2019 PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 20 – Saturday, February 23
- Bucknell University (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Navy men (15x) & Navy women (7x)
- Live results
- Championship Central
Another year, but the same refrain in the Patriot League: the Navy Midshipmen finished the 2019 championship with dominant team performances, with the women coming away with an 8th-straight title and the men a 16th-straight.
Navy woman Lauren Barber finished her conference career as the most decorated Patriot League student-athlete in any sport in League history, ending her career with a perfect 28-for-28 in conference championships, including 12 individual titles; and was name the Patriot League Swimmer of the Year for the 3rd-straight season (after Rookie of the Year as a freshman).
Meet Awards:
- Women’s Swimmer of the Year – Lauren Barber, Navy – Barber won the 100 breast, 200 breast, and 400 IM for the 3rd-straight season. In addition, she was on 4 winning relays, which means that she finished her career with the maximum 28 possible Patriot League titles. She’s a likely qualifier to the NCAA Championships in March.
- Men’s Swimmer of the Meet – Ryan Waters, Navy – Waters won the 200 and 500 free at the meet.
- Women’s Rookie of the Meet – Martina Thomas, Navy – Thomas finished her opening Patriot League Championship with a win in the 100 free on Saturday, adding to earlier wins in the 200 and 500 free.
- Men’s Rookie of the Meet – Caleb Mauldin, Navy – Maudin won titles in the 100 back (47.57) and 200 back (1:43.86) at his first Patriot League Championship.
- Women’s Diver of the Meet – Hannah Montau, Navy – Swept the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions, including a Meet Record in the latter with a score of 321.60.
- Men’s Diver of the Meet – Bradley Buchter, Navy – Buchter swept the two springboard events at the championships and qualified for Zone competition in both. This is his 3rd-straight springboard sweep. The Patriot League doesn’t offer platform diving at its championship.
- Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year – John Morrison, Navy
- Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year – Bill Roberts, Navy
- Women’s Diving Coach of the Year – Rich MacDonald, Navy
- Men’s Diving Coach of the Year – Rich MacDonald, Navy
Women’s Day 4 Recap
Final Team Scores:
1. Navy 941
2. Army West Point 496
3. Bucknell 482
4. Lehigh 447
5. Boston U. 405
6. Loyola Maryland 285
7. Colgate 175
8. Holy Cross 153
9. American 142
10. Lafayette 68
The Navy women ran away with their 8th-straight title, scoring 941 points and winning by 455. Not only is that the highest margin of victory in the women’s meet in Patriot League history, but it’s also the 2nd-highest point total in league history, behind only Navy’s 2016 team, which scored 958.5 points.
That also put Navy into a tie for the Patriot League Record for most titles in a single sport with 18. Both Navy and Bucknell’s indoor track & field teams have won 18 Patriot League titles in a row.
The final day of competition was led by Navy’s star senior and freshman duo, Lauren Barber and Martina Thomas, who each came away with their 3rd individual wins of the meet. Thomas went first, winning the 100 free in 49.74, just .37 seconds ahead of Lehigh’s Ann Foley (50.11), who was the 50 champion earlier in the meet. After winning by 2.6 and 3.5 seconds, respectively, in the 200 and 500, that was the closest competition that Thomas got in the meet.
In the next women’s event of the meet, Lauren Barber swam a 2:11.22 to win the 200 breaststroke running away: her 4th-straight title in the event. That also broke the Pool Record.
Those two wins were part of a near-perfect last day for Navy. They also picked up wins in the 200 back (junior Jamie Miller – 1:56.67); 200 fly (junior Delaney Walz – 1:57.34); and 3-meter springboard (freshman Hannah Montau – 321.60). Both Walz’s swim and Montau’s diving were new Meet Records (though both just-missed the Conference Records).
The Midshipmen’s only hole of the day came in the mile, where Bucknell freshman Maddie Hartigan won in 16:44.99, beating out Navy’s Erin Scudder (16:49.58) for the win.
Men’s Day 4 Recap
1. Navy 1037.5
2. Army West Point 781.5
3. Bucknell 397
4. Boston U. 376
5. Lehigh 330
6. Loyola Maryland 277
7. American 154
8. Lafayette 126
9. Holy Cross 97
10. Colgate 78
The story of the final day of the Patriot League Championships was the same story as most of the meet: the Army and Navy men split the blue ribbons, but Navy’s men had big depth that cemented (and extended) their lead over Army – though only by about 40 points on Saturday, with no men’s diving on the books.
Navy sophomore Luke Johnson opened the session with a win in the mile in 14:58.95. That makes him just the 2nd swimmer in league history to break 15 minutes, and left him a fingernail shy of Erik Hunter’s league record of 14:58.72.
The Freshman of the Meet Caleb Mauldin won the next event, the 200 backstroke, in 1:43.86. That was part of a Navy 1-2-3 with Billy Cadigan and Dominick Wallace that went 1-2-3 in the race. The top 6 finishers (including all 3 Navy swimmers) were freshmen or sophomores.
Army interrupted the Navy run in the next race, the 100 free, where junior Nate Hein won in 43.77, beating out Navy’s Zachary Piedt (44.17). The top 6 finishers in that race (and 9 out of the top 11) all swim for one of the two academies.
Army made it two-straight thanks to a dominant win by freshman Evan Zhang in the 200 breaststroke. He won in 1:55.65, nearly 2 seconds clear of the hoard of Navy swimmers chasing him: the Midshipmen finished 2nd-5th in the race.
Navy’s last win of the meet came in the 200 fly, where sophomore Micah Oh won a nail-biter over sophomore Stuart Vickery 1:47.31 – 1:47.41. That’s Oh’s first-career individual Patriot League title.
The Army men finished the meet with a stunner in the 400 free relay, where the team of Nate Hein (44.23), Kevin Doo (43.77), Billy Webber (43.42), and Brandon McCredie (44.24) combined to win in a new Pool Record of 2:55.66, beating out Navy’s runner-up 2:56.27 relay. This relay has been a staple of Navy’s conference dominance: they had won the last 12 editions since Army won in 2007.