Bison Invite

LEWISBURG, Pennsylvania, January 31. THE Navy women's swimming and diving team closed out its regular season by taking part in the Bison Invitational Saturday afternoon at Kinney Natatorium on the Bucknell campus in Lewisburg, Pa. There was no scoring at the invite that included American, Bucknell and the Midshipmen.

"This was a good meet for us in preparation for the upcoming Patriot League Championship," said Navy head coach John Morrison. "There was good competition today from each of the teams in every event. It gives us a taste of what we will see in a few weeks."

Posting a trio of individual event victories on the day for Navy was Thuy-Mi Dinh (Jr., Anaheim, Calif.). The defending Patriot League champion in both sprint freestyle events, Dinh recorded victories in the 100 backstroke, the 100 butterfly and the 50 free. Her clocking of 22.99 in the latter event marked the fifth time she has recorded a time of under 23 seconds in the 50 free during her career and was just six-tenths of a second away from her own school and league record.

"Thuy-Mi had a very good meet," said Navy head coach John Morrison. "She hadn't competed in either the 100 fly or 100 back since before Thanksgiving, so her times today in those events were strong."

Though Dinh was the lone Mid to win an individual event on the day, Navy swimmers had a number of strong second-place showings in several races. Kelly Zahalka (Sr., Richmond, Va.) placed second in the 200 individual medley, Tara Chapmon (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) finished second to Dinh in the 100 back, Brooke Besche (So., Severna Park, Md.) placed second in the 100 breaststroke, Nicole Glab (Fr., Scarborough, Maine) was the runnerup in the 200 fly, Sarah Lindberg (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz.) placed second behind Dinh in the 100 fly and Katherine Jones (Fr., Dallas, Texas) finished in second place in the 200 backstroke.

Additionally, Navy swimmers combined to finish in both first and second place in a pair of relay events that were contested on the day. The foursome of Besche, Allison Aichele (Jr., Middletown, Md.), Allison Ranzau (So., Alpharetta, Ga.) and Kelly Reightler (Fr., Stafford, Va.) began the day by edging the team of Lauren Milliron (Sr., Richmond, Va.), Heather Klein (So., Chicago, Ill.), Sarah Freshwater (Fr., Mount Vernon, Ohio) and Chapmon by 1.05 seconds for the victory in the 200 freestyle relay. Later in the meet, Chapmon, Besche, Dinh and Jennie Spencer (Sr., Smithburg, W.Va.) combined to win the 200 medley relay by 2.35 seconds over the squad of Natalie Albertson (So., St. Paul, Minn.), Mallory Dietrich (Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.), Lindberg and Milliron.

Navy will now turn its attention to the Patriot League Championship, which will be held Feb. 19-21 in Lewisburg, Pa.

"I think today's competition really sets us up well for the league championship," said Morrison. "I feel we will be one of a number of teams who will be in the hunt for the title."

Special thanks to Navy for contributing this report.

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