Nov. 3, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. -- Lafayette's Kevin Oswalt led a trio of weekly award winners after his record-breaking performance last week. 

Oswalt was selected as the League's Male Diver of the Week, while Lehigh's Tyler Lareau was named the Male Swimmer of the Week and Holy Cross' Maggie Gousman was named the Female Swimmer of the Week. 

There was no Female Diver of the Week award given this week.

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Male Swimmer of the Week
Tyler Lareau, Lehigh  Fr., Salem, Mass.  Lareau placed first in four events, including three individual wins in a 195-105 defeat of Colgate Saturday. He won the 100 backstroke (52.32), 200 IM (1:57.28) and 500 freestyle (4:45.42). Lareau also swam on the first-place 400 medley relay team. He has won five individual events in the last two weeks for the 4-0 Mountain Hawks.

Female Swimmer of the Week
Maggie Gousman, Holy Cross  Sr., Fanwood, N.J.  Gousman posted four individual wins for Holy Cross in two dual meets last week. Gousman won the 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 IM against Springfield, as well as winning the 200 IM against Siena.

Male Diver of the Week
Kevin Oswalt, Lafayette  Sr., Bellbrook, Ohio  Oswalt broke several records over the weekend, competing at Loyola (Md.). He set Lafayette's school and Loyola's pool records with a 288.35 in the 1-meter dive and a 326.90 in the 3-meter dive.

Honorable Mention Performances Last Week

Molly Goebel, Bucknell  Jr., New Canaan, Conn.  Goebel placed first in three events, including two individual events (50 and 100 freestyle). She also nabbed a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle.

Dan Sweeney, Colgate  Fr., New Canaan, Conn.  Sweeney collected three first-place finishes, including two individual victories in the 50 and 100 freestyle.

Nick Burkus, Colgate  Fr., Weston, Mass.  Burkus earned two first-place finishes in the 1- and 3-meter dives against Lehigh. He collected 228.30 points in the 1-meter and 226.19 in the 3-meter.

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 picked up a pair of victories on the men's and women's side against Howard on Wednesday. The men's team won 107-86 and the women won 106-56. American will compete in a quad-meet at Navy with Bucknell and Lafayette at noon on Saturday.

Army The Black Knights were idle last week and will return to action when they host Connecticut at 1 p.m. Saturday. In their last meet, the Black Knights split decisions against Massachusetts Oct. 24 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. Lindsay 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.

Bucknell The Bison women picked up two wins last week, defeating Duquesne 184-114 and St. Francis (Pa.) 210-88 on Saturday. The men lost 166-132 to Duquesne. Molly Goebel led the Bison women, collecting three first-place finishes, including two individual wins. On the men's side, Daniel Fletcher led the way with a first-place finish and three second-place finishes. Bucknell will return to the pool with a quad-meet at Navy with American and Lafayette at noon Saturday.

Colgate The Raiders men's team lost 195-105 to Lehigh in the season opener Saturday. The women were idle last week. Dan Sweeney led the men's team, placing first in three events, including two individual finishes. Nick Burkus also led Colgate with first-place finishes in the 1- and 3-meter dives. The men's and women's team will be back in action again at noon Saturday at Boston College.

Holy Cross The Crusaders women's team went 0-2 last week and the men's team was 0-1. The women lost to Siena 151-91 on Wednesday and to Springfield 150.5-149.5 on Saturday. The men lost to Springfield 189-110. Maggie Gousman posted four individual wins for Holy Cross in two dual meets last week. Gousman won the 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 IM against Springfield, as well as winning the 200 IM against Siena. Holy Cross will be idle this week and will return to the pool when it hosts Army at 4 p.m. Nov. 11.

Lafayette The Leopards went 0-3 on both the men's and women's side, falling to Georgetown, Seton Hall and Loyola (Md.) at a quad-meet at Loyola (Md.) Saturday. The men lost 190-108 to Georgetown, 208-80 to Loyola and 188.5-108.5 to Seton Hall, while the women lost 227-72 to Georgetown, 166-134 to Loyola and 194-106 to Seton Hall. The Leopards will return to the pool with a quad-meet at Navy with American and Bucknell at noon Saturday.

Lehigh The Mountain Hawks men's team defeated Colgate 195-105 on Saturday to improve to 4-0 on the season. Lehigh was led by Tyler Lareau, who picked up four first-place finishes, including individual wins in the 100 backstroke, 200 IM and the 500 freestyle. Lehigh will host Rider at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Navy The Midshipmen were idle last week and will return to the pool at noon on Saturday with a quad-meet against Lafayette, Bucknell and American. In their last meet, the Navy men and women picked up wins Oct. 24 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).