Oct. 13, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. -- Three reigning League award winners hauled in the first set of weekly awards from the Patriot League Tuesday.

Male Diver of the Year Olaf Olson (Navy), Female Swimmer of the Year Tara Chapmon (Navy) and Female Diver of the Year Lindsey Adao (Army) were all selected for weekly awards in their respective events.

Army freshman Dan Foky was selected as the Male Swimmer of the Week.

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Male Swimmer of the Week

Dan Foky, Army Fr., Charlottesville, Va.

Foky led the Black Knights to a 2-0 record last week, earning four first-place finishes, including two individual wins in the 50 and 100 freestyle. Foky won the 50 free with a time of 21.60 seconds, while taking first in the 100 with a time of 47.41 seconds. He also led the 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay teams to first-place finishes.

Female Swimmer of the Week

Tara Chapmon, Navy Sr., Virginia Beach, Va. Chapmon won two individual events and swam the fourth leg of the first-place 400 free relay team. She won the 800 freestyle by 21 seconds over teammate Katelyn Davidson with a time of 9:02.22. She also won the 400 free by eight seconds over teammate Allison Ranzau with a time of 4:21.95. She swam the fastest anchor leg of anyone in the field by 1.5 seconds.

Male Diver of the Week

Olaf Olson, Navy Jr., Bainbridge Island, Wash. Olson swept the diving events, taking first in the 1- and 3-meter dives as Navy went 2-0 Saturday against George Mason and Loyola (Md.). The junior diver scored 229.87 points in the 1-meter dive and 235.5 points in the 3-meter.

Female Diver of the Week

Lindsey Adao, Army Sr., New City, N.Y. Adao started the 2009-10 season strong with two first-place finishes in the 1- and 3-meter dives. The reigning Patriot League Diver of the Year earned 221.9 points in the 1-meter dive and 249.4 in the 3-meter. She helped the Black Knights to a 1-2 weekend against Vermont, Boston College and Stony Brook.

Honorable Mention Performances Last Week

Alyssa Tran, Army Fr., Yorba Linda, Calif. Tran earned three first-place finishes in her first meet at West Point, winning the 50 free (24.28), 100 fly (57.52) and the 200 medley relay (1:49.31).

Adam Meyer, Navy Sr., Bethesda, Md. Meyer recorded three first-place finishes, including two individual wins in the 100 and 200 butterfly as the Navy men's team jumped out to a 2-0 start. Meyer swam the 100 in 56.24 and the 200 in 2:03.33.

Lauren Russell, Bucknell Sr., Lower Burrell, Pa. Russell earned three first-place finishes, including two individual wins in the 100 and 200 IM in the Bison's unscored meet against UMBC. Russell swam the 100 in 1:00.88 and the 200 in 2:10.42.

Patriot League Notebook

Navy Men, Colgate Women Selected to Repeat

The Navy men's and the Colgate women's swimming and diving teams were unanimously selected to repeat as the Patriot League Champions in the 2009-10 League Preseason Poll, announced on Oct. 6. Both teams collected 14 of 16 first-place votes as the coaches and sports information directors are not permitted to vote for their own school. In the men's poll, Navy collected 98 points. Army was second with two first-place votes and 80 points, followed by Bucknell (78 points), Colgate (57) and Lehigh (53). Lafayette was sixth with 41 points and American (27) and Holy Cross (14) rounded out the poll. Colgate also earned 98 points to take the top spot, followed by Navy (86). Bucknell finished third in the voting with 74 points, while Army (59) and Lehigh (42) rounded out the top five. American (39) edged out Lafayette (36) for sixth place, and Holy Cross (14) was selected to finish eighth. The Navy men's team will be searching for its seventh straight League title -- and seventh overall -- while the Colgate women will look for their third straight.

Back For More

The four major award winners from last season return to try and repeat in 2009-10. Navy boasts three of the four returning award winners with Adam Meyer, Tara Chapmon and Olaf Olson. Meyer was named the Male Swimmer of the Year and Olson was the Male Diver of the Year. Chapmon, who competed at the NCAA Championships, was the Female Swimmer of the Year. Also returning from last season is Army's Lindsey Adao, who was the Female Diver of the Year.

