Navy Swimming Sweeps Titles at Patriot League Championships
The U.S. Naval Academy defeated all challengers in its home pool at this weekend’s Patriot League Championships. The Navy women scored 1427.5 points to easily take down second-place Army (1293.5), with Bucknell ending up third (1014.5). On the men’s side, Navy dominated the competition with 1792 points, with Army second (1210) and Loyola third (1061).
The Navy women got a first win from Lauren Walsh in the 200 IM with a time of 1:58.46, and she returned to win the 100 breaststroke in 59.78. As she eclipsed the NCAA qualifying time in the breaststroke race, she earned an automatic bid to the national meet as a conference champion.
Army’s women started the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay. The team of Angie McKane, Catriona Gilmore, Sydney Braeger and Tiana Mescher posted a winning time of 1:38.37. Next, the Army team of Jenna Hart, Elle Burke, Molly Weber and Braeger combined to win the 800 free relay in 7:13.83.
Webber opened individual swimming with a win in the 500 freestyle in 4:42.07, punching her ticket to the NCAA Championships. The 400 medley relay went to Army’s McKane, Gilmore, Braeger and Webber in 3:34.27.
McKane dominated the 100 butterfly in 51.34, qualifying for NCAAs in the process, and later in that same session, she added a win in the 100 backstroke (52.83). Webber won again in the 200 free in 1:46.38. McKane, Mescher, Cora Webber and Molly Webber were the winners of the 200 free relay in 1:30.76.
Molly Webber claimed her third individual win in the 1650 free (16:31.72), and McKane won the 100 free in 48.85 to add another event for NCAAs. Gilmore won the 200 breast in 2:10.28, giving the Black Knights a third individual swimmer qualifying for the national meet. The team wrapped up its relay sweep as McKane, Hart, Braeger and Molly Webber won the 400 free relay in 3:19.86.
Loyola’s Haley Robinson was first in the 50 free in 22.56. Boston University’s Alayna Kennedy took the win in 1-meter diving (300.55), and she returned to take the win on 3-meter as well (321.30).
Bucknell’s Kelly Byrne dominated the 400 IM in 4:16.24, and teammate Clara Renner placed first in the 200 fly (1:58.62). Colgate’s MG King led the way in the 200 back (1:56.51).
Navy dominated the men’s competition from start to finish, beginning as Ben Irwin, Juan Mora, Lachlan Andrew and Ben Denman-Grimm won the 200 medley relay in 1:23.59. That snuck under the qualifying time for NCAAs by two hundredths. The team of Dean Jones, Xavier Sohovich, Martin Perecinsky and Ben Stankovich got first in the 800 free relay in 6:16.34, a provisional NCAA qualifying mark.
Jones secured the meet’s first win, an enormous come-from-behind effort in the 500 free helping him touch out Sohovich by three hundredths, 4:16.73 to 4:16.76. Jones qualified for the NCAA Championships with his swim, and Navy ended up sweeping the top five spots in the event. Denman-Grimm won the 50 free in 19.28 to make the mark for NCAAs. Irwin won the 100 fly in 46.11, equaling the time required to make the national meet.
Navy’s Finnian Gelbach was the meet’s dominant diver, winning 3-meter (364.95) and 1-meter (386.10). The 200 free went to Perecinsky in 1:34.07, and the team of Andrew, Denman-Grimm, Gavin Green and Preson Kessler won the 200 free relay in 1:16.80, a provisional NCAA qualifying mark.
Navy’s Chase Maier reached the national meet in the 1650 free as he blasted a time of 14:54.68, almost 12 seconds under the required standard. Irwin was the winner of the 200 back in 1:40.13 for a second event at the NCAAs. Michael Phillips joined the NCAAs squad with a winning time of 1:52.82 in the 200 breast, and Jones added another event with his win in the 200 fly (1:41.87). The team of Kessler, Denman-Grimm, Andrew and Jones swam a provisional qualifying time of 2:50.16 in winning the 400 free relay.
The Army team of Johnny Crush, Kohen Rankin, Max Jordan and Thomas Hadji won the 400 medley relay in 3:04.17 to earn a bid to NCAAs. Crush led off that team in 44.46 as part of his monster performance on the weekend. Previously, he had gone 20.57 leading off Army’s third-place 200 medley relay, and he would add wins in the 100 back and 100 free. Crush clocked 44.80 in the 100 back, just off his time from the individual event, and he went 42.44 for another qualifying time in the 100 free. Crush completed the meet with a 41.63 relay split on Army’s second-place 400 free relay.
Army got its first triumph from Joey Kling in the 200 IM in 1:44.45. Kalvin Hahn won the 400 IM (3:47.66) while Rankin won the 100 breast in 51.69, good for a spot at the NCAA meet.
The best performance from a swimmer not from Navy or Army came from Joe Hayburn, who had three runnerup finishes in the 100 fly (46.53), 100 back (44.93) and 200 back (1:40.29). His backstroke times were under the national qualifying times, but without a conference title, he will go into the at-large pool while seeking a possible NCAA bid.
