Navy Swimming (M/W) vs. Army Swimming (M/W)
- December 9, 2021
- Lejeune Hall, Annapolis, Maryland
- Short Course Yards
- Full results
- Navy Women Def. Army Women 230-70
- Navy Men def. Army Men 158-142
Courtesy: Navy Athletics
Press Release Courtesy: Navy Athletics
ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– The Navy swimming and diving teams posted a sweep of Army Thursday evening at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis. The women’s team (7-1) recorded a 230-70 win to earn the program’s 33rd victory in a row over the Black Knights (3-5), and the men’s team (7-1) tallied a 158-142 victory to record the program’s 31st straight win over Army (3-3).
The results from the night improves Navy’s all-sport record in this year’s Army-Navy Star Series, presented by USAA, to 8-1.
The women’s team went over 200 points against Army for the fourth time in the last five years. The lone time in this half-decade span in which the Mids did not accrue 200 points was in the 2018-19 meet when they totaled 199.5 points.
The men’s team had its closest meet in the series since posting a 156.5-143.5 win during the 2016-17 dual. Tonight, three years ago (173) and five years ago are the only times in the last decade in which the Mids did not score at least 190 points against Army.
“What an amazing environment,” said Navy women’s swimming head coach John Morrison. “We were so thankful to have had fans, families, alumni and Midshipmen in Lejeune Hall. It was awesome.
“We are very proud of our Class of 2022. They lead from the front and really set the tone for the underclass.”
“I thought our guys were really good where they needed to be,” said Navy men’s swimming head coach Bill Roberts. “We were hoping for a little bit more in certain events, and if you misfire in a competitive meet like this, you are going to pay for it in points.”
“As usual,” said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald, “it was electric in Lejeune Hall the entire night. They saw a really exciting meet. I am super proud of how we competed.”
The Navy men never trailed, but never had any kind of comfortable lead, either. The Mids placed first and third in the opening 200 medley relay to jump out to a 13-4 lead. The foursome of Caleb Mauldin, Derek Nguyen, Jonah Harm and Callen Aulizia posted a time of 1:25.02 to win the race by nearly three seconds and break the Navy, Lejeune Hall and Patriot League record of 1:25.28 and the meet standard of 1:26.53.
A great race followed in the 1000 freestyle as Navy’s Garrett McGovern held the lead for the majority of the race only to lose it with about 250 yards to go. He stormed back on the last lap to win the race by three-tenths of a second with a time of 8:59.83. The Mids also placed third and fourth in the race to extend their lead out to 27-9.
The margin quickly evaporated as Army took the top-three placings in the 200 freestyle to draw to within 30-25 of Navy.
Mauldin, who staked the 200 medley relay team to a sizable lead as the first swimmer in the water, had another great swim in the 100 backstroke. He posted a time of 45.82 to win the race by three seconds. An additional third-place showing in the event gave Navy a 42-32 lead.
Army’s Evan Zhang held off Navy’s Jonah Harm to win the 100 breaststroke by one-tenth of a second (53.39-53.49). But with second, third and fourth-place finishes by the Mids, the Black Knights gained only one point in the team scoring (51-42).
The 200 fly followed and it saw Mids place first, second and third to stretch their lead out to 67-45. Ethan Tack won the race in a time of 1:44.70, with Patrick Colwell placing second (1:46.59) and Ben Selnick finishing in third place (1:47.78), more than two seconds in front of Army’s fourth-place swimmer.
Army gained one more point on Navy as the Black Knights placed first and fifth in the 50 freestyle. However, the one-meter diving results saw Army place first and second to make the score Navy 82, Army 68 at the midpoint of the event. The Black Knights pulled even closer –– 86-83 –– when the second half of the meet began as they finished first, second and fourth in the 100 freestyle.
Mauldin was able to earn a sweep of the backstroke events as he recorded a time of 1:43.70 to win the 200 back by 1.7 seconds. The Mids scored two more placings in the event to take a 100-88 lead. But it was down to a 104-103 score after Army placed first, second and fourth in the 200 breaststroke.
Navy gained one point (114-112) on Army after Everet Andrew won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:22.92, then the Mids placed first, second and third in an event for the second time in the meet as Jonah Harm, Colwell and Selnick claimed the top-three positions (47.32, 47.82, 48.71) in the 100 butterfly. That gave Navy a 130-115 advantage.
The second diving event concluded and it saw George Moore win the three-meter board in a score of 325.35 and Zach Peng finish third (312.55). The results pushed the lead out to 142-122.
“It was a great result for George to win the three meter,” said MacDonald. “It was an upset based upon the scores posted entering the meet. He dove very consistently and it was great for him to win the board.”
With the magic number to clinch the team victory being 151 points, a win by Navy in the last individual event, the 200 individual medley, would secure the result. Tack did just that, leading from start to finish and winning by 1.32 seconds with his time of 1:46.18.
