Navy Sports

GreatAmerican · February 23, 2008, 9:51pm

Army 70, Navy 66 (OT)

For Immediate Release
Sent Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772

Navy Falls to Army in Overtime

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army scored the last three points of regulation to force overtime and then tallied the last six points of the extra period to record a 70-66 victory over the Navy womens basketball team, Saturday afternoon at Christl Arena in West Point.

I want to first congratulate Army, said Navy head coach Tom Marryott. They played great, as did we. We jumped out early on them and they were able to withstand it.

We have been playing well lately and this may have been our most complete game of the year.

Navy has posted a 1-3 record over its last three games, with the three setbacks coming by a total of 11 points.

We have been playing a lot better over the last few games against the top teams in the league and we are smart enough to realize that we have been playing well, said Marryott. We hope to continue that over the last week of the season and into the tournament.

Army (17-10, 8-4 Patriot League) scored the opening basket of the game, but Navy (6-21, 2-10) scored the next seven points and built a lead of as many as 10 points in the first half before going into the locker room at intermission holding a 30-23 advantage.

The Black Knights opened the second half on an 11-3 run to take a 34-33 lead before a small run by the Mids gave Navy a 43-38 advantage with 11:25 left to play. A jumper by K.C. Gordon (So., Vienna, Va.) with 6:54 remaining also gave the Mids a five-point advantage at 50-45. Army would take a 54-53 lead with 2:28 left to play following a jumper from Margaree King, but a pair of free throws from Gordon and another two free throws from Kalen Kropa (Jr., Reidsville, N.C.) allowed Navy to take a 57-54 lead with 1:46 remaining in regulation.

Armys Erin Anthony was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound and her two free throws made it a one-point game with 1:25 left on the clock. The Navy lead was returned to three points when Cassie Consedine (Fr., Bartlesville, Okla.) connected on a jumper with 60 seconds left in the half. Armys Cara Enright made one of two attempts from the foul line with 48 seconds left to pull the Black Knights to within 59-57 with 48 seconds remaining.

Navy took time off the clock on its ensuing possession and Consedine missed a three-pointer with 16 seconds left, with the rebound being knocked out of bounds and possession given to Army. Alex McGuire would miss a layup for Army with nine seconds left, but Megan Evans grabbed the errant carom and was fouled by Gordon with eight seconds showing on the clock. She sank both free throws to tie the game and when Consedines three-pointer missed at the buzzer the teams were headed into overtime for only the third time in the 50 Army-Navy games.

Army took a 62-59 lead 90 seconds into overtime, but a three-pointer by Angela Myers (Fr., San Antonio, Texas) tied the game on Navys next time down the floor. A pair of free throws gave the Black Knights a 64-62 advantage with three minutes to play until a pair of free throws on back-to-back possessions by Gordon and Myers gave the Mids a 66-64 lead with 1:47 left to play.

Enright knotted the game on a jumper with 1:32 remaining and the Black Knights regained possession of the ball when Consedine misfired on a field goal attempt with 1:11 showing on the clock. Evans would miss a jumper of her own, but McGuire grabbed the rebound with 57 seconds left to keep the ball in the hands of the Black Knights. Twenty seconds later, Evans scored to give Army a 68-66 lead.

Gordon missed a shot in the paint for Navy with 11 seconds left and Enright was immediately fouled after hauling in the rebound. She would miss both free throws, but her latter errant attempt was grabbed by Erin Anthony with nine seconds left. The Army possession was short lived, however, as she turned the ball over with seven seconds left. After a Navy timeout, Myers had the ball stolen away from her by King with four seconds left. Myers fouled King right away, who made two free throws to seal the victory.

Navy shot 50 percent from the field in the first half while holding Army to a shooting percentage of 33.3. The percentages were reversed in the second half as Army shot 53.8 percent from the floor to Navys 38.5 percent.

The Mids turned the ball over 15 times in the game while forcing the Black Knights into 14 turnovers, but Army held a 41-30 advantage on the glass thanks in part to grabbing the last four rebounds of the game.

Second chance opportunities really hurt us, said Marryott.

Navys starters played 181 of the 225 minutes in the game and scored all but six of Navys points. Five Mids played at least 30 minutes in the game, with Consedine totaling 43 minutes of playing time. In contrast, Armys starters played 115 minutes and were outscored 40-30 by its bench. Only three Black Knights totaled at least 30 minutes of playing time over the course of the contest.

Our legs were starting to go in the overtime period, said Marryott. Army was a lot fresher at that point of the game.

Navy was whistled for 23 fouls in the game and the Black Knights converted 18-of-28 attempts from the foul line. Conversely, Army was called for 18 fouls which allowed the Mids to connect on 13-of-20 shots from the charity stripe. The Mids sank five three-point field goals in the game, with Army misfiring on all five of its attempts from beyond the arc.

Consedines 17 points paced all players in the game and she was one of three Mids to haul in six rebounds. One of those additional players with six caroms was Gordon, who also added 16 points in the contest, while Kropa totaled 11 points and five assists.

Army was led by Cara Enrights 15 points.

Navy will close the regular season this week with games Wednesday at American and Saturday, March 1 at home against Colgate. Both games are slated to begin at 7 p.m.

GreatAmerican · February 23, 2008, 9:53pm

For Immediate Release
Sent Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772

Mids Sweep Leopards in League Opener

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy tennis team lost just three games in doubles and did not drop a set in singles in posting a 7-0 victory over Lafayette, Saturday afternoon at the Tose Family Tennis Center. The win was the fourth-straight recorded by the Mids, all coming by scores of 7-0, and improved Navy’s record on the year to 9-2. Lafayette fell to 0-3 on its campaign with the loss.

“We came out and played extremely well in the doubles,” said Navy head coach John Officer. “Everyone was very sharp. In the singles, we had some moments where our level dropped, but once again we did a good job of righting ourselves and getting back on track. It felt good to get started with the league season. We were able to play nine players in the match, so that shows our depth is excellent.”

Each of Navy’s three doubles teams won their respective matches by identical scores of 8-1. In singles, both Nate Nelms (Jr., St. Mary’s, Ga.) at No. 1 and Jarrad Smoke (So., Belmar, N.J.) at No. 6 lost only two games in winning their matches. Also playing well was Jason Hill (Jr., Jr., Marietta, Ga.), who lost a total of three games in his win at No. 3 singles, and Joe Wiggins (Fr., Acworth, Ga.), who lost only five games in his straight-set win at No. 5 singles.

“I felt Jarrad Smoke was the player of the day for us,” said Officer.

Navy will close out an extended homestand Sunday when the Mids play host to Yale in a 12 Noon match at the Tose Family Tennis Center.

