March 17, 2010

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Navy standouts Thuy-Mi Dinh (Sr., Anaheim, Calif.) and Tara Chapmon (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) will close out their storied careers this week when they compete in the NCAA Swimming Championship. The three-day meet being contested at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, Ind., begins Thursday morning.

Trial heats sessions begin daily at 11 a.m., with the top-16 swimmers in each event advancing on to the event's consolation and championship finals that will start at 7 p.m. nightly.

A link for live results from the entire meet will be provided at http://bit.ly/9SjDWa once competition at the championship begins.

Both Navy swimmers will be in action on the first and final days of the meet. Thursday's opening day has Chapmon competing in the 500 freestyle and Dinh taking part in the 50 freestyle event. Chapmon is seeded 28th in the 500 free with a qualifying time of 4:34.44, while Dinh's time of 22.54 has her seeded 28th in the sprint event.

Only Chapmon will take to the water for competition Friday. She is seeded 20th in that day's 200 freestyle with her qualifying time of 1:46.17.

Both Mids will then close out the national championship in Saturday's 100 freestyle race. Chapmon's time of 49.89 has her seeded 57th, while Dinh's clocking of 50.20 places her 70th in the field.

This will be Dinh's third consecutive NCAA Championship appearance. She became the first swimmer in Navy and Patriot League history to be invited to the Division I championship by virtue of recording an `A' cut qualifying time back when she did so two years ago in the 50 freestyle. She would compete in both sprint freestyle events at that 2008 championship. Last year, she became the first Mid and member of the league to compete in multiple Division I championship meets when she qualified for the 50 freestyle field.

The first swimmer in league history to win the 50 free at the Patriot League Championship in each of her four years, Dinh holds the Navy and Patriot League record in the event with her time of 22.36. Additionally, her 10 relay event titles won at the Patriot League Championship over the course of her career leads all Navy swimmers and ranks second in league history.

Chapmon, meanwhile, has now qualified to compete in three events at the NCAA Championship in back-to-back years. This year's appearance at the national meet comes one season after she qualified to compete in the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyle events.

She also set several standards at the recent league championship that was won by Navy. In addition to breaking the league record for the most individual event titles won at the meet in a career with 10, she also became the first swimmer in league history to be tabbed as the Patriot League Swimmer of the Year three times in a career. Chapmon holds Navy and league records in the 200 (1:46.17), 500 (4:34.44) and 1650 (16:25.55) freestyle events, as well as additional school standards in the 100 (49.89) and 1000 (9:56.91) freestyle events.