Navy Men's Swimming & Diving Earn Star with Big Win

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's swimming and diving team took the lead for good after the second event on its way to winning 11 events and recording a 206-94 victory over the Black Knights.

"A very special day for our programs and the Naval Academy," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts. "We would first like to thank everybody who made this meet possible in the athletic department, the Naval Academy and within our program. The support was second to none and it really set the table for an unbelievable experience for everybody who participated today. The atmosphere here for this meet, year in and year out, is unlike anything else you see in college swimming.  All credit to the team, especially the Class of 2026. Led by team captain Ben Stankovich, they have been bought in since they day they arrived and really wanted to make this a special season. It was a lot of fun for us to see them reach many of their goals today. I could not be more proud to be the coach at Navy and to work with these young men and women who will go out and lead our country in a short time."

 

Army took an early 11-6 lead by winning the 200 medley relay, then Navy won the next two events to take a 36-19 advantage. Ben Mauldin placed first in the 1000 free in a time of 8:56.56, with teammate Chase Maier finishing in second place with a clocking of 9:00.78.  

"We knew Army had a special relay," said Roberts. "We did what we could against the relay, and we knew after that we didn't have a lot of room to spare.  We had to be strong in the 1000 free. The exciting part of the 1000 was that it was a very tight race and then you started to see some people pull away.   I think guys just started to realize what's possible inside of them in a close race.  You have to work past that pain you are feeling and everything you are fighting against in the water to get to the wall.  The 1000 guys did a great job of showing the rest of the team what is inside of you.  And then the next few races were supposed to be very close, but the Navy swimmers really stepped up.  I think it goes back to this being a momentum meet."

The Mids followed with their first of seven first, second and third-place finishes on the day in the 200 free. Xavier Sohovich won the race (1:33.77), Martin Perecinsky finished second (1:34.41) and Stankovich recorded a third-place showing (1:34.93).  Their efforts boosted the Mids to a 36-19 lead.

Army won the 100 back and 100 breast events to draw to within 52-41, but a 1-2-3 finish in both the 200 fly (won by Dean Jones, 1:42.92) and 50 free (Lachlan Andrew, 19.47) gave Navy an 84-47 lead, which became a 95-55 advantage after Anthony Sciulli won the one-meter diving event (302.40) to end the first half of the meet.

Ben Denman-Grimm, who was edged by one-hundredth of a second by Andrew in the 50 free, posted a time of 42.95 to win the 100 free. Ben Irwin then led a 1-2-3 finish for Navy in the 200 back (1:39.93), with Michael Phillips recording a 1:52.43 to win the 200 breast.  Navy then placed first, second, third and fourth in the 500 free, which was led by a 4:19.53 effort by Dean Jones. Irwin earned his second win the day in the 100 fly (46.93), with Luke Ogren pacing a 1-2-3 finish for the Mids in three-meter diving with his score of 325.13.  Another 1-2-3-4 finish for Navy in the 200 IM (won by Gio Aguirre, 1:46.95) closed the individual event portion of the meet.

Army would win the meet-ending 400 free relay.

"It was great to see our senior Anthony Sciullia win one board and freshman Luke Ogren win the other," said Fisher.  "All of our divers did a great job of staying in the moment."