Navy 7, Lafayette 0
Doubles – Navy wins the doubles point (match finish: 2-1-3)

Nelms / Waters (N) def. Kojanis / Kraft, 8-1
Alex James / Ramsey Lemaich (N) def. McGranaghan, 8-1
Nick Birger / Hill (N) def. Haar / McLelland, 8-1

Singles (match finish: 3-1-6-4-5-2)

Nate Nelms (N) def. Eric Wiley, 6-0, 6-2
Johnny Waters (N) def. Justin Haar, 6-1, 7-5
Jason Hill (N) def. Brett Kraft, 6-1, 6-2
Owen Bullard (N) def. Lee Kojanis, 7-5, 6-2
Joe Wiggins (N) def. Matt McGranaghan, 6-1, 6-4
Jarrad Smoke (N) def. Kyle McLelland, 6-1, 6-1

GreatAmerican · February 23, 2008, 9:54pm

For Immediate Release
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Maggart (410) 293-8771

Navy Pounds Out 16-5 Victory Over Air Force

MILLINGTON, Tenn. Navy third baseman Kendall Bolt (So./Stockton, Calif.) belted a home run, a double and scored three runs to the lead Midshipmen to a convincing 16-5 victory over Air Force in baseball action at the Service Academy Spring Classic at USA Stadium on Saturday.

The Midshipmen, who defeated Air Force yesterday in the season opener, improved to 2-0 on the young campaign. Navy has come away victorious in each of the last-six contests against the Falcons, dating back to the 2005 season.

Navy totaled 20 base hits on the afternoon, eight of which were of the extra-base variety. The Midshipmen also drew five walks, was hit by a pitch once and took advantage of four Air Force errors. Each of Navys starters scored at least once and seven batters recorded a multi-hit effort.

We had a pretty good all-around, balanced offensive performance as a team today, stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos, who improved to 7-1 in Service Academy Spring Classic affairs. Kendall had a good day. Jonathan (Wright) did a solid job at leadoff and Matthew (Curley) came up with hits at key moments.

Leadoff hitter Jonathan Wright (Fr./Arden, N.C.) went 4-for-5 with a walk, two RBIs and run scored, while Matthew Curley (So./Boston, Mass.) and Mike Hoosier (So./Pomona, N.Y.) each recorded three hits and Michael Speciale (So./Pearland, Texas) crossed home plate four times in a 2-for-3 effort with a pair of walks.

Air Force jumped out to a 1-0 lead after one inning, but Navys offense came alive in scoring during each of the next-seven innings.

Its very important in college baseball to continue chipping away at all times, said Kostacopoulos. You cannot sit on a lead at any point, which was great to see out of our team today as we kept adding to the lead.

Navy took the lead for good with a three-run second inning, highlighted by Hoosiers RBI-double with two outs and would later score on an Air Force throwing error. In the third, the Midshipmen sent 10 batters to the plate and recorded five-consecutive base hits in plating four runs in the stanza.

After an Air Force run in the third, Bolt immediately responded with a leadoff solo blast in the fourth and Renaldo Hollins (Sr./Virginia Beach, Va.) lifted a sacrifice fly in the fifth to push the Navy lead to 9-2.

Navy continued to build its cushion, plating two runs in the sixth, four in the seventh and one in the eight. Catcher Steven Soares (So./Coral Springs, Fla.) and Hoosier each smacked a RBI-double in the sixth. One inning later, both Bolt and Curley delivered run-scoring doubles. Team captain Thomas Hamilton (Sr./Houston, Texas) capped the offensive production on the day with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Right-hander Mark McCoy (Sr./Parkland, Fla.) picked up the win on Saturday, as he scattered seven hits and two runs over five innings with two walks and six strikeouts. Reliever Chris Murray (So./Navarre, Fla.) fired three innings of perfect relief with three strikeouts to earn the unconventional save, the first of his career.

Mark had some command issues today, but battled through and gave us five complete innings, stated Kostacopoulos. Chris threw extremely well today, which is nice to see early in the year.

Navys defense also had a solid showing in its second game of the year, as it did not commit an error in 37 chances and turned a double play in the fifth inning.

The Midshipmen will aim for their second Service Academy Spring Classic title in three years when they take on Arkansas State tomorrow at 2 p.m. EST (1 p.m. EST). Tomorrows expected matchup will feature Navy southpaw Yale Eckert (So./La Selva Beach, Calif.) and Arkansas State right-hander Jacob Maggard.

GreatAmerican · February 23, 2008, 10:01pm

Navy Wins Sixth Straight Star Game, 71-63

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Navy outscored Army, 46-28, over the final 16 minutes to claim its sixth straight Star Game with a 71-63 victory over the host Black Knights on Saturday afternoon. The win moves Navy’s record to 15-12 overall and 8-4 in the Patriot League. Navy moved within one game of idle American (9-3) for the Patriot League regular-season lead. Army fell to 11-15 overall and 4-8 in the Patriot League.

Adam Teague came off the bench to record his first career double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Clif Colbert added 17 points and six rebounds. Chris Harris scored 11 points and equaled a career high with seven rebounds.

“I’m proud of our effort today. Army made it a very tough game, and I think their defense is among the best in the country,” said Navy head coach Billy Lange. “They get after you and make things tough on offense. I thought our guys really responded well in the second half. We had some upperclassmen step up. We keep talking about it being a race and one game at a time and we took another big step forward tonight in a hostile environment.”

With the defenses geared to stopping the league’s top two scorers, Navy’s Greg Sprink and Army’s Jarell Brown, the two teams struggled offensively. The Black Knights held the Mids scoreless for a four-minute stretch in the first half, and without a field goal for eight minutes, as Army erased a 14-13 deficit with an 11-0 run over almost nine minutes. Navy stopped the run with an Adam Teague putback with 2:53 to play to cut the lead to 24-16. However, Brown hit a deep three with 20 seconds left to give Army a 27-18 halftime cushion.

The Mids shot just 6-of-29 (.207) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including just 1-of-12 (.083) from three-point range. Navy would make just one field goal in the final 11:41 of the opening half. The Mids’ top three scorers, Sprink, Chris Harris and Kaleo Kina went a combined 2-of-16 (.125), including 0-of-8 from three-point range.

The Mids cut the lead to four early in the second half on a Harris three-pointer, but Army’s Josh Miller hit back-to-back three-pointers, including one as the shot clock was winding down to give Army its biggest lead of the game at 35-25 with 16 minutes left.

Navy would rally thanks reserve Clif Colbert. The Mids embarked on a 21-8 run over eight-plus minutes, with Colbert scoring 11 of Navy’s 21 points. Colbert would connect on a pair of three-pointers in the run, his first of the year, with the last one coming with just over eight minutes to play to give Navy a 46-43 lead, its first lead since 7:57 left in the first half.

The Mids would stretch their lead on a Chris Harris steal and layup to 59-53 with 3:29 to play.

Army cut the lead to 62-59 with 1:30 to play, but Adam Teague quieted the raucous Army crowd with a deep three-pointer with 1:20 to play to push the Navy lead back to six, 65-59. Moments later with Army within four at 65-61, Teague would hit another three-pointer, his fourth of the game for a 68-61 lead with 41 seconds left, before setting for the 71-63 victory.

Navy scored 53 points in the second half, thanks in large part to a blistering 58.6 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. Navy connected on 10-of-17 three-point tries in the second half.

“The three is obviously a major part of our game, but a lot of the credit goes to driving the ball and getting offensive rebounds. They make you adjust defensively and we basically went to a five-guard lineup in the second half,” aid Lange.

Colbert scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, while Teague scored 14 of his 18 in the final frame.

“I just try to bring hustle and energy everytime out and do what is asked for me,” said Colbert.

