2023 PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 15-18, 2023
- Kinney Natatorium – Lewisburg, PA
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Defending Champions:
- Women: Navy (11x)
- Men Navy (18x)
- Start Times: 10am (ET) prelims/6pm (ET) finals
- Event Schedule
- Championship Central
- Live Results
- Live Stream
Women’s Recap
American junior Mimi Watts won the 50 freestyle in decisive fashion, ripping 22.52 to give American University its first Patriot League title in 12 years. The last time the Eagles stood atop the podium was 2011, when the women won the 400 medley relay. Their last individual title was in 2010.
Watts’ time lowered her own school record by a full two-tenths. She set that time at last year’s conference meet, when she earned silver in this event. In addition to her school record and NCAA ‘B’ cut, Watts also won the race by a wide .41 second margin ahead of Army sophomore Meghan Cole. They were the only two in the field to break 23 seconds, as Maya Novack rounded out the podium in 23.43.
Heading into the final 50 of the 500 freestyle, Army freshman Molly Webber and Bucknell senior Sabrina Vumbacco were separated by just a tenth, with Vumbacco in the lead. Weber put in a huge final lap, splitting 27.55–half a second faster than Vumbacco–to earn the win in an Academy record of 4:47.90. Vumbacco traded up from bronze last year in a lifetime best 4:48.23.
Army pulled off another close win in the women’s 400 medley relay, beating rivals Navy 3:39.12 to 3:39.70. Layne Peterson led off the Black Knights in 55.20, before handing off to Aurelie Migault (1:01.04), Meghan Cole (53.19), and Clara Williams (49.69). Army held the lead the entire race, with Williams holding off a charging Tiffany Shields, who split 49.36 as anchor for the Midshipmen.
Last year, Lily Mead took silver in the 200 IM. This year, the Loyola junior is the league champion. She won the race in 1:58.45, just .08 seconds off her lifetime best from 2021. She won the race in dominant fashion as the only swimmer to break 2 minutes. Navy freshman Lauren Walsh clocked 2:00.10 for silver, about half a second ahead of Army freshman Catriona Gilmore. Colgate freshman Audrey Collins swam a lifetime best 2:00.82 to finish just off the podium in fourth.
Through two days of racing, Navy still leads, 22.5 points over Army. There were a lot of ties after the first day of relays, but the rest of the standings are beginning to sort themselves out. Bucknell has separated itself from Loyola for third, but the Greyhounds are holding just a 3 point lead over BU, and 7 over Lehigh.
Men’s Recap
Thanks to their event sweep on day 1, Navy had opened up a 48 point lead over Army, casting doubt over whether Army would be able to challenge Navy for the title. Today the women dove, which means that Navy did not get a boost from their ridiculously deep diving squad, and Army not only erased the gap but eked out a 7 point lead at the end of day 2.
So how did they do it?
Day 2 Army & Navy Ups/Downs
| Total | 500 Free | 200 IM | 50 Free | |
| Army | 9/7 | 4/2 | 3/1 | 2/4 |
| Navy | 5/6 | 3/2 | 1/4 | 1/0 |
It was their day 2 depth that provided the biggest push–they had 16 individual finals swims compared to Navy’s 11. That’s a significant amount, especially when you consider that they had more ‘A’ finalists in every day 2 event.
The Black Knights opened with a 1-3-5-8 finish in the 500 free, contrasting Navy placing 2-4-6. Freshman Brice Barrieault won the race in 4:20.25, almost a second ahead of Navy sophomore Everet Andrew, who clocked 4:21.23. It’s a big lifetime best for Barrieault; he dropped 2.89 seconds from the 4:23.14 he swam at Army vs. Navy. Barrieault won the race out of lane 8 and split a scorching 23.92 on the final 50–the fastest in the field–to widen his lead.
Army also won the 200 IM, with Sam Wesley clocking 1:45.81, beating Loyola’s Max Verheyen by one-hundredth of a second and in lifetime best fashion. Just .39 seconds behind, there was a tie for bronze between Bucknell’s John Gehrig and Army’s Alex Edwards.
It was Bucknell senior Leo Kuyl, not a swimmer from either of the Academies, that won the men’s 50 freestyle. Kuyl ripped a personal best and program record of 19.75. He out-touched Loyola’s Caleb Kelly by one-hundredth for gold, with Kelly grabbing silver in 19.76.
Army’s sprint star Owen Harlow took third in 19.98, adding .26 seconds from his season best 19.55. Heading into the meet, Harlow was the only swimmer in the conference that had gone sub-20.
