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
The men and women of the U.S. Navy began their title defenses in style, sweeping the day 1 events to kick off the 2023 Patriot League Championships. That includes winning the 200 medley relays, 800 freestyle relays, and men’s 3-meter diving.
Women’s Recap
The first event of the night, the women’s 200 medley relay, came down to the touch, as Navy’s Maya Novack held on to out-touch a surging Charley Tulio. The Greyhounds were actually in the lead for the first half of the race, thanks to Lily Mead‘s 24.72 lead-off and Paige Simko‘s 28.52 breaststroke split.
Navy’s Meghan Murphy clocked 25.74 on backstroke, while Riley Gavigan closed the gap to Loyola with a 27.76 breaststroke. Sophomore Caroline Irwin took over the lead on fly, splitting 23.78 to Loyola freshman Michaela Schultz‘s 24.27. Novack anchored Navy in 22.96, fending off Tulio’s 22.82 split to collect the win in 1:40.24. Loyola’s time of 1:40.33 was a new school record, breaking the previous mark set in 2020 by over a second.
The race in the 800 free relay was even closer, as Navy’s squad of Cameron Horner (1:47.49), Gabi Baldwin (1:48.24), Lauren Walsh (1:48.41), and Tiffany Shields (1:47.77) came from behind on the last leg to beat Army by nine-hundredths, 7:11.91 to 7:12.00.
Army was ahead at the final exchange, thanks to legs from Clara Williams (1:47.52), Melinda Zhang (1:48.97) and Molly Webber (1:46.99). Ultimately though, Kira Macmullan (1:48.52) was unable to hold off Shields. Army’s time is an Academy record, and a huge improvement from their entry time of 7:33.33, which had them seeded sixth. Williams lead off of 1:47.52 is also an Academy record.
Army is tied with Bucknell for second headed into the second day of the meet, 16 points behind Navy.
Men’s Recap
The relays weren’t as close on the men’s side–Navy won by over a second in the 200 medley relay and by three in the 800 free relay.
In the 800 free relay, Everet Andrew (1:34.96), Austin Lockhart (1:36.49), Connor Cranfield (1:35.62), and Garrett McGovern (1:35.95) appear to have set a new Patriot League record of 6:22.42. However, given that the Patriot League record book lists the championship meet record as faster than the conference record, it’s a bit unclear.
Despite the vagueness of the record book, it was still a dominant swim. They finished over three seconds ahead of Army, who touched in 6:25.49. For their part, Army’s Tanner Falls, Wes Tate, Ian Tansill, and Sean Dwyer locked up second by an even bigger margin than Navy won by, as Bucknell was third in 6:31.17.
In the 200 medley relay, the squad of Pat Colwell (22.12), Jackson Schultz (24.01), Jonah Harm (20.02), and Austin Lockhart (19.19) combined for the win in 1:25.34, just four-hundredths off the meet and conference records the Midshipmen swam last year.
Loyola and Army were separated by .01 seconds after the fly leg, but Greyhound junior Caleb Kelly powered away from Owen Harlow, out-splitting him 19.22 to 19.28 to grab second place in 1:26.66. Both that time and Army’s third-place time of 1:26.73 are program records for the quartets.
There was actually a flurry of school records, as five of the nine teams that scored–Loyola, Army, Bucknell, Boston University, and American–all lowered their program records in the event.
Additionally, Navy was bolstered by their excellent diving. They swept the podium in the event, with Blake Shaw earning the title ahead of his teammates George Moore and Anthony Sciulli. In addition to going 1-2-3, the Midshipmen also picked up points from Zach Peng‘s seventh place finish.
Largely thanks to their diving depth, the Navy men have opened up a 48 point lead over Army through day 1 of competition.
SCORES THRU DAY 1
Women
- Navy – 80
- Army/Bucknell – 64
- –
- Loyola/BU – 56
- –
- Colgate/Holy Cross – 48
- –
- American – 44
- Lehigh – 30
- Lafayette – 18
Men
- Navy – 147
- Army – 99
- Bucknell – 84
- Loyola – 78
- Lehigh/BU – 54
- –
- American – 47
- Holy Cross – 43
- Colgate – 40
- Lafayette – 31
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 the last two months while Army soaks in 1 for 32. Army is a dirty team and now that they can’t control the circumstances surrounding them it will show
Wow, such fast times from Navy! Imagine when they actually shave and taper!!
Dude, I talked so much trash to my navy friends. Come on Army, stop throwing. Y’all cannot be serious with these day 1 results, it’s not that hard to show up and swim.
It’s a long meet, but yea, nothing short of an embarrassing start after the December performance
I think this is a big problem for Army. It is clear they are not on the same level they were in December… maybe a sense of complacency for them these past few months. Navy knows how to win consistently, Army does not know how to handle themselves it seems.
Wow, Navy really opened things up wide on day 1. It’s always so interesting to watch their team during the year because you know they don’t taper/shave/suit during the dual meets/invitationals. They’re always a fast program during the year, sure. But wow, hot take here, but they are easily one of the best Championship style programs in the nation. No one can hold a candle to them in the post season, especially not in the Patriot League. Looks like that title is gonna reman as theirs for another year
Huge first day for Navy, maybe a lot of premature talk about army being capable…
It’s day one, so we don’t want to be too hasty with sayings like this. But wow, getting swept in diving and taking a third place in the 200 medley to open a long 4 day meet just has to be demoralizing.
I think the 8free was a big gut punch… seeing that army went 1,2,4 at the star meet in the 2free, and following that up with a 3second loss in the 8free day 1 is rough
I think those Navy fellas might have that dawg in them