Nov. 13, 2007

Navy diver Katie Griffin won her fourth consecutive diver of the week award, while fellow Navy senior Adam Niekras earned his first award this season. Army senior Jake Mentele was named male swimmer of the week for the third time, while Colgate's Erin McGraw won her first award.

Patriot League Swimming and Diving Release - 11.13.07

Male Swimmer of the Week
Jake Mentele, Army Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.
Mentele earns his second consecutive, and third overall male swimmer of the week award. The senior from South Dakota has been off to an impressive start to the 2007-08 season, winning three more events in a dual-meet with Connecticut. Mentele won the 200 Breast in a season-best time of 2:03.81, and also won the 100 Breast and the 200 IM in times of 56.87 and 1:54.14, respectively.

Female Swimmer of the Week
Erin McGraw, Colgate Fr., Penfield, N.Y.
McGraw wins her first career weekly award after a strong performance in a win over Dartmouth last weekend. The freshman from New York won the 200 Fly, 100 Free and 100 Fly events as an individual, and was also part of the first-place 400 Medley Relay team. She swam a personal best time of 1:00.45 in the medley relay to give Colgate the early edge in that event.

Male Diver of the Week
Adam Niekras, Navy Sr., Liverpool, N.Y.
Niekras becomes the second Navy male diver to win diver of the week accolades after a first place finish in both the one-meter and three-meter events against American, Bucknell and Lafayette. He earned his first victories of the season on either board by notching scores of 297.35 in the one-meter and 310.00 in the three-meter.

Female Diver of the Week
Katie Griffin, Navy Sr., Ellicott City, Md.
Griffin earned her fourth consecutive female diver of the week award after winning both the one-meter and three-meter events in a meet against American, Bucknell and Lafayette. Griffin posted scores of 271.55 in the one-meter and 326.85 in the three-meter events.

Honorable Mention

Patriot League Notebook

The Football Game Isn't the Only Thing Happening...
This Saturday marks the annual Lafayette-Lehigh football game, which of course is the nation's most-played rivalry. Friday night, however, marks the annual football eve swim meet between the Leopards and the Mountain Hawks. This is the second time this season that Lehigh and Lafayette will be in the same pool, as both competed in the Lafayette Relay Invitational non-scoring meet earlier this year. Events are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Fri., Nov. 16.

Quotable

"On the men's side, it was certainly a meet we would have liked to have won. Guys on the team have more to give; it's just a matter of getting it out of them. The women continue to troop along, they are a tough group moving forward. As we recover and look forward to our next meets, I'm sure we are about to see the best this team has to offer."

Lehigh Head Coach Rob Herb following the meet with Rider and Penn

"We had some very good performances, including pool records from Katie Griffin in three-meter diving and the 200-meter freestyle relay. We were tied with Bucknell going into the second half of the meet, so I was really pleased with our drive and focus to come back and get the win. We won some big races, including the 100-meter freestyle (Thuy Dinh) and the 200-meter backstroke (Allison Ranzau) to spark us to the win. It was a good effort for us."

Navy Women's Head Coach John Morrison after Saturday's quad-meet

Want to Know More?
The 2008 NCAA Qualifying marks can be found on the sidebar of the Patriot League Swimming and Diving website.

A Few Lanes Away
The 2008 Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championship meet will take place Thurs. - Sat., Feb. 21-23 at Lejeune Hall on the campus of Navy. The meet will begin at 10 a.m. on each of the three days of competition.

Team Notebooks

American
The Eagles finished the weekend 0-6 after losing on both the men's and women's side to Bucknell, Lafayette and Navy. Senior Meghan Thiel and freshman Dorothy Issacs each had an individual victory for the American women.

Army
The Black Knights were defeated at home by Connecticut this past weekend. The men lost 161-137 while the women fell 161.5-124.5. Senior Jake Mentele continued his impressive start to the season by winning the 200 Breast, 100 Breast and 200 IM events. His time in the 200 Breast (2:03.81) was a season-best.

Bucknell
The Bison had a solid weekend down at Navy, as both the men and women picked up victories over American and Lafayette. The dual-meet win over American was the first in school history for the Bison. Senior Joseph Metcalf was one of four individual event winners for the men, while sophomore Courtney Warren was one of two event winners for the women. The Bison return to the pool when they host the Bucknell Invitational this weekend.

Colgate
The Raiders traveled to Hanover, N.H. for a dual meet at Dartmouth and left with a split. The men were defeated 170-124, but the women earned a 160-134 win. Freshman Erin McGraw was the top swimmer for the Colgate women, sweeping the Butterfly events and also posting victories in the 100 Free and 400 Medley Relay. Colgate will be idle until the end of the month.

Holy Cross
The Crusaders did not compete this past weekend, and return to action this weekend at the Boston University Invitational.

Lafayette
The Leopards picked up a dual-meet victory over American on Saturday, but were swept by Bucknell and Navy. Lafayette swept the men's and women's 100 meter Fly events, with Steve Rubino winning for the men and Kristen Tyler for the women. The Leopards travel to arch-rival Lehigh for their annual Friday night meet, with events starting at 6 p.m.

Lehigh
The Mountain Hawks were 0-5 on the weekend after being swept by Rider, Penn and the Vermont women. Dan Johnson and Kevin McGrath won individual events for the men, while Melanie Rolish was a key performer for the women. Lehigh hosts Lafayette at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Navy
The Navy men and women swept American, Bucknell and Lafayette in dual-meet action this past weekend. The Mids remain unbeaten so far this year. Divers Katie Griffin and Adam Niekras were both first-place finishers, while swimmers Kelly Zahalka and Sam Martinette paced the Mids in the pool. The Navy women return to action this weekend at the Terrapin Invitational, while the men travel to Providence for a meet at Brown, with Dartmouth.