The depth of the Navy Men's Swimming & Team carried the Mids to the Star victory over Army on Friday with a 188-112 win in the annual Star Meet as part of the Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA.
Navy finished at a minimum of first and second in seven events to earn the win.
"On behalf of our staff," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts, who is now 22-2 against the Black Knights, "I could not be prouder of our team. They bought into everything we asked of them and executed extremely well all fall leading up to tonight's meet. There were several significant changes with this meet, and I felt we adjusted very well from beginning to end.
"We also want to extend our congratulations to our women's team for a dominant performance tonight. They were extremely impressive and fun to both watch and support."
The diving events were held prior to the start of the swimming portion of the meet. The Navy men's team held a 31-7 edge after the Mids placed first, second and third in the one-meter event and first, second and fourth in the three-meter competition. James Boardman won both boards in his first Army-Navy meet with scores of 344.05 on the one-meter board and 368.50 in the three-meter event. Finn Gelbach placed second (336.20) and Andrew Garrison third (286.85) in the former event and Gelbach was second (346.35) in the latter.
In the men's races, Army won the 200 medley relay to allow the Black Knights to slightly cut into the Navy lead (37-18). The Mids quickly regained control in the 1000 free as Chase Maier (8:57.45), Luca Oliva (9:13.20) and Paul Mullen (9:22.75) were the top-three finishers in the race. Martin Perecinsky followed by winning the 200 free in a time of 1:33.55.
Army swept the first-place finishes in the women's and men's 100 backstroke races in what would be the lone time the Black Knights would do so on the night.
The first half of the meet ended with Navy placing first ( Lachlan Andrew, 19.75), second (Preston Kessler, 19.83) and third (Henry Cain, 20.01) in the men's sprint.
Navy started the second half with another 1-2-3 Navy finish in the 200 breast with Warriner (2:12.58), Barnard (2:12.85) and Bryan (2:16.84) claiming the three medals.
The Navy teams proceeded to combine to outscore Army 32-6 in the 500 free races. Aten (4:50.40), Stoneburg (4:52.69) and Rose (4:59.49) were the top-three finishers in the women's race with Maier (4:20.72), Jones (4:23.99) and Ben Mauldin (4:24.10) matching that effort in the men's race.
The last two individual events of the meet on the men's side saw Army win the 100 fly before Noah Robinson won (1:47.41) and Coleman Yates finished second (1:48.98) in the 200 IM.
"I want to make special mention of our seniors for leading the way with team captain Ben Irwins in front," said Roberts. "They really have been awesome in the way they have led this team. We're so happy for them along with the entire team, and are excited to keep this going."