy run for the day with a win in the 100 back in 54.07. She used a big second half (splits: 26.48-27.59) to run down Army freshman Mia Rankin (54.13) for the title. Rankin led a 2-3-4 finish for Army and momentarily stemmed the tide of the Navy Midshipmen.
While Navy dominated the day, they couldn’t finish the session with a relay win. Swimming without Barber, a young Navy relay (3 freshmen and 1 sophomore) finished 2nd in 1:32.11 behind Lehigh’s 1:32.00 event title. This marks the 2nd-straight year that Lehigh has won this relay, which accounts for half of Lehigh’s all-time women’s relay wins at this meet. They are an original Patriot League member, joining in the league’s inaugural year in 1986.
Lehigh’s relay included Ann Foley (23.28), Payton Miles (22.66), Olivia Giampietro (23.16), and Courtney Ferreira (22.90). The aforementioned Rankin, swimming on Army’s 3rd-place relay, had the fastest split of the field in 22.50, followed by Navy’s Thomas in 22.63. The conference has a deep corps of freshman sprinters that will bring big competitiveness in those race over the next 3 years.
Men’s Day 3 Recap
- Navy – 756
- Army – 538
- Bucknell – 290
- Lehigh – 246
- Boston University – 238
- Loyola – 198
- American University – 117
- Lafayette – 96
- Holy Cross – 79
- Colgate – 64
While athletic rivals Army and Navy again divvied up the men’s races on day 3 of the Patriot League Championships, it was Navy’s crushing depth that extended their lead beyond 200 points and all-but-clinched a 16th-straight Patriot League title.
Navy had 22 A-finalists in 6 individual events, including 5 in both the 100 fly and 400 IM, on Friday. Their first win came in the 400 IM, where sophomore Billy Cadigan won in 3:47.52 – just 4-tenths short of the league record in the event. That’s Cadigan’s 2nd-straight title in the event, following a 3:47.95 to win last season. He led a Navy 1-2-3 in the event, with Patriot League Record holder Brayden Lauffer taking 2nd in 3:59.14, and Micah Oh placing 3rd in 3:52.12.
They added a 2nd-straight title in the 200 free, with another sophomore Ryan Waters, leading another 1-2-3 finish for Navy. Waters touched in 1:35.41, while his fellow sophomores Dominick Wallace (1:35.83) and Daniel Cook (1:37.30) took 2nd and 3rd. Waters’ win makes for 11 straight titles for Navy in the event.
Navy freshman Caleb Maudin won the 100 back in 47.57 and junior diver Bradley Buchter won the 1-meter to finish the Midshipmen men’s winning for the day.
Army, meanwhile, won 3 races for the 2nd-straight day. THat began with the opening 100 fly, where junior Kevin Doo won in 47.30, taking a 5-way dead-heat at the 50 yard mark and turning it into a comfortable win over Navy’s Zachary Piedt (47.65). By wining, Doo held off 4 Navy swimmers, all of whom were within .15 of each other, and himself, at the turn. Navy went 2-3-4-5-7 in the race.
Army freshman Evan Zhang then won the 100 breaststroke in 53.83. He picked up the torch after the graduation of Loyola’s Ben Cono, who dominated the event in the Patriot League for the last 3 years.
Army finished the day with a win in the 200 free relay in 1:19.59. The team of Josh Zock (19.76), Brandon McCredie (19.96), Billy Webber (19.80), and Nate Hein (20.07) combined to give Army their first win in this relay since 2002. Zock, who won the 50 free on Thursday, was faster in his leadoff here than he was in the individual event. He was just .03 seconds away from Dain Bomberger’s league record in the event. That snapped a 5 year Navy winning streak, as they took 2nd in 1:20.26. Loyola was 3rd in 1:20.65.
