Patriot League Championships: Day One

LEWISBURG, Pennsylvania, February 20. THE 2009 Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championships started with a bang on the first of three days of festivities Thursday, as the reigning champion Navy men and Colgate women finished the day atop the team standings. Six Patriot League and seven Patriot League Championship Meet records were set by the end of the evening session. The Championship is being held at Kinney Natatorium on the campus of Bucknell University.

The morning preliminary session saw three Patriot League and Patriot League Championship Meets fall. On the men’s side, Bucknell junior Luke Trafton made an NCAA B-cut time and shattered the previous record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:23.37. American’s Erwan Jeffroy set the previous record of 4:25.19 at the 2004 championship meet.

For the women, Navy junior Thuy-Mi Dinh broke her own Patriot League and League Championship Meet record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.36, an NCAA B-cut time. Dinh’s previous record of 22.37 was set at last year’s championship. Emily Murphy of Colgate shaved nearly three seconds off the previous record of 2:03.19 in the 200-yard IM with her time of 2:00.67, also an NCAA B-cut. The previous record belonged to Navy’s Aubra Thomas and was set at the 2004 Patriot League Championships.

In the first finals event of the evening session, the Colgate women picked up their first victory of the meet. The 200-yard free relay team of Emily Peck, Beverly Walker, Emily Murphy and Ashley Bottger beat Navy with a time of 1:35.25.

The men’s 200-yard free relay finish was a bit tighter, with the top three teams finishing within one second of each other. Navy came away victorious, winning the event in 1:23.64, while Bucknell came in second at 1:24.09. Army took home third place with a time of 1:24.27.

The fourth Patriot League and Patriot League Championship Meet record fell during the women’s 500-yard free finals, as Navy’s Tara Chapmon swam a 4:45.12. Chapmon was the record-holder in the event for both the Patriot League (4:46.68) and Patriot League Championship Meet (4:46.70).

Navy took home the top four spots in the men’s 500-yard free finals, with sophomore Erik Hunter shattering hours-old Patriot League and Patriot League Championship Meet records with a time of 4:18.56. Hunter’s time was also an NCAA B-cut.

Colgate’s Emily Murphy finished first in the women’s 200-yard IM final with a time of 2:01.06, just shy of her Patriot League and League Championship Meet record-setting time from earlier in the day.

Two pairs of brothers competed in the men’s 200-yard IM finals, with Navy’s Adam and Mark Meyer swimming next to each other in lanes three and four, while Army’s Brody and Will Blickle swam in lanes one and seven. But the elder Meyer was victorious in this event, winning the race in 1:45.33 and setting a new Patriot League Championship Meet record as Navy swept the top five positions in the event.

Navy junior Thuy-Mi Dinh made another NCAA B-cut time and took home the 2009 Patriot League women’s 50-yard free title with a time with 22.38, just two-hundredths of a second off of her Patriot League and Patriot League Championship meet records set earlier in the day. Colgate senior Ashley Bottger (22.73) and American sophomore Dorothy Isaacs (23.23) finished second and third, respectively, in the event.

Bucknell picked up its first individual event victory of the meet in a tight race, with senior Mark Kawczenski winning the men’s 50-yard free in 20.26. All eight competitors finished within four tenths of a second of Kawczenski.

In the men’s three-meter diving finals, Navy finished one-two-three in the event; with sophomore Olaf Olson taking home the title with a score of 360.87 in six dives. Olson dethroned the 2008 three-meter champion and teammate Jon Galinski, who finished second with 335.28 points.

The Colgate women got another big win in the 400-yard medley relay, shattering both the Patriot League and Patriot League Championship Meet records with a 3:29.33. The team of Beverly Walker, Emily Murphy, Erin McGraw and Ashley Bottger easily outpaced the runners-up from Bucknell, who finished the race in 3:46.73. The previous Patriot League and League Championship Meet records of 3:47.48 were set by Bucknell at the 2005 League Championships.

The sixth Patriot League and seventh Patriot League Championship Meet record of the night fell in the last event of the evening, with the Navy men’s team of Andrew Hetzner, Ari Molina, Adam Meyer and Alex Oldenkamp shaving over four seconds off the previous record in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:15.01. Army set the previous League and League Championship Meet records at the 2007 title meet.

Through the first day’s events, Navy led the team standings on the men’s side with 293 points, followed by Bucknell with 161 and Army with 143. Colgate leads the way for the women heading into tomorrow’s competition with 210 points, followed by Navy with 195 and Bucknell in third with 172.

Day two of the Patriot League Championships begins Friday with a 10:30 a.m. start time for the preliminary session, followed by the finals at 6 p.m.

Special thanks to Patriot League for contributing this report.

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