Feb. 16, 2007

Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championship Page

All Patriot League teams made their presence known on the first day of the 2007 Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championships being held at Bucknell this weekend. At the conclusion of day one, Navy men and women were leading the race for the Patriot League title.

Day one competition included the following events: men's and women's 200-freestyle relay, men's and women's 500-freestyle, men's and women's 200-IM, men's and women's 50-freestyle, men's and women's 400-medley, and the men's three-meter board contest.

Navy started out with two wins in the 200-freestyle. The women's team (Thuy Mi Dinh, Mallory Dietrich, Aubra Thomas, Sarah Dorenkott) not only captured first-place, but a pool record with the relay team's time of 1:34.20. On the men's side, the Mids (Alex Oldenkamp, Preston Mihalko, Wren Dupre, Andrew Plumb) finished in one minute, 22.59 seconds for the victory, 0.72 of a second ahead of Army.

In the women's 500-freestyle, American's Meghan Thiel led the entire race, taking first-place with her NCAA B cut time of 4:49.52, a little over five seconds in front of runner-up Navy's Tara Chapmon. In a very close race, three male freshmen took one, two and three in the 500-freestyle. Navy's James Lascara touched the wall first, beating Bucknell's Luke Trafton by 0.27 of a second, with his time of 4:30.63. Navy's Cody Reeb followed at third.

The 200-IM proved to be a tight event for both the women and the men. Navy's Kelly Zahalka came out with the victory in the women's 200-IM, winning in two minutes, 3.44 seconds, a NCAA B standard. American's Kaitlin Moughty was right behind, coming in at two minutes, 4.15 seconds. On the men's side, Navy's Billy Vey touched the wall just 0.14 of a second before his teammate Adam Meyer. Army's Jake Mentele took third-place with his time of one minute, 52.03 seconds.

Navy's Thuy Mi Dinh captured first-place in the 50-freestyle, finishing in 23.28 seconds, a NCAA qualifying B cut. Behind her at second and third was Bucknell's Rebecca Sheffter and Sarah Dorenkott, respectfully. Army's Zach Disbrow claimed top honors in the sprint event with a time of 20.45 seconds. Navy's Preston Mihalko and Alex Oldenkamp followed at second and third, respectfully. Mihalko touched the wall .04 of a second quicker than his teammate.

In the three-meter board competition, Navy's Kevin Teague set a pool record with his first-place finish of 361.0 points. Army's Greg Sievers clinched second-place with 310.6 points and Navy's Adam Niekras earned 308.3 points, good for third.

In the final event of the day, Navy women (Jennie Spencer, Aubra Thomas, Mallory Dietrich and Sarah Dorenkott) took first-place in the 400-medley relay with a time of 3:47.49, one-hundredths of a second short of a Patriot League Championship Meet, Patriot League and pool record, while Army men broke all of those records. The relay team of Quentin Walsh, Jake Mentele, Zach Disbrow and Efri Ruthenberg combined for a time of three minutes, 19.56 seconds. Previously, American held the record since 2003.

Day two of the 2007 Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championship will begin with 10:30 a.m. preliminaries and then 6 p.m. finals. For more information on the championship including results, visit the link on Patriot League's swimming and diving webpage sidebar.