“Throughout the last few events,” said Tack, who knew what a win by him would do, “guys kept coming up to me and saying, ‘you really need to go fast in the last race.’ There was a little bit of pressure, but it didn’t hit me until afterward when I was thinking, ‘if I messed up there, that would have been really bad.’ I just tried to swim my own race. I knew the two guys they had around me had just swam the 200 breaststroke, so I really tried to push it on the that leg of the race.”
“The 1000 free was not looking like it was going our way,” said Roberts in thinking of key moments from the meet. “To see Garrett have that extra effort at the end was special and motivating for everybody. Caleb coming back with statement wins in the backstroke. The guys in both butterfly events were electric. We were expecting big things there and they did not disappoint. Ethan was unbelievable. Certainly the three-meter diving was a great turnaround from the one-meter event.”
Army would edge Navy by 15-hundredths of a second to win the 400 freestyle relay in the final event of the night.
Conversely to the close men’s result, the Navy women’s team won 15 events and placed at least first and second in 11 events to comfortably extend the longest winning streak in Army-Navy history.
The tone was set in the first race of the night as the Mids placed first (1:39.79) and second (1:41.26) in the 200 medley relay. Finishing the event first was the team of Megan Murphy, Riley Gavigan, Sydney Harrington and Sarah Sorensen.
“Our first relay team was outstanding,” said Morrison. “The team just kept rolling from there.”
The first individual event of the night saw Cameron Horner place first (10:03.05) and teammate Rachel Schlemmer finish in second place (10:06.20) in the 1000 freestyle. Navy kept things cruising along as Mids placed first, second, third and fourth in the 200 freestyle. Martina Thomas had a three-second margin of victory over Gabi Baldwin with her effort of 1:45.13. That clocking broke the meet record of 1:45.29 set by Thomas two years ago.
Army’s Lauren Carag would win the 100 backstroke, but that was followed by a first, second and third-place effort by Navy in the 100 breaststroke. Riley Gavigan claimed the victory with her time of 1:02.23, which gave her a six-tenths of a second win over Sydney Bare. Harrington won the next event, the 200 butterfly, in a time of 1:55.60. She won the race by 4.5 seconds over teammate Grace Hastings. The last swimming event of the first half of the meet was the 50 freestyle. Sorensen fell just short of her own meet record (22.94) in winning the race in a time of 22.96.
The eighth and final event before intermission saw Hannah Montau score 329.10 points to win the three-meter diving event by 36 points and break the meet (319.20), Navy and Patriot League (326.85) records.
Sorensen earned her second sprint victory of the meet as she posted a time of 50.81 to edge Army’s Sammie Edwards for the win by two-hundredths of a second. After that close finish, Navy swimmers finished in the top-four positions in the 200 backstroke. Baldwin won the race by 1.6 seconds with her time of 1:58.05. Emily Brockman followed by winning the 200 breaststroke by 1.14 seconds thanks to her effort of 2:14.70. Then Thomas led another 1-2-3-4 Navy finish in the 500 freestyle as her time of 4:49.36 gave her a seven-second cushion over Horner.
Harrington would win the second fly event of the night, the 100 fly, with a time of 52.37. She bettered teammate Caroline Irwin’s second-place time by 2.3 seconds. Montau followed with her second record-breaking effort of the meet as she scored 304.70 points to win the one-meter board by 37 points with her tally of 304.70 points. That broke the meet record of 287.48, the Navy record of 296.70 (set 30 years ago by Stacia Johnson) and the league record of 303.40.
“It was a great night for Hannah with her breaking all of those records,” said MacDonald. “And it was great to see Caroline Turner post scores that qualifies her for the NCAA Zone Championship.”
Haley Harris earned her first victory in an Army-Navy meet as she touched the wall ahead of the rest of the field in the 200 individual medley with her effort of 2:02.16. Then Navy’s team of Thomas, Sorensen, Brooke West and Harrington combined for a time of 3:20.82 to win the 400 free relay by four seconds.
The Navy teams will play host to George Washington Friday in two sessions of time trials before breaking for final exams and the holidays.
Press Release Courtesy: Army West Point Athletics
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – At the end of one of the closest competitions in the recent history of the Star Meet, as presented by USAA, the Army West Point swimming & diving team dropped a pair of results to Navy on Thursday evening at Lejeune Hall.
The men suffered a narrow defeat at 158-142, while the women were downed 230-70.
For the men, the decision came down to the final events as the Black Knights were able to keep things within striking distance throughout the course of the night. The team used strong performances from Evan Zhang and Owen Harlow, who set program and freshman records respectively, to score the most team points against the Mids since 2016.
Though Navy was able to pull away on both sides, Army’s action was highlighted by event sweeps and numerous hard-fought victories.