“We just started moving the ball better in the second half and got good looks and they started to fall,” said Teague. “They make it so difficult on ffense. The shots just started to fall in the second half.”

The Mids have now won five games in a row for the first time since the 1999 -2000 season and have tied a school record with five Patriot League road wins.

The Mids shot 39.7 percent for the game and committed 19 turnovers to Army’s 16. Navy dominated the glass, outrebounding the Black Knights, 45-31, including 14-8 on the offensive end. Senior Greg Sprink led the Mids with 12 rebounds, while Kaleo Kina tallied five assists.

Army was led by Jarell Brown with 18 points. The Black Knights shot 41.9 percent from the field, but just 23.1 percent from three-point range.

The win sets up a Wednesday night showdown for first place in the Patriot League. Navy enters the game at 8-4 in league play, while American is 9-3. Navy defeated American, 77-66, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30.

Navy is also guaranteed of a home game in the Patriot League Tournament, to be played on March 5, at 7:00 pm in Alumni Hall. For ticket information, call 1 -800-US4-NAVY.

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 6:58am

For: Immediate Release
Sent: February 23, 2008
Contact: Scott Strasemeier (410) 293-8775

ANNAPOLIS, Md.Sophomore midfielder Erin Rawlick (Forest Hill, Md.) scored five goals and dished out two assists, while freshman midfielder Meg Decker (Catonsville, Md.) and sophomore attack Mary Ruttum (Annapolis, Md.) scored four goals apiece to lead Navy (1-0) to an easy 21-10 victory over Longwood (0-3) in Navys first-ever Division I womens lacrosse game Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

We wanted to come out and make a statement today about Navy womens lacrosse, said Navy head coach Cindy Timchal. I am excited about the way we played. It was a great start for our program.

I am very happy with the way we played today, said Rawlick. Weve come a long way from those first tryouts two years ago when we couldnt even catch the ball very well. We looked like a real Division I team today. We have great coaching and great senior leadership and we came out and made a statement today about our program.

Junior attack Sarah Bushong (West River, Md.) will go down in the record books as the first Navy womens lacrosse player to score a goal in a Division I game as she picked up a ground ball off a Ruttum shot that banged off the pipes and fired it past Longwood goalie Jennifer Holliday with 28:10 left in the first half.

Navy would score three more times in the next three minutes to take a 4-0 lead thanks to a free position goal by Rawlick, a goal by senior attack Kaylene Klingenstein (Beltsville, Md.) off an assist from Rawlick and a Ruttum goal off an assist from Decker.

Longwood would battle back to cut the lead to 4-2 on goals by Liz Sellmayer and Dee Warehime, but freshman midfielder Katrina Nietsch (New Canaan, Conn.) answered with a free position goal and Ruttum scored off an assist from senior captain Amanda Towey (Smithtown, N.Y.) to make the score 6-2.

The Mids increased their lead to six at 10-4 on a goal by Rawlick off an assist from Towey with 17:46 left in the half and Navy was able to maintain a healthy margin for the remainder of the half and took a 13-8 lead into the locker room.

Navy put the game away at the start of the second half with four goals in the first 4:21 getting scores from Nietsch (from Rawlick), Ruttum (from Towey), Klingenstein and Decker (from Towey) to go up 17-8 and the Mids never looked back from there.

We have a chance to be pretty good on offense, said Timchal. We executed pretty well today and we did a good job on the draw controls. I thought we were unselfish with the ball and the girls did a good job of looking for each other.

Navy out-hustled Longwood all day, getting 61 ground balls compared to just 35 for the visitors, including a 37-19 margin in the first half. Navy won 20 of the 33 draw controls in the game.

Senior Natalie Blandon (Rockville, Md.) was impressive in goal for the Mids, coming up with nine saves and allowing Longwood just five goals on 14 free-position shots.

It feels great to come away with a win today, said Ruttum. We had some pressure on us to come out and perform and I thought we played well together. We are going to be the underdogs all year and we have to come out and fight in every game.

Navy Firsts
First Draw Control: Margaret Gardner
First Ground Ball: Margaret Gardner
First Shot: Erin Rawlick
First Goal: Sarah Bushong
First Save: Natalie Blandon

Score by Period
Longwood 8 2 10
Navy 13 8 21
Longwood Scoring: Warehime-3, Dean-1, OBrien-1, Owen-1, Farmer-1, Sellmayer-1, Brentlinger-1, Haines-1

Longwood Assists: Dean-1, OBrien-1

Navy Scoring: Rawlick-5, Decker-4, Ruttum-4, Nietsch-3, Klingenstein-3, Towey-1, Bushong-1

Navy Assists: Towey-4, Rawlick-2, Decker-1, Nietsch-1

Shots
Longwood-27
Navy-41

Ground Balls
Longwood-35
Navy-61

Draw Controls
Longwood-13
Navy-20

Clears
Longwood 11-14
Navy 10-12

Free-Position Shots
Longwood 5-14
Navy 5-8

Saves
Longwood-8
Navy-9

Fouls
Longwood-37
Navy-35

Turnovers
Longwood-19
Navy-18
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GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 7:00am

NEWARK, NJ (Saturday, February 23, 2008) * Navy’s ice hockey team got seven goals from the forward line of Alex Wallis, Charlie Daniel, and Matt Swezey – including hat tricks from both Wallis and Swezey – to pace the Midshipmen to a 12-2 victory over Seton Hall Saturday at the New Jersey Devils¹ Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Junior Matt Keller picked up a pair of goals, while senior Donnie Horner and juniors Nolan Anliker and Daniel each had single tallies. Senior team captain Derek Johnson also recorded his first goal of the 2007-2008 campaign to contribute to the offensive explosion.

Sophomores Jeremey Estevez and Alex Tidei split the goaltending chores to anchor the Navy defense. Estevez played the game¹s first 29:06, at which time he was relieved by Tidei, who played the final 30:54.

Estevez stopped all seven Seton Hall shots he faced, while Tidei recorded 10 saves on 12 shots on goal, as the Mids outshot the Pirates, 68-19.

The Midshipmen (now 17-18-1 overall) will play their final three games of the season next weekend when they host the Military Club Hockey Tournament at the McMullen Hockey Arena. Navy will face VMI Friday (2/29) at 5:30 p.m., the Citadel Saturday (3/1) at 3 p.m., and the University of Virginia Sunday (3/2) at 2 p.m.

The annual ³Skate With Navy Hockey² event will be held immediately following Saturday¹s 3 o¹clock game. Persons wishing to skate with Navy players after the game MUST BRING THEIR OWN SKATES, since there is no skate rental at the McMullen Hockey Arena.

SCORING SUMMARY

NAVY 3 5 4 - 12

Seton Hall 0 1 1 - 2

(details to follow)

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 7:01am

For Immediate Release
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Maggart (410) 293-8771

Mids Stand in First Place After Second Day at Patriot League Championship

LEWISBURG, Pa. Navy mens track & field multi-event athlete Ron Belany (Sr./Haiku, Hawaii) provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship, broke the school and broke the league championship records in the heptathlon and also won the long jump to lead the Midshipmen to a first-place score after the second day of the Patriot League Championship on Saturday at Bucknells Gerhard Field House.

