Oct. 27, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. — Army’s Lindsey Adao won her third weekly honor, while Navy’s Tara Chapmon earned her second weekly award from the Patriot League Tuesday.

Adao was named the Female Diver of the Week for the third time this season. Chapmon, who won the season’s first Female Swimmer of the Week award, won again this week.

Chapmon’s teammates Adam Meyer (Male Swimmer) and Bryan Gentz (Male Diver) won their first weekly awards of 2009-10.

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Male Swimmer of the Week

Adam Meyer, Navy Sr., Bethesda, Md. Meyer led the Midshipmen to a 156-133 win over UMBC Saturday with his three first-place finishes and a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Meyer won the 100 butterfly (51.31) and 200 butterfly (1:50.98), as well as the 200 IM (1:52.84). In the 200 IM, Meyer recorded the fastest fly leg of the race by 0.22 seconds.

Female Swimmer of the Week

Tara Chapmon, Navy Sr., Virginia Beach, Va. Chapmon led the Midshipmen to a 166-134 win over UMBC Saturday with three individual wins and a first-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. She won the 200 freestyle (1:52.04), 500 freestyle (5:00.72) and 1,000 freestyle (10:21.11). 

Male Diver of the Week

Bryan Gentz, Navy Jr., Baltimore, Md. Gentz helped the Midshipmen defeat UMBC 156-133 with his first- and second-place dives Saturday. Gentz placed first on the 3-meter dive with 273.15 points, while taking second on the 1-meter dive with 265.20 points.

Female Diver of the Week

Lindsey Adao, Army Sr., New City, N.Y. Adao won her third straight Female Diver of the Week award with her first- and second-place performances in a 166.5-127.5 win over Massachusetts Saturday. Adao placed first in the 3-meter dive with 224.55 points and second in the 1-meter with 214.57.

Honorable Mention Performances Last Week

Alyssa Tran, Army Fr., Yorba Linda, Calif. Tran earned three first-place finishes in Army’s win over Massachusetts. She placed first in the 50 and 100 freestyle and 200 IM.

Daniel Fletcher, Bucknell Sr., Cedar Grove, N.J. Fletcher led the Bison to a 166-132 win over George Mason with first place wins in 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle and 200 IM.

Allison FitzPatrick, Bucknell So., Baltimore, Md. FitzPatrick led the women’s team to a 185-115 over George Mason Saturday, placing second in the 1-meter dive and third in the 3-meter dive. Her 3-meter score of 251.48 was the third best score in school history.

Kevin McGrath, Lehigh Sr., South Hamilton, Mass. McGrath led the Mountain Hawks to a 179-121 win over West Chester, earning three individual first-place victories in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and the 200 IM.

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 were idle last week and will return to the pool this week when they host Howard on Friday. In its last event, American competed in a two-day meet with Catholic University and George Washington on Oct. 16 and 17. The Eagles claimed first-place in 13 of 26 events in the unscored meet. Dory Isaacs led the way with five individual wins, taking first in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 200 IM and 200 breaststroke. The men were led by Matt Pelletier, who took first place in the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke. 

Army The Black Knights split decisions against Massachusetts Saturday with the men winning 183-117 and the women losing 166.5-127.5. Cody Reeb led the men’s team, finishing first in both the 500 and 1,000 free with times of 4:41.47 and 9:42.42, respectively. Adao led the women’s team, finishing first in the 3-meter dive with 224.55 points and second in the 1-meter with 214.57. Army will be idle this week and will return to action when it host Connecticut at 1 p.m. Nov. 7.

Bucknell The Bison swept the dual meet against George Mason on Saturday. The men’s team won 166-132 and the women’s won 185-115. Daniel Fletcher led the men, winning the 100 backstroke (51.76), 100 freestyle (46.53) and 200 IM (1:56.62). He also led the first-place 400 free relay team. Molly Goebel also had three individual wins, placing first in the 50 freestyle (24.05), 100 freestyle (53.15) and 100 butterfly (58.01). The Bison will host a tri-meet with Duquesne and Saint Francis (Pa.) at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Colgate The Raiders’ women’s team opened its season with two losses in a tri-meet at Penn State Saturday. Colgate lost 92-21 to Penn State and 74-39 to West Virginia. The men’s team will remain idle until Saturday when the Raiders travel to Lehigh to open their season with a League meet at 2 p.m.

Holy Cross The Crusaders were idle last week and the women will return to the pool at 7 p.m. Wednesday when they host Siena. The men will return on Saturday when they re-join the women’s team and host Springfield at 1 p.m. The Crusaders opened their season on Oct. 17 with League losses to Lehigh, as the men lost 143-92 and the women lost 136-113. Holy Cross also lost to Fairfield on Oct. 18, with the men falling 166-120 and the women losing 167-133. Men’s diver Adam DeVito shined over the two days, sweeping the 1- and 3-meter dives in both meets. 

Lafayette The Leopards were idle last week and will remain idle until they open their 2009-10 season on Saturday when Lafayette will host a tri-meet with Georgetown and Loyola (Md.).

Lehigh The Mountain Hawks split decisions in a dual meet at West Chester Saturday with the men’s team winning 179-121, while the women lost 165-132. Kevin McGrath led the men’s team with four first-place finishers, including individual victories in the 100 breaststroke (59.57), 200 breaststroke (2:11.80) and 200 IM (1:58.81). The Lehigh men will return to the pool with a meet against Colgate at 2 p.m. Saturday, while the women’s team will be idle until Nov. 7 when both teams will compete against Rider.

Navy The Midshipmen men and women picked up wins Saturday against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. The men won 156-133, while the women won 166-134. Adam Meyer fueled the men’s victory with his three individual wins, as well as a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Meyer won the 100 butterfly (51.31), 200 butterfly (1:50.98) and 200 IM (1:52.84). Tara Chapmon also won three events — the 200 freestyle (1:52.04), 500 freestyle (5:00.72) and 1,000 freestyle (10:21.11). Navy will be idle this week and will return to the pool at noon on Nov. 7 with a quad-meet against Lafayette, Bucknell and American.