The Men’s Meet
In the first Star Meet in front of fans since 2019, the racing between the Black Knights (3-3, 0-1 PL) and the Mids (7-1, 1-0 PL) was intense out of the gate. Though Navy opened up the night by grabbing two-straight wins in the 200 Medley Relay and the 1000 Free, Army responded with a dominant performance in the 200 Free by sweeping the event. Tanner Falls paced the team with a 1:36.56 swim and was followed by Kevin Lin and Sean Dwyer.
The teams traded wins in the next four races, as Navy secured the 100 Back and the 200 Fly, while Army took the 100 Breast and 50 Free thanks to Zhang and Harlow. After swimming an NCAA B Cut in the 50 Free, Harlow went on to capture his second-straight event when he took home the 100-yard race. He was followed closely by Falls, who out-touched the third-place Mid by over half a second to help the team collect key points.
Over the course of the following events, the Midshipmen began to distance themselves from the Cadets. Navy touched the wall first in the 200 Back, the 500 Free and the 100 Fly to gain some momentum down the stretch. While Zhang prevented the home team from making it four-straight wins by earning his second win of the night in the 200 Breast, the Mids used a sweep in the 100-yard butterfly to take their biggest lead of the meet.
On the boards, Daniel Alaimo contributed yet another victory for the Black Knights as he scored 335.25 in the 1m event to lead the field. He was joined in the top-two by David Manelis, who placed second overall. Alaimo additionally led the team on the 3m event, though he was unable to pull off the diving sweep as a Midshipman outscored him, forcing him to take second.
With just two races left, the final result was still up for grabs as Army’s consistent effort kept the team in it. Though Navy was able to put the meet away with a first-place swim in the 200 IM, the quartet of Harlow, Falls, Jacob Powell and Nick Isenhower helped the Cadets finish on a high note by winning the 400 Free Relay with a time of 2:55.95.
The Women’s Meet
Army (3-5, 0-1 PL) brought a lot of fight to its date with Navy (7-1, 1-0 PL) and battled its way onto the podium in all but four of the competition’s 16 events.
The Mids opened up their home pool with three-straight victories before Lauren Carag snapped the scoring with a win in the 100 Back. Her time of 55.24 bested the second-place mark of 55.48 to help the Cadets gain some early momentum.
Though Navy responded with a sweep in the 100 Breast, Melinda Zhang got the Black Knights back into the top three when she touched third in the 200 Fly. Meghan Cole and Sammie Edwards then kept it going for the team in the 50 Free, finishing second and third.
Edwards continued to have success in the freestyle events, as she picked up another top finish in the 100-yard race when she placed second with a time of 50.83.
Once again, the Mids used a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 Back to re-distance themselves from the Cadets before Aurelie Migault got the team back on the podium with a second-place swim in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Minh Donnell continued her exciting freshman campaign with a pair of top-three performances in both the 1- and 3-meter dive. The rookie posted 257.90 points in the 1M event to finish third before repeating the effort on the 3m board with a score of 287.65.
As the meet wound down, both Meghan Cole (third, 100 Fly) and Jasmine Coe (third, 200 IM) added top finishes for Army to help the team keep up the scoring. Though the Black Knights earned a second-place finish in the final event of the night, the 400 Free Relay, the Mids were able to claim the victory.
Men’s Event Winners
200 Free – Tanner Falls – 1:36.56
100 Breast – Evan Zhang – 53.39 (NCAA B Cut)
50 Free – Owen Harlow – 19.86 (NCAA B Cut, Freshman Record)
1M Dive – Daniel Alaimo – 335.25
100 Free – Owen Harlow – 44.14 (Freshman Record)
200 Breast – Evan Zhang – 1:55.34 (NCAA B Cut, Program Record)
400 Free Relay – Owen Harlow, Tanner Falls, Jacob Powell, Nick Isenhower – 2:55.95
** 500 Free – West Tate – 4:23.73 (Third Overall, Freshman Record)
Women’s Event Winners
100 Back – Lauren Carag – 55.24
Cadet’s Corner
“As a plebe, I obviously can’t add much to what has happened in the previous years however I have never felt this close to the West Point swim and dive program. The amount of camaraderie and energy that was seen tonight was uncanny to anything I’ve seen in my career. Everyone came and swam their hearts out. I think we can all say we left it in the pool. Nothing left we could have given. Especially the firsties. As for my races, I did what I had to do for my teammates. So much love to the amazing coaching staff. They have put so much into us and we all see the work. We couldn’t be more thankful to have the staff we have. All I have left to say is Patriots is around the corner. Go Army, beat Navy.” – Owen Harlow
Up Next
The Black Knights will enjoy nearly a month-long hiatus before returning to Crandall Pool to take on Penn State on Friday, Jan. 7 at 5 p.m. The action against the Nittany Lions will be the team’s first of the new year.
Follow Along
For complete coverage of Army West Point Swimming & Diving, follow the Black Knights on Twitter and Instagram at @ArmyWP_SwimDive and online at www.goarmywestpoint.com.