Navy struck back with a win in the men’s 400 medley relay. The quartet of Pat Colwell (48.28), Jackson Schultz (52.42), Jonah Harm (45.25), and Garrett McGovern (43.27) posted 3:09.22, winning the race by over two seconds.
Army sits atop the conference after day 2, but 7 points is a slim lead–expect Navy to come out swinging on day 3. Like in the women’s meet, the Bucknell men have strengthened their hold on third.
SCORES THRU DAY 2
Women
- Navy – 268.5
- Army – 246
- Bucknell – 180
- Loyola – 128
- BU – 125
- Lehigh – 121
- Colgate – 106.5
- American – 94
- Holy Cross – 77
- Lafayette – 36
Men
- Army – 305.5
- Navy – 298.5
- Bucknell – 192.5
- Loyola – 129
- BU – 108
- Lehigh – 96
- American – 84.5
- Holy Cross – 65
- Colgate – 60
- Lafayette – 57
Imagine an article that needs to qualify any level of success Army Swimmers & Divers have, point out any of their off performances, and make clear that navy will be better tomorrow?
Wait we have one right here!
Can we get some math on how much time navy’s 500 men have added?
I’m really concerned about the emotional fortitude of the people who we are supposed to be trusting to defend our country in the future.
All week it’s been this absolute triggering in the comments.
It’s weird that teams from the military academies have such a disastrous lack of internal leadership and confidence. Haven’t we always been told that there’s a bigger mission? If the ongoing comment wars are any representation of that, I’m not sure it’s true.
Its crazy how you think that individuals from the military academies are commenting on here. Their mental fortitude is the last thing you should be worrying about, these athletes are some of the toughest in the Nation.
oh yeah for sure, there’s just so much passionate investment in Army-Navy swimming that non-swimmers have been tracking the writer’s comments throughout the whole season and come back and investigates the articles to the detailed level of counting the number of perceived positive and negative things said about each program in a ledger.
Yeah. That definitely checks out. Ur right.
Heres your most recent ledger, seems a lot more one sided than grouping both the academies together as being triggering
Kinda disappointed with Army’s performance on day 1. Looks like Navy’s gonna keep that conference streak alive. That diving sweep hurts a lot especially with Army’s head diver David Manellis not competing for the duration of this weekend. Also breastroker/IMer Evan Yoo, who scored the most points on the team last year as a freshman, is not seen on today’s heat sheet. Gonna be hard to win especially with those two heavy hitters from Army out. Congrats on the win Navy
Amped for my boys, December meant nothing. Streak’s are meant to be broken. Them Navy boys been grinding… Read more »
Army had a hell of a day last night! I always find the first night of relays to be interesting, Have to get those first swims out and loosen up.
Go Black Knights!
Lol ridiculously deep diving squad
Let me try this comment again – despite the authors inability to pick a side in this horse race, there’s no need to qualify Army’s success on day 2 – if you’re gonna flip flop this hard, give credit where it’s due. Navy got out swam in prelims and finals. That’s the story.
Sophie in December: Army men unlikely to win
Sophie last week: Army men slated to win
Sophie today: Expect navy to come out swinging, eked out a lead
Pick a side Sophie.
Nothing wrong with picking based on what you see instead of sticking to a prediction you made 3 months ago – oh wait, loyalty outweighs data any day
pretty sure the individual writing an article about a swim meet shouldn’t be picking any sides, should just be reporting
“Predicting” based on what you see – you’re right, picking was a poor word choice. If asked to predict (something happening in the future) any writer will have to go beyond reporting (something that already happened).
I’m not basing the “picking sides” off what you said, the comments are meant for people to make predictions. I’m comparing the day 1 article to the day 2 article. The day one article talked about how great navy did and how army didn’t do so hot, day 2 article highlighted the races that didn’t go well for army and spoke of how navy would out do them on day 3. The author seems a little biased
It’s strange to me that you think that the author has a preferred side in the Army-Navy rivalry. What do you think Sophie’s “rooting” interest would be in that?
I feel like that was made clear in my last comment? That’s just my interpretation reading the articles, but I could just be reading into the aggressive anti-army comments. Just seems like any time navy does something well it’s highlighted and blown up, when Army does something well it’s just reported on but if something is off for Army that’s highlighted
Simple math. Army had 4 more prelims swims than Navy. I’d hope that they’d be able to convert that into more points.