Dec. 4, 2007

The 2007 portion of the swimming and diving season has almost come to a close. Navy earned three weekly awards following a sweep of Army in the annual Star Meet. Swimmer Adam Meyer and diver Olaf Olson each earned their third weekly award, while Katie Griffin won her fifth diver of the week award this season. American's Meghan Thiel earned her second swimmer of the week award.

Patriot League Swimming and Diving Release - 12.4.07

Male Swimmer of the Week
Adam Meyer, Navy So., Bethesda, Md.
Meyer earns his third swimmer of the week nod after an impressive performance in the victory over Army. Meyer finished first in both the 200 Fly and 200 IM events, with times of 1:58.86 and 2:01.66, respectively. These times were good enough to make the NCAA `B' Cut qualifying mark, and also set Lejeune Hall metric records. Meyer also finished second in the 200 Breast event, setting a Navy metric record in the process.

Female Swimmer of the Week
Meghan Thiel, American Sr., Arlington, Va.
Thiel earns her second swimmer of the week award this season after a solid performance at last weekend's USA Swimming Short Course Nationals in Atlanta, Ga. The senior set two NCAA `B' Cut marks in the 500 Free and 1650 Free events, with times of 4:53.39 and 16:41.50, respectively. The meet contained a field of swimmers from schools and clubs across the country. The times were also in close proximity to the NCAA `A' cut threshold.

Male Diver of the Week
Olaf Olson, Navy Fr., Bainbridge Island, Wash.
Olson wins his third diver of the week award after splitting the diving events in Navy's dual meet with Army. The newcomer finished third in the one-meter event with a score of 263.63, and finished first in the three-meter event by posting a score of 342.00. He now has a 8-3 record in the three-meter event this season.

Female Diver of the Week
Katie Griffin, Navy Sr., Ellicott City, Md.
Griffin wins her fifth diver of the week award this season following a strong performance in the dual meet with Army. The senior recorded scores of 277.05 in the one-meter event and 304.05 in the three-meter event to take home first place in both. She improved her season mark to a combined 22-0, and her two wins against Army moved her into a second-place tie for the most career diving event victories in Army-Navy meet history (5).

Honorable Mention

Caren Guyett, Colgate
Fr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
Guyett led the Colgate women to a third-place finish at the Nike Invitational. The freshman finished first in the 500 Free, and second in three other events. Her time of 2:02.36 in the 200 Fly set a Patriot League record and qualified her for an NCAA `B' cut.

Thuy-Mi Dinh, Navy
So., Anaheim, Calif.
Dinh won the 50 and 100 Free events in Navy's victory over Army last week. Her time in the 50 Free qualified her for an NCAA `B' cut standard.

Patriot League Notebook

Navy Tops List of Mid-Major Programs
The Navy men's swimming and diving team is currently ranked No. 1 in the CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major Poll. The poll currently has 22 members, including the Bucknell men's program which comes in at No. 18. The Bucknell women are also ranked, as they find themselves at No. 19 in the women's poll. The poll has four release dates throughout the course of the season: November 14 (pre-Invite), December 20 (post-invite), February 6 (pre-Conference) and March 6 (post-Conference).

Quotable
"Both teams were swimming very well coming into tonight," said Navy head coach Bill Roberts. "Because of that, we knew the type of effort we would need to put forth in order to reach the goals we had set for ourselves." Navy Men's Head Coach Bill Roberts following a win over arch-rival Army.

"We had a lot of great performances tonight. We really came together as a team over the last few weeks because we knew that was needed for us to have the kind of night we had this evening." Navy Captain Mike Lowhorn following the win over Army.

"Our results surpassed what we were hoping for coming into today," said Navy head coach John Morrison. "We did some different things leading up to this meet, but those changes really paid off tonight." Navy Head Coach John Morrison after a win over Army.

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 did not compete as a team last week, but senior swimmer Meghan Thiel traveled to Atlanta, Ga. to take part in the USA Swimming National Meet. Thiel was impressive at the event, finishing in three of the races. She swam the 200 Free in a time of 1:51.70 to place 77th and swam the 500 Free in a time of 4:53.39 to finish in 40th. Her best finish was 18th in the 1650 Free, which she swam in a time of 16:41.50.

Army
The Black Knights were defeated in both the men's and women's events at the annual dual-meet with Navy. The women were led by Chelsea Freeman and Kim DiFiori, who recorded victories in the 100 Fly and 100 Breast, respectively. Senior Jake Mentele led the Army men with two victories, winning the 100 and 200 Breast events.

Bucknell
The Bison competed in the Princeton Invitational last week, with the men finishing seventh of eight teams and the women 11th of 11. Luke Trafton led the Bucknell men by posting the 10th fastest 200 Fly time in school history, and accounted for 15 of the team's 86 points. Senior Kristen Skroski was the top swimmer for the women, moving into fourth place on Bucknell's top-10 list in both the 500 Free and 200 Free events.

Colgate
The Raiders traveled to Gambier, Ohio for the Nike Invitational last week. The men finished seventh of eight teams, while the women finished third of eight. Freshman Tucker Gniewek was the top finisher for the men, swimming the ninth-fastest time in school history in the 50 Free event. Fellow newcomer Caren Guyett led the Colgate women, as she finished first in the 500 Free, and second in the 200 Fly, 200 and 400 IM events.

Holy Cross
The Crusaders remained idle from competition last week, and will return to action in 2008, when the women host CCSU and Vermont on January 13.

Lafayette
The Leopards have finished competing in 2007, and will return to the pool on January 16 when they host Binghamton and Stony Brook.

Lehigh
The Mountain Hawks have finished the 2007 portion of their schedule, and return to competition on January 12 when they travel to Marist.

Navy
Navy completed a sweep of Army in the annual Star Meet last Thursday. It was a record-setting day in the pool for both the men's and women's teams, as they combined to set seven Lejeune Hall records in the lopsided victories. Adam Meyer led the charge for the men, winning the 200 Fly and 200 IM events, both of which were Army-Navy meet records. Thuy-Mi Dinh was the top swimmer for the women, as she set Lejeune Hall records in the 50 and 100 Free events.