2008-09 Recap

The Navy men and Colgate women retained their titles as Patriot League Swimming and Diving Champions last season. With 1,031.5 overall points, Navy set a Patriot League record for the most points earned in a Patriot League Championship Meet. The previous record was 1,009 points, set by Army at the 1997 title meet. The Colgate women won the championship with 862 overall points, just three points shy of the League Championship Meet record of 865, set by Navy in 1995. Twenty-eight Patriot League records were set over the course of the three-day meet. The 2009-10 Championships will be held all day on Feb. 18-20 at Navy.

Nine League Teams, Three Students Honored By CSCAA

Nine Patriot League teams and three student-athletes were honored by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) with Scholar All-American awards last season. Team Scholar-American awards are presented to squads with team GPAs of 3.0 or better. Individual Scholar All-Americans must possess a 3.5 GPA or better, while also qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Six Patriot League schools were among the 109 women's teams honored. Lafayette, which compiled a team GPA of 3.48, had the eighth-best team GPA among NCAA Division I women's teams. Other Patriot League women's squads honored were American (3.44), Bucknell (3.44), Lehigh (3.29), Colgate (3.17) and Navy (3.09). The top two team GPAs in NCAA Division I men's swimming came from the Patriot League. American sported a nation-best 3.54 team GPA, while Lafayette claimed a 3.45 team mark. Also honored was Bucknell with a 3.11 GPA. Receiving individual honors was Navy's Tara Chapmon, who was named a First-Team Women's Swimming Division I Scholar All-American. Navy's James Lascara and Mark Meyer were named Men's Swimming Division I Honorable Mention Scholar All-Americans.

Team Notebooks

American  The Eagles opened the 2009-10 season on Oct. 2 with both the men's and women's teams finishing fifth out of seven teams at the Potomac Relay Invitational. American's top finishes at the event were second-place marks in the men's 200 free relay and the 400 medley relay. The women's 300 breast relay team finished third. The Eagles will return to the pool with a two-day competition against Catholic and George Washington on Friday and Saturday.

Army The Black Knights' men's team opened the season Friday, collecting wins over Boston College (180-116) and Stony Brook (193-83). Army was led by Dan Foky, who collected four first-place finishes in the 50 and 100 free, the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay. The women's team went 1-2, defeating Stony Brook (153-147, while losing to Boston College (162-138) and Vermont (171-129). Alyssa Tran led the women with three first-place finishes in the 50 free, 100 fly and the 200 medley relay. Army will return to action with a tri-meet at Syracuse with Marist on Friday and Saturday. 

Bucknell The Bison competed in an unscored meet against UMBC on Oct. 2. Luke Trafton led the men's swimming team with two first-place finishes in the 500 and 1,000 free. David Magaro also had two first-place finishes for the men's diving team. Lauren Russell had three first-place finishes in for the women's swimming team, while Rebecca Bersani had a top finish for the women's diving team. Bucknell will be idle this week and return on Oct. 24 when the Bison host George Mason.

Colgate The Raiders's women's team will remain idle this week and will open their season on Oct. 24. Colgate will compete in a tri-meet at Penn State with West Virginia. The men's team will remain idle until Oct. 31 when the Raiders travel to Lehigh for a League meet at 2 p.m.

Holy Cross The Crusaders were idle last week and will open up the 2009-10 season when they host Lehigh in a League meet at 2 p.m. Saturday. Holy Cross also will compete at Fairfield at 1 p.m. Sunday. 

Lafayette The Leopards were idle last week and will remain idle until they open their 2009-10 season with the Alumni Swim Meet at 10 a.m. Oct. 24 in Easton. 

Lehigh The Mountain Hawks were idle last week and will open their 2009-10 season with a League meet at Holy Cross at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Navy The Midshipmen opened the season with a tri-meet against George Mason and Loyola (Md.) Saturday with both the men's and women's team picking up two wins. Swimmer Adam Meyer had three first-place finishes and diver Olaf Olson had two for the men's team, which defeated George Mason 164-125 and Loyola 161-109. The women's team was led by swimmer Tara Chapmon, who had four first-place finishes. The women defeated George Mason 166-129 and Loyola 210-85. Navy will return to the pool when it hosts Johns Hopkins Friday with the women starting at 5 p.m. and the men at 7:15.