The Midshipmen tallied 63.5 points to earn a 16.5-point cushion over second-place Bucknells 47 points. Army stands at third with 45 points, followed by Americans 11 points, Colgates 7.50 points, Lehighs seven points, Lafayettes four points and Holy Crosss one point.

Ron Belany was on fire today, stated Navy assistant coach Al Cantello. This was one of our better days at the league championship in recent memory. However, we have some weaker events for us tomorrow.

Belany totaled 5,311 points in the heptathlon to smash the previous Patriot League record of 5,062 points set by Armys Brandon Lewis last year. Belany produced career-best, IC4A marks in both the long jump and pole vault. The Navy senior soared 2310 (7.26 meters) to capture 876 points and soared over the 163-1/4 (4.96 meters) bar in the pole vault for 898 points. He also claimed 920 points for his 8.25-second showing in the 60-meter hurdles and 813 points by virtue of his 7.20-second clocking in the 60-meter dash.

Belanys was not done yet, as he also competed in the long jump championship and won with an equally impressive distance of 239-1/2 (7.25 meters). In addition to Belany in the long jump, Dante Marshall (Sr./Hermitage, Pa.) placed third with a 2210 (6.96 meters) performance. Belany also qualified for the finals of the 60-meter hurdles on Sunday afternoon with his second-place time of 8.29 seconds. Teammate Matthew Hanley (So./Rapid City, S.D.) led all hurdlers in the preliminary round with a time of 8.28 seconds.

The Midshipmen came away with 18 points in the weight throw, courtesy of their first- and second-place IC4A marks. Christopher Bordino (Jr./Gastonia, N.C.) won the event with a toss of 574-3/4 (17.49 meters), while Mark Van Orden (So./Morris Plains, N.J.) followed in second with a career-best mark of 566-1/2 (17.23 meters).

Navys other event victory on Saturday came in the 4x800-meter relay. The quartet of Paul Harris (Sr./Fairburn, Ga.), Craig Meekins (Sr./Baldwin, N.Y.), Ben Kozy (Sr./Houston, Texas) and Lucas Burke (Sr./Bakersfield, Calif.) combined for an IC4A time of 7:36.58, 1.01 seconds ahead of Armys second-place relay.

Two Midshipmen distance runners claimed points in the 5,000-meter run on Saturday. John Olsen (Sr./Staten Island, N.Y.) produced an IC4A time with a 14:40.14 showing for fourth place, followed by classmate John Kresss (Sr./Colorado Springs, Colo.) 15:03.12 fifth-place clocking.

Navys Shun White (Jr./Memphis, Tenn.) also produced the fastest 60-meter dash time in school history during the semifinal round to qualify for the finals. He placed third in the semifinals with a time of 6.87 seconds, 0.05-second better than the previous record set by Trey Hines at the 2004 Patriot League Championship.

The Midshipmen will look to wrap up their third league title within the last-five years during the third and final day tomorrow. The action is slated to begin at 10 a.m.

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 7:04am

For Immediate Release
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Maggart (410) 293-8771

Navy in Third Place After Second Day of Patriot League Championship

LEWISBURG, Pa. Navy womens track & field pole vaulter Jacqui Charnigo (Sr./Medina, Ohio) posted the third-highest mark in school history to win the event, as the Midshipmen concluded the second day of the Patriot League Championship in third place on Saturday at Bucknells Gerhard Field House.

Defending league champion Bucknell leads the way after two days with 60 points, closely followed by Lafayettes 59 points and Navys 42 points. Holy Cross stands at fourth place with 19 points, followed by Lehighs 18 points, Armys nine points, Colgates six points and Americans four points.

Our goal coming into the league championship was to finish at least among the top-three schools and today really helps, stated Navy head coach Carla Criste. Tomorrow will be exciting and we will need to duplicate our effort and results from today in order to be successful.

Charnigo soared over the bar set at 129-1/2 (3.90 meters) to best all competitors in the pole vault on Saturday. Not only does the mark tie the third-best height in school history, it was the second-best effort all-time at the Patriot League Championship. Only Bucknells Melanie Buczko cleared a higher bar at the league championship, recording a mark of 1210 (3.91 meters) in 2006. Charnigo was not alone among scorers in the event, as Jessica Schlaegel (So./Nashport, Ohio) produced a career-best 113-3/4 (3.45 meters) effort to place fifth.

Navys highlight on the track came in the 5,000-meter event, where the Midshipmen boasted the two-fastest times, both ECAC marks, on the day. Erica Ziel (So./Saginaw, Mich.) won the race with a career-best time of 17:31.80, soon followed by teammate Amy Watsons (So./Hampstead, Md.) 17:32.50 clocking for second place.

The Midshipmen 4x800-meter relay of Abby Gesecki (So./Nanticoke, Pa.), Maureen Dooley (Jr./Durham, Conn.), Allie Moreland (Jr./Ocean City, N.J.) and Vicki Moore (Sr./Burke, Va.) finished second with the fifth-fastest time in school history with a 9:10.00 clocking. Gesecki ran an outstanding 2:17 during her opening leg of the relay to help the Mids claim eight points in the event and earn a spot in the ECAC Championship.

Navy received scoring performances in two other events. Gloria Hill (Sr./Mitchellville, Md.) placed fifth in the long jump with a distance of 176-1/4 (5.34 meters) and Katie Berkey (Jr./Tempe, Ariz.) landed in fifth with a total of 3,034 points. Berkey tallied 724 points in the high jump (52-1/2, 1.59 meters) and 721 points in the 60-meter hurdles (9.95 seconds).

The Mids also will send one of their own into the finals of the 60-meter hurdles on Sunday. Sabrina Gambill (Sr./Bridgewater, Mass.) finished sixth during the semifinal round with a 9.25-second showing after crossing the finish line in 9.39 seconds in the preliminary round.

The Midshipmen will look to make up their 18-point deficit and claim their second Patriot League Championship during the third and final day of the event tomorrow. The action is slated for a 12 noon start.

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 7:05am

For Immediate Release
Sent Saturday, Feb. 24, 2008
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772

Navy Men Win, Women Place Second at Patriot League Championship

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men’s swimming and diving team won its fifth title in as many years at the Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championship, while the Navy women’s team placed second at the three-day championship held in Navy’s Lejeune Hall. The Navy men’s program totaled 887 points to outdistance second-place Bucknell by 203.5 points, with the women’s squad accruing 679 points to finish 44.5 points in back of first-place Colgate.

“The guys on the team spent a lot of the last week revising their goals for this championship, and I think narrowing down what they wanted to accomplish really helped us focus on putting together the type of meet we ended up having,” said Navy men’s swimming head coach Bill Roberts.

“I could not be more proud of our team than I am right now,” said Navy women’s swimming head coach John Morrison. “We knew coming into the meet what type of mountain we would have to climb in order to win. We kept fighting until the very end and never gave up. We were continually closing gaps were great performances. It was an effort you would expect from a tremendous team with a great captain as we have in Kristin Lowd.”

In addition to the team trophies, individuals with both Navy programs collected many of the major awards presented at the conclusion of the championship. Navy’s Katie Griffin and Jon Galinski were tabbed as the league’s divers of the year, Tara Chapmon earned female swimmer-of-the-year honors, Alex Buck was selected as the men’s rookie of the year, Morrison was named as the women’s swimming coach of the year and Joe Suriano garnered diving-coach-of-the-year accolades.

Navy Event-by-Event Recaps

1650 Freestyle
Navy Women - Tara Chapmon, first, 16:34.63 (Navy, Patriot League, Patriot League Meet record), Clare McKenna, 12th, 17:58.00; Heather Klein, 13th, 17:58.79; Erika Hubbard, 16th, 18:13.16.

Tara Chapmon made it three titles and three records in three events at the championship with an impressive time of 16:34.63 in winning the 1650 freestyle Saturday night. Her clocking bettered the previous Navy standard of 16:49.81, set by herself this past fall, as well as the prior league record of 16:36.52 set by Meghan Thiel of American two years ago.

Chapmon is the first Navy swimmer to win the 1650 title in five years and it was just the sixth championship in the event claimed by a Mid.

Thiel held a slim lead through the first several hundred yards of the race, but Chapmon powered through and held the advantage for the last two-thirds of the race before going on to win by nine seconds over the second-place Thiel.

“I thought I had to go 16:40 to beat Meghan, but my best time was 16:49, so this was very unexpected,” said Chapmon.

“Another great night for Tara,” said Morrison. “She swam a great race tonight and that was a big spark for everyone on the team. To break a 1650 freestyle record by 15 seconds is impressive.”

Navy Men - Dan Warner, third, 16:04.46; J.J. Helms, fifth, 16:17.73.

Warner was solidly in third place during the entire race behind event winner Lucky Trafton of Bucknell (15:34.89) and Kyle Newman of Army (15:54.83).

“This is my first year as a distance swimmer, so I just wanted to try and better my time each time I competed,” said Warner. “I am excited about the result and about the future for myself.”

“If you would have told me 12 months ago that Dan would place third in the mile at this meet, I would have said no way,” said Roberts. “We came across him as a distance swimmer by accident. He was training really well and we had an opening in the event for the Army meet this year and he jumped at the opportunity. Making everything better is that he is one of the hardest workers on the team, so I am very happy for him.”

<hr>

Women’s One Meter
Navy - Katie Griffin, first, 261.10; Desiree’ Robison, fifth, 238.30; Brooke Besche, 13th, 173.55.

It came down to the final dive, but when it counted most Katie Griffin nailed her effort to win the one-meter springboard event and win her second league title of the meet and the fourth over the last two years.

The last diver of the event, Griffin was neck-and-neck with Army’s Lindsay Adao when she stepped up to the board to perform a back somersault, two and one-half twist with a 2.7 degree of difficulty. Griffin, who went undefeated during the 2007-08 regular season, received scores in the 6.0-6.5 range on her last dive, which was just enough to give her the victory over Adao. Griffin scored 261.10 points on her six dives, while Adao totaled 252.90 points.

“It’s one of my better dives, which is why I put it last,” said Griffin. “There is a comfort level with it, but with what the situation was, my heart was pounding. I knew what I needed to do, so I told myself to do everything as I normally do.”

“It was a fitting way for Katie to end her career,” said diving coach Joe Suriano. “She has come through when she needed it every time out. She knew what she needed and she did it.”

<hr>

200 Backstroke
Women - A Final - Allison Ranzau, second, 2:04.39; Jennie Spencer, fifth, 2:06.34. B Final - Jamie Call, tie 11th, 2:09.97; Natalie Albertson, 13th, 2:10.05.

Colgate’s Beverly Walker had extended a slim lead at the start of the race out to 1.5 seconds entering the last 50 yards. Ranzau was able to shave 1.32 seconds off of the deficit over the remainder of the race, but fell to Walker by just under one-quarter of a second (2:04.16-2:04.39). Ranzau’s time was a career best and ranks sixth in Navy history, while school record holder Jennie Spencer placed fifth in the final with a season-best time of 2:06.34.

“I am disappointed I didn’t win,” said Ranzau. "I thought I was going to get her at the end. But I dropped another second off of my time so I am pleased with that.

“I am very happy with how my first league championship has gone. I was second in each event this year, so I’m going to shoot to be first next year.”

Men - A Final - Ryan Ward, first, 1:50.82; Billy Vey, second, 1:51.10; Danny Mizelle, tie fourth, 1:52.24. B Final - David Guthmann, second/10th, 1:53.68; Kyle Abner, 11th, 1:53.80.

The Mids qualified three swimmers into the championship final, which turned into a dual between Ryan Ward and Billy Vey. Vey held a slim lead through the opening half of the race, but Ward took over first place prior to the 150-yard mark and held it until the end. Ward edged Vey for the title by just under three-tenths of a second, with teammate Danny Mizelle tying for fourth place.

“With three of us in the final, we were just trying to score as many points as possible,” said Ward.

“I knew I was in trouble when I saw I was in the lane next to Ryan,” said Vey. “He looks at me every day in practice and always gets me in the last bit of every race.”

<hr>

100 Freestyle

Women - A Final - Thuy-Mi Dinh, first, 49.91 (Navy, Patriot League, Patriot League Meet record). B Final - Rachel Gray, second/10th, 52.75; Kristin Lowd, fifth/13th, 53.27.

Thuy-Mi Dinh recorded the first NCAA A cut qualifying time in Navy history and set multiple records in winning the 50 freestyle Thursday. Saturday morning she set Navy, Patriot League and Patriot League Meet records in the 100 free with her clocking of 50.02 to enter tonight’s final as the favorite. Two days ago she became the first swimmer in league history to crack the 23-second barrier with her time of 22.37; tonight she became the first to go under 50 seconds as she won the title with a clocking of 49.91. It was short of the time needed for an NCAA A cut in the event (49.42), but she will still be able to compete in the 50 free at the NCAA Meet as her time bettered the B cut standard of 50.90.

“I was shooting for the A cut, but I am very happy to have dropped more time from this morning,” said Dinh.

“Thuy-Mi has had an amazing year and an amazing meet,” said Navy assistant coach Rob Lias. “The first A cut in Navy history, the first person in the league to go under 23 seconds in the 50 and 50 seconds in the 100; and she is just getting started.”

Men - A Final - Alex Oldenkamp, first, 45.07; Alex Buck, tie second, 45.66; Nathan Durham, eighth, 46.73. B Final - Joe Unruh, second/10th, 46.91; Wren Dupre, sixth/14th, 47.40.

Alex Oldenkamp quickly jumped out to a slim lead of under two-tenths of a second over Lehigh’s Daniel Johnson and American’s Joe Coronato after the opening 50 yards of the 100 freestyle Saturday night. Oldenkamp recorded a solid time of 23.50 over his second 50 to win the event in a time of 45.07 and sweep the sprint freestyle races at the championship. Alex Buck stood in fourth place after the first half of the race, but breezed to a time of 23.53 in the second half to end up in a tie with Johnson for second place.

“It seemed like a ‘guts’ race between Alex and myself out there,” said Oldenkamp. "He raced really well tonight, as did Nathan. It was nice to have the three of us in the final together.

“Alex has done all we have asked of him,” said assistant coach Adam Kennedy. "This is the type of meet we knew he could put together, but he is just scratching the surface of what he can do. We expect big things out of him two weeks from now at the EISL Championship.

