WEST POINT, N.Y. -- The Navy (7-1) women's swimming and the diving team extended the longest winning streak in Army-Navy history with a 172.5-127.5 win over the Black Knights (2-3), Friday evening at Crandall Pool in West Point, N.Y. The Mids have now defeated their academy counterparts in 34 consecutive seasons.
The second-longest winning streak ended as Army (5-1) defeated the Navy (7-1), 192-108, in the men's dual. The Mids entered the day having won 31 straight meets against the Black Knights.
The meets were part of the Army-Navy Star Series, presented by USAA.
"I am very proud of how we stood up and raced tonight," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison. "There were lots of opportunities for momentum and emotion changes, but we didn't let that happen. I am especially proud of how hard we fought in the last few strokes of each race.
"We came up here with a goal. We achieved it and learned a lot about ourselves. We can't wait to race again."
"First of all, congratulations to the Army men's swimmers and divers for the great meet they had," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts. "We did not perform up to our expectations, and I take full responsibility for that. This is a terrific group of young men and leaders. We will learn and grow from this experience and be better in the future."
"What an amazing performance by our divers," said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald. "It was a total team effort. We knew we were up against the best Army team I have faced. It was great to win two events, but the efforts that led to additional high placings made the difference. These athletes have been working so hard to prepare for this meet; it does not always end this way. I am happy they got to show off and get the rewards of their labor."
The Navy women's team won the first four events of the evening. Mackenzie Kim (Fr., Diamond Bar, Calif.) won the three-meter diving event with a score of 267.15; then the Mids won the 200-medley relay. A timing system issue made the times invalid, but the placings held. A break of nearly an hour followed as the system was repaired, after which the men's 200 medley relay race was held.
Due to the timing issues, all times listed in the story remain unofficial as of Friday at 10:45 p.m.
The first individual swimming event of the meet saw Sarah Eldridge (Fr., Brielle, N.J.) and Rachel Schlemmer (Jr., Sterling, Va.) go 1-2 in the 1000 freestyle. Eldridge posted a time of 10:10.64 to win the race by nearly four seconds over Schlemmer. Navy's success ended following Cameron Horner (Jr., Hebron, Md.) winning the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:47.70.
Navy picked up one more victory in the first half of the meet when Caroline Irwin (So., Buford, Ga.) won the 200 fly in a time of 1:57.66. She touched the wall almost three seconds ahead of teammate Abbie Sullivan, who finished second.
The first win for the Mids in the second half of the meet came from Gabi Baldwin (Jr., Lake Elms, Minn.), who posted a 1:57.25 to win the 200 backstroke. Horner followed by winning her night's second event, the 500 free. She won the race in a time of 4:52.00. Irwin matches Horner's victory total by winning the 100 fly in a pool record time of 53.15. The previous standard was 53.40 and set two years ago by Navy's Sydney Harrington.
Lauren Walsh (Fr., Shelton, Conn.) closed out the individual event portion of the meet by winning the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:00.48.
The Mids then posted a time of 3:22.57 to win the 400 freestyle relay.
Boosting Navy's team score was having Mids place second in each of the six individual events they did not win.
The Navy men's team won two events in the first half of the meet. The Mids earned the victory in the 200 medley relay with their time of 1:26.96, and Patrick Colwell (Jr., New Canaan, Conn.) won the 200 fly in a time of 1:45.35.
Navy went 1-2 on the three-meter diving board. Anthony Sciulli (Fr., Powell, Ohio) won the event with a score of 336.15 and teammate Blakeman Shaw (So., Coral Gables, Fla.) accrued 313.58 to place second.
Navy also placed first and second in the 100 fly. Jonah Harm (Jr., Placerville, Calif.) broke his own school and league record that he set two weeks ago in the 100 butterfly. He recorded a time of 45.38 to better his standards of 46.19. That effort also broke the pool record of 47.01, which was the time posted by today's second-place swimmer, Colwell.
Both Navy teams are now off until early January.
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