Navy Puts Depth On Display In Sweep Over UMBC

Navy vs UMBC

• Saturday, October 22, 2022
• Annapolis, Md.
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results
• Team Scores:
  • Women: Navy 153.5, UMBC 122.5
  • Men: Navy 163, UMBC 115

Courtesy: Navy Sports

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A total of 24 Mids won at least a share of an individual event during a sweep by the Navy swimming and diving teams of UMBC, Saturday at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis.  The Navy women’s team (3-1) defeated UMBC (0-3) by the score of 153.5-122.5 and the Navy men’s team (4-0) won a 163-115 decision over the Retrievers (0-3).

“We are encouraged by the past two days of competition,” said Navy men’s swimming head coach Bill Roberts.  “Between the two meets (Friday vs. George Washington), we were able to get a good sense of our training efforts over the past few weeks while continuing to learn more about where we can be better.”

“We had two great weeks of training followed by two great days of racing against George Washington and UMBC,” said Navy women’s swimming head coach John Morrison.  We are looking forward to improving the next two weeks and then competing against some Patriot League opponents for the first time this year.”

“We had great performances from our divers today,” said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald.  “It was awesome to watch.  We are really starting to shake off the early season rust.  Having three qualify for the zone meet was big.  I was proud of all of the divers.”

Lauren Walsh (Fr., Shelton, Conn.) posted a time of 58.33 to win the 100 individual medley by just under two seconds for the Navy women’s team.  She also recorded a time of 56.75 to win the 100 butterfly event by 2.15 seconds.

Gabi Baldwin (Jr., Lake Elms, Minn.) joined Walsh in winning two swimming events.  She first won the 100 backstroke by 33-hundredths of a seconds with her clocking of 58.55, then she finished the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:09.63 to win the race by 18-hundredths of a second.

Mackenzie Kim (Fr., Diamond Bar, Calif.) and Ali Polidori (Fr., Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) each posted a score of 262.73 to share the victory in the three-meter diving event.  Kim would go on to win the one-meter board outright by 1.73 points with her score of 247.73.

The lone Navy men’s swimmer to win a pair of events was Everet Andrew (So., Wilmette, Ill.).  His victories came in the 200 freestyle (1:38.48) and 200 individual medley (1:51.26) events.  Andrew won the former by 83-hundredths of a seconds and the latter by 4.25 seconds.

Navy will face American, Bucknell and Lafayette on Nov. 5 in Lewisburg, Pa.

Courtesy: UMBC Athletics

ANNAPOLIS – Juniors Bode Neale and Dani Nicusan highlighted an excellent effort by the UMBC men’s swimming and diving squads at Navy’s Lejuene Hall.

The Retrievers dealt with adverse circumstances all week, as the meet was scheduled as the home opener, but was moved to Annapolis due to ongoing hot water repairs to buildings on the UMBC campus.

Neale earned UMBC’s lone gold of the meet, winning the 50 freestyle in a time of 21.07. He shaved .23 seconds off of his third place time of a week ago and matched Tiago Asakawa’s winning time in that meet at NJIT.

Nicusan set a UMBC school record in the 100 yard individual medley, posting a mark of 51.40 to finish third in the event. He bested the previous record of 51.58, held by recently-inducted UMBC Athletics Hall of Famer Mohamed Hussein, ’14. Graduate student Tiago Asakawa was not far behind Nicusan, placing fifth with a mark of 51.70.

Navy edged UMBC by 0.15 seconds in the men’s 200 yard medley relay. The Retriever quartet of Ryan Harding, Dani Nicusan, Tiago Asakawa and Bode Neale posted a time of 1:32.49, over a second faster than UMBC’s winning time in last week’s race.

Senior Ethan Riser turned in an excellent effort in the 200 butterfly, placing third (1:53.8) and shaving nearly a second off of his winning time of a week ago.

Freshman diver Anders Logas recorded a season high score of 264.53 in the 3-meter diving competition.

The meet concluded in dramatic fashion as Navy’s margin of victory in the 200 freestyle relay was only one-tenth of a second. UMBC’s Niklas Weigelt, Nicusen, Neale and Asakawa finished in a time of 1:23.49, which included Neale’s third leg mark of 20.41.

Navy won the meet, 163-115.

“It’s always an honor to compete with Navy for so many reasons,” said Head Coach Matt Donovan. “Our team really came together this week. We were Road Dawgs, practicing anywhere we could find pool time, but didn’t use that as an excuse. We competed very well against the best program in the region. I am really proud of what we accomplished and where we can take the season in the coming weeks.”

After three consecutive weeks of competition, the team gets a week off before facing Towson at Burdick Hall Pool on November 5.