<hr>

200 Breaststroke
Women - B Final - Allison Aichele, fifth/13th, 2:29.49.

Navy’s lone finals qualifier in the 200 breaststroke was Allison Aichele, who placed fifth in the consolation final with a time of 2:29.49.

Men - A Final - Nathan LeRoy, third, 2:04.26; Andrew Utama, sixth, 2:06.97; Pete Donahue, seventh, 2:07.33.

A trio of Navy swimmers qualified for the finals of the men’s 200 breaststroke Saturday. Nathan LeRoy would be the top finisher among the Mids in the event as he placed third with a season-best time of 2:04.26. Andrew Utama, who swam a season-best time of 2:06.42 in the trial heats of the event, placed sixth with a clocking of 2:06.97, while Pete Donahue placed seventh in the final with a time of 2:07.33.

“This meet and this year have been so much more than I expected,” said LeRoy. "My only goal this year was to better my high school times and I smashed them. A lot of that credit goes to the coaches. I’m just happy to be a part of this team.

“He is one of the more focused individuals on the team,” said Roberts. “All he wanted to do this year was improve. He is a great competitor who is very coachable and has all four strokes.”

<hr>

200 Butterfly

Women - Kelly Zahalka, first, 2:03.02 (Patriot League Meet record); Tessa Snow, fifth, 2:08.34; Annika Thomas, eighth, 2:10.73. B Final - Cate Sheerin, 11th, 2:11.20.

Kelly Zahalka won the 200 fly title last year and holds the Navy record in the event, but she came out of the trial heats Saturday morning seeded third in the final to Colgate’s Erin McGraw and Caren Guyett. McGraw led all qualifiers with a time of 2:03.93, Guyett posted a time of 2:05.27 and Zahalka recorded a time of 2:05.96. As such, Zahalka would swim the final in lane three next to McGraw in lane four.

McGraw posted a time of 27.60 over the opening 50 yards, with Zahalka four-tenths of a second behind and in third place. The order stayed the same at the midpoint of the race, except that McGraw had opened up a lead of one-half of a second over Zahalka. The Navy junior closed the gap to within two-tenths of a second after 150 yards then finished with a blistering 31.91 to win the race by a little more than two-tenths of a second over Guyett and 2.24 seconds over McGraw.

“I was just trying to stay strong throughout the race,” said Zahalka. “Having the whole team behind me tonight and during the entire championship was what helped me the most.”

“We knew McGraw was going to go out fast, so we told Kelly to just swim her race, swim her lane,” said Lias. “It was all heart when she brought it home. Kelly set up her last turn perfectly. It was a great race to watch.”

Men - Andrew Hetzner, first, 1:50.04; Tedd Torgesen, seventh, 1:56.35. B Final - Ryan Ward, fourth/12th, 1:57.75.

Like Zahalka, Hetzner found himself trailing after the opening half of his 200 butterfly final. He stood in second place to Bucknell’s Mike Volpe by four-tenths of a second at the midpoint of the race, but took over the lead after 150 yards and posted the fastest final-50 yard clocking of the race (by over one-half of a second) to win the title by 1.4 second over Lehigh’s Jonathan Kearney.

“How the race went was exactly how Andrew planned it,” said Roberts. “He went out a little fast this morning, but paced everything perfectly tonight.”

<hr>

Three-Meter Diving
Men - Jon Galinski, first, 332.00; Olaf Olson, second, 331.95; Adam Niekras, fourth, 291.95.

Jon Galinski struggled at the start of his one-meter competition Friday, but recovered to win the title. The same scenario played out again in the finals of the three meter Saturday as he struggled early but hit several key dives late to win his second crown of the championship with a score of 332.00 points.

The one meter saw Navy divers place first, second and third, wth the Mids finishing in first, second and fourth in the three meter. Following Galinski in second place was Olaf Olson with 331.95 points, with Adam Niekras tallying 291.95 points to place fourth.

“It was somewhat similar to the other night,” said Galinski. “But once I found my comfort zone this evening everything fell into place.”

“Jon had two bad dives tonight, but his other four dives were amazing,” said Suriano. “He hit one where it looked as if he was just spinning in the air and not falling.”

<hr>

400 Freestyle Relay
Women - first, 3:24.83 (Navy, Patriot League, Patriot League Meet record) (Allison Ranzau, Rachel Gray, Tara Chapmon, Thuy-Mi Dinh)

The Navy women’s team had already won the 200 freestyle relay and set a school, league and league meet record in winning the 800 freestyle relay at the championship heading into the final event of the night, the 400 freestyle relay. Ranzau gave Navy’s second swimmer of the relay, Rachel Gray, a 1.3-second advantage, which shrunk to just eight-hundredth of a second as Gray was paired against Colgate standout Caren Guyett. Tara Chapmon turned that narrow lead into a nearly four-tenths of a second advantage after 300 yards. Last into the water for Navy was Thuy-Mi Dinh, who increased the Navy margin throughout her leg of the race to give the Mids a 2.14-second victory over the Raiders.

Navy’s time broke the previous Patriot League Meet record of 3:26.05, the prior Navy record of 3:26.00 and the Patriot League mark of 3:25.70.

Men - first, 3:03.31 (Alex Oldenkamp, Joe Unruh, Nathan Durham, Alex Buck)

While the Navy women built a little bit of breathing room over their foes towards the latter part of the race, that was not the case for the Navy men’s relay foursome. Alex Oldenkamp was Navy’s first swimmer and despite a 50-yard time of 22.08 and a 100-yard clocking of 45.74, the Mids were trailing Lehigh when the second set of swimmers hit the water. Joe Unruh swam well for the Mids, but Navy’s deficit had grown to eight-tenths of a second when he exited the pool at the halfway point of the race. Nathan Durham had a great swim and brought the margin down to just 13-hundredths of a second after 300 yards, then Alex Buck posted a time of 45.16 over his leg of the race to give the Mids a winning time of 3:03.31 and a 1.7-second victory over second-place Bucknell.

“I love being the anchor swimmer and having the chance to chase people down,” said Buck.

“It was a great race between three very good relay teams,” said Roberts. “Our guys pushed each other in the race. They really stepped up when we needed it. It was a great way to finish the meet.”

<hr>

Individual Awards Won by Navy
Female Swimmer of the Meet - Tara Chapmon

Chapmon earned this award by virtue of her winning the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyle events and setting Navy, Patriot League and Patriot League Meet records in every trials and finals races. A Navy athlete has now earned this award in six of the last seven years.

“This whole weekend has been more than I expected,” said Chapmon. “Having Allison (Ranzau) to train with this year has been a huge help. John (Morrison) and Rob (Lias) have given me new training workouts all year and that has helped. Rob has been telling me all year I could go this fast, and all year I said, ‘Yeah, sure I can.’ I didn’t believe him.”

“Tara has been extremely competitive all year long,” said John Morrison. “She has trained hard all year in and out of the water and that has led to her great results. This weekend she has raised the bar for our program and the league, but what is most exciting is that she is just starting to reach her potential.”

<hr>

Female Diver of the Meet - Katie Griffin

Griffin successfully defended her titles on both boards from last year to repeat as the diver of the meet.

“Katie has done all we have asked of her throughout her career,” said Suriano. “She is a great competitor and we are really gone to miss her.”

