Army Women Claim Swimming & Diving Star at Home

Army West Point Swimming & Diving made history Thursday night at Crandall Pool as they swept Navy in the 2024 Star Meet to collect both stars up for grabs in the Star Series, presented by USAA.

The Black Knights collected wins simultaneously over Navy for the first time in 36 years with 27 first place finishes, 12 program records, and 11 Crandall Pool records.

Crandall Pool was abuzz with energy from the commencement of the diving events all the way through the final shrill of the officials' whistle. After a brief pause due to technical difficulties delayed the start of the night's swimming events, the Black Knights flew into action, seemingly unstoppable as the night progressed.

The Black Knights' 85-point differential in their Thursday win over Navy stands as Army Men's Swimming & Diving's largest margin of victory over the Mids in program history. Army's previous largest win came in 2022 with the Black Knights' 78-point lead over Navy.

Army dominated the top spot on the podium as the Black Knights' men's team claimed 15 of the 16 first place finishes up for grabs for the men while the Black Knights' women's team claimed 12 of the 16 first place finishes up for contention Thursday night.

Minh Donnell and Marianne Orr earned second and third place on the 1-meter board with scores of 245.00 and 244.85 before claiming second and third place on the high board with scored of 253.45 and 234.65 respectively.

The women's swimmers kicked off the night's swim events with a first-place finish in the women's 200 medley relay on a program and pool record-setting time of 1:39.43 from Angie McKane, Catriona Gilmore, Sydney Braeger, and Meghan Cole.

Molly Webber then claimed first place in the women's 1000 free with a time of 10:01.46 before earning second place in the women's 200 free with a 1:47.93, touching the wall just over a second behind Clara Williams' program-record setting time of 1:46.73 which secured her first place.

Angie McKane and Jenna Hart earned first place and third place respectively in the women's 100 back with their times of 54.05 and 55.16. McKane's time broke the former pool record of 54.10, set by Army Swimming & Diving's Kelly Hamilton in 2016.

Gilmore graced the top three once more in the women's 100 breast, claiming second place with a gutsy 1:01.21 showing to prevent a Navy sweep of the top spots.

Army then saw success from across their roster as freshman Sydney Braeger claimed first place in the women's 200 fly with a program and plebe record-setting time of 1:58.64 and senior captain Margaret Kroening secured third place with a season-best 2:00.63.

Cole returned to the water with a vengeance in the women's 50 free, breaking the previous program and pool records for the event that she set in 2022 at 22.54 with a 22.52 in the night's events.

Williams then notched a first-place finish in the women's 100 free for Army with her time of 50.10 – one one-hundredth of a second behind the program record of 50.09 set by Williams last season.

Junior Layne Peterson then recorded a time of 1:58.39 in the women's 200 back, joined in the top three by freshman Jenna Hart with a 1:59.98.

Army next earned second place in the women's 200 breast as Catriona Gilmore posted a time of 2:13.46 to earn four points for the Black Knights.

Webber and Williams went off in the women's 500 free to claim first and second place exactly one second apart with times of 4:51.87 and 4:52.87.

McKane and Cole were the next Black Knight pair to claim places in the top three as McKane earned first place in the women's 100 fly on a program, plebe, and Crandall Pool record-setting time of 52.51 with Cole claiming third place with a 54.13.

Gilmore grabbed the top spot in the women's 200 IM with a time of 2:00.94 before Williams, Webber, Hart, and Cole brought home a first-place finish in the night's final women's event, clocking a 3:21.11 in the women's 400 free relay.