<hr>

Men’s Diver of the Meet - Jon Galinski

After placing among the top-four divers on both boards last year, Galinski won both events this year to earn his first diver-of-the-meet accolade.

“Jon has so much talent,” said Suriano. “He is always trying to reach the level he is capable of. He has the potential to reach the NCAA Championship this year.”

<hr>

Men’s Rookie of the Meet - Alex Buck

Buck was a member of the Navy water polo team this past fall, but hurt himself midway through the season. He was not able to begin training as a swimmer until Mid-December. Individually at the championship he placed third in the 200 free, fourth in the 50 free and tied for second in the 100 free.

“Alex is a great kid,” said Roberts. "He is one of those athletes who is always finding a way to make himself better. He never lets up. The credit for his success is his desire.

<hr>

Diving Coach of the Meet - Joe Suriano

Suriano’s divers have swept the men’s and women’s titles in each of the past two seasons. He receives this award for the third time in the last four years and for the fourth time in his career.

“Joe is as valuable to our program as anyone,” said Roberts. “A lot of what we have been able to accomplish has been because of him.”

“Joe is such a great coach,” said Griffin. “He keeps us on our toes every day, always trying to make us better. I look for him as soon as I finish my dives. But he is not just a coach, he is a great source of support for all of us.”

“When I came here, I knew nothing about diving,” said Galinski. “All I know I have learned from Joe. As a coach, he always stays on you and pushes you to excel and improve.”

<hr>

Women’s Swimming Coach of the Meet - John Morrison

Morrison earns his second-straight coach-of-the-year award after guiding the Mids to a second-place finish.

“I have never been around a coach who cares more about his athletes than John does,” said Kristin Lowd. “He puts his heart into training us to become champions, and that showed in how we swam at the meet. I am truly going to miss him. He has been like a father to me for the last four years.”

<hr>

Final Women’s Team Scores

Colgate, 723.50 points
Navy, 679
Bucknell, 644.5
Lafayette, 401
Lehigh, 328
Army, 304
American, 275
Holy Cross, 150

Final Men’s Team Scores

Navy, 887 points
Bucknell, 683.50
Army, 593
Lehigh, 358.50
Colgate, 348
American, 265
Lafayette, 201
Holy Cross, 124

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 5:47pm

By John Feinstein
Sunday, February 24, 2008; Page D07

It’s that time of year. Selection Sunday is three weeks from today. The bracketologists are going through their annual orgy of who is on and who is off the bubble, RPI breakdowns, strength-of-schedule analyses and predictions on which leagues will receive the most bids. It is loud now and will get louder and louder as March 16 draws closer.

In the Patriot League, there is no bracketology noise. The formula is very simple: Whichever team wins the conference tournament final March 14 will see its name on the NCAA tournament board two days later. Everyone else goes home.

“It makes your life pretty simple in March,” Jeff Jones said recently. “Keep winning and you keep playing. Period.”

Jones is in his eighth season as the coach at American University, which joined the Patriot League a year after he arrived. Three times, the Eagles have reached the championship game only to come up one win short of what players call “the Dance.”

Billy Lange hasn’t been nearly that close in his four years at Navy. In fact, during Lange’s first three seasons, the Midshipmen were 34-52 and never got out of the first round of the Patriot League tournament. Both coaches know all about bracketology: Lange was an assistant coach at Villanova before he took the Navy job. Jones was the head coach at Virginia for eight years and took five teams to the NCAA tournament, including one that reached the region final.

Now, both men would just like to be part of the selected 65. On Wednesday in Annapolis, American and Navy will play a game that has huge ramifications for both. Right now, they are first and second in the Patriot League standings.

If American wins Wednesday, it will clinch first place in the regular season, meaning the Patriot League tournament will go through Bender Arena – the league plays all its tournament games at the home site of the higher-seeded team. If Navy wins Wednesday to sweep the season series with American, it could clinch the top seed with a victory Saturday at Colgate.

“These kids have come a long way,” Lange said the morning after the Midshipmen had beaten defending league champion Holy Cross, completing the season sweep of a team it had lost to 17 straight times entering this season. "It’s really been an evolutionary thing. A lot of it is about all the cliches we coaches use: playing for one another, being unselfish, wanting to achieve for Navy rather than for themselves.

“One thing I’ve figured out as a coach is that we’re all selfish by nature. Why wouldn’t you worry about you first? When our kids first get here, if they’ve got some talent, they get to play right away. It’s natural that they think about themselves and their playing time and their scoring. But as they become a part of the brigade and a part of the academy, they learn that there’s more to it than that. We’re a little older this year, a little more mature, and I feel as if they’ve bought into what we’re saying, all those cliches I’m talking about.”

The case also can be made that Navy’s coach is more mature now than when he first arrived four years ago. Lange was 32 when he arrived at Navy, and he found himself in a league full of accomplished, veteran coaches such as Jones, Holy Cross’s Ralph Willard, Bucknell’s Pat Flannery and Lafayette’s Fran O’Hanlon.

“There were times when I questioned myself,” he said. “I’ve always had a lot of self-belief, but those first few years we were getting hammered and I wondered if I could get us to the point where we could compete in the league. We’d go into Holy Cross and Bucknell and just get throttled. But I think I learned watching those guys work. One thing I figured out is that we had to be ourselves. We can’t be Bucknell or Holy Cross; we have to coach to our kids’ strengths.”

Lange’s only senior starter is Greg Sprink, who leads the league in scoring at 21.3 points per game. He has a gifted guard in Kaleo Kina and a third consistent scorer in junior Chris Harris. But the difference, at least symbolically, might be the play of freshman Romeo Garcia, a classic dirty-work player who plays defense, rebounds, gets loose balls and allows the scorers a chance to score. Navy hasn’t had players like that for a while.

“We aren’t going to blow anybody away with size inside or quickness on the perimeter,” Lange said. “But we can turn people over, and we can deny people threes. When we do that, we have a chance to win.”

The Holy Cross game turned on a 13-2 Navy run midway through the second half, when the Midshipmen forced turnovers on four of five possessions by the Crusaders.

American’s season, meantime, turned around the first time the two teams met, a 77-66 Navy victory at Bender. Jones was not pleased – to put it mildly – with his team’s defensive effort that night. The Eagles might have been caught basking a little in their December victory over Maryland. After the loss, Jones made it clear that wasn’t what this season was about. They haven’t lost since.

“You want to be playing your best basketball in March,” he said. “But in this league, how you get to March is important, too. Playing at home means a lot.”

American entered last Sunday’s game at Colgate having won four straight, yet trailed 34-25 at halftime. Jones has a history in such situations. Eleven years ago, with his Cavaliers trailing Maryland by eight at halftime at Cole Field House, he broke his hand smashing through a blackboard in the Virginia locker room. He’s 47 now, a lot more mature. This time, when he put his hand through a blackboard, he knew there wasn’t a cinder-block wall on the other side.

American won by eight.

Navy has made 11 NCAA tournament appearances, reaching the region final with David Robinson at center in 1986.

Jones, who played on a Final Four team at Virginia in 1981, has been in a dozen NCAA tournaments as a player, assistant coach and head coach. But the school he now coaches has never once reached the tournament. Three NIT banners hang in the rafters of Bender Arena. That’s it.

That’s why Wednesday is one of those rare February college basketball games that really matters. Under former coach Don DeVoe, Navy reached six Patriot League finals from 1994 to 2001, winning three of them. But it hasn’t been close since. AU has been close but never has danced.

Only one can play at home on the afternoon of March 14. In the 15 years that the Patriot League final has been played on a campus site, the home team is 12-3. Of course, American was one of the three, losing six years ago to Holy Cross.

“If we win, it’s a big step, but either one of us will still have a long way to go,” Lange said.

There are no bubbles in the Patriot League, just games. This one is about as big as it gets in February.

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 5:49pm

For Immediate Release
Sent Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772

Winning Streak Ends for Navy Tennis Team

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy tennis team saw its four-match winning streak snapped Sunday when the Midshipmen dropped a 7-0 decision to Yale at the Tose Family Tennis Center.

“We were simply overpowered today,” said Navy head coach John Officer. “We played well in doubles and put ourselves in a position to win the point. In the future, if we can better handle the pace we could win a match like this.”

The doubles matches began with Yale recording an 8-4 win at the No. 3 flight before Navy’s No. 1 team of Nate Nelms (Jr., St. Mary’s, Ga.) and Johnny Waters (Jr., Papillion, Neb.) pulled the Mids even with an 8-6 win over the team of Calvin Bennett and Rory Green. The doubles point would be awarded to the Bulldogs, though, as Yale’s Michael Caldwell and Connor Dawson posted an 8-6 victory over Navy’s team of Alex James (Sr., Visalia, Calif.) and Ramsey Lemaich (So., Danville, Calif.) at No. 2 doubles.

Yale, the seventh-ranked team in the Northeast Region, then won all but one set of the six singles matches to record the 7-0 victory. The lone match to be extended to three sets came at the No. 5 flight were James tallied a 6-4 win of his first set against Bennett before losing the last two sets by scores of 6-2 and 6-0.

Navy, 9-3 on the season, will take to the road for a pair of matches at the end of this week at Clemson (Friday) and at North Carolina State (Saturday). The Tigers are ranked 32nd nationally, while the Wolfpack is ranked 31st.

Yale 7, Navy 0
Doubles – Yale wins the doubles point (match finish: 3-1-2)

Nelms / Waters (N) def. Bennett / Green, 8-6
Caldwell / C. Dawson (Y) def. James / Lemaich, 8-6
J. Dawson / Josh Lederman (Y) def. Nick Birger / Hill, 8-4

Singles (match finish: 2-1-4-3-5-6)

Michael Caldwell (Y) def. Nate Nelms, 6-3, 6-2
Jeff Dawson (Y) def. Johnny Waters, 6-1, 6-1
Rory Green (Y) def. Jason Hill, 6-4, 6-3
Connor Dawson (Y) def. Ramsey Lemaich, 6-3, 6-2
Calvin Bennett (Y) def. Alex James, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0
Tom Santoro (Y) def. Owen Bullard, 6-4, 7-6 (6-1)

Navy – 9-3; Yale – 3-2

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 6:26pm

In inaugural game in Division I, Navy women roll to win

By Katherine Dunn | Sun reporter
February 24, 2008

With no flyovers or fireworks to mark the occasion, the Navy women’s lacrosse team created its own fanfare yesterday to welcome in the Division I era of its program.

Surrounded by reminders of historic naval battles whose names ring the decks of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, the Midshipmen carved out their own tiny piece of academy history as they defeated Longwood, 21-10, in their first Division I game.

More than 200 fans braved the cold and fog - more than had turned out for Mids games as a club program last season.

Sarah Bushong scored the first goal of the era as coach Cindy Timchal’s Mids ran up a 4-0 lead and never trailed. They broke it open with an 8-1 run that spanned the first and second halves and boosted their lead to 18-8 on Kaylene Klingenstein’s goal with 16:35 left.

“Everyone kept telling us that not only are we setting the tone for this season in particular, but we’re setting the tone for Navy women’s lacrosse as a D-I program,” sophomore Mary Ruttum said. “There’s a lot of pressure, I think, but I think that we handled it pretty well today.”

All of the Mids had a little extra bounce in their steps yesterday, and it was more than just an adrenaline buildup after their original opener against Saint Francis (Pa.) was postponed Tuesday.

“It felt great to be out there,” said Erin Rawlick, a sophomore from Forest Hill. “There were a lot more people here today, a lot more people cheering for you. You know that it’s a lot bigger of a deal, and I think it’s just a mental thing. I just have a lot of pride to be wearing this uniform.”

The Midshipmen had a team breakfast yesterday morning and later celebrated with a family-and-friends tailgate. Inaugural season pins were give out to the first 200 fans, and those fans lined up for autographs after the game.

Several parents, and even grandparents, made long treks to share in day. Team captain Amanda Towey’s father, Andy, drove from Smithtown, N.Y., where 9 inches of snow fell yesterday. Erica Sizemore’s mother, Susan, came from Buffalo, and Rawlick’s grandmother, Emily, took the train from Connecticut.

“I am a proud dad,” Andy Towey said. “I coach, so it’s a big accomplishment [to play in Division I]. I have four daughters … and she’s the oldest, so she’s set a high bar for all of them.”

Steve and Virginia Rawlick drove down from Harford County, where their daughter played at C. Milton Wright.

“It’s very exciting,” Virginia Rawlick said. “I can’t believe the day is finally here, and we just kind of knew this was going to happen when she decided to come to the Naval Academy. I said, ‘You know, Erin. They just might go Division I,’ and they did.”

Now the Mids are looking forward to tougher competition, which they will get when they move into their Patriot League schedule in three weeks.

“We talked about making a statement about Navy lacrosse and letting everybody to know we’re here ready to compete. I felt they followed up with that today. We’re excited about the victory and know there’s a whole season ahead of us,” said Timchal, who took over the program in fall 2006 after 16 years and eight national titles at Maryland.

In avenging last season’s 18-16 loss to the Lancers, Rawlick led the Mids with five goals and two assists, Ruttum scored four goals and freshman Meg Decker had four goals and an assist.

The Mids struggled on defense at times in the first half but allowed just two goals in the second. They dominated the Lancers on draw controls 20-13 and ground balls 61-35.

Now, the Mids are ready to move on toward the Patriot League, in which they are projected to finish fifth.

“I’m really excited to see what the Patriot League’s going to bring us,” Ruttum said. “If we just focus on hustling all the time and being aggressive, then that’ll bring good things for us this season.”

<a href="mailto:katherine.dunn@baltsun.com">katherine.dunn@baltsun.com</a>

Longwood 8 2 - 10

Navy 13 8 - 21

Goals: L-Warehime 3, Brentlinger, Dean, Farmer, Haines, O’Brien, Owen, Sellmayer; N-Rawlick 5, Decker 4, Ruttum 4, Klingenstein 3, Nietsch 3, Bushong, Towey. Assists: L-Dean, O’Brien; N-Towey 4, Rawlick 2, Decker, Nietsch. Saves: L-Holliday 4, Liebig, Coughter 3; N-Blandon 9.

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 6:28pm

Ken McMillan
By Ken Mcmillan
Times Herald-Record
February 24, 2008

West Point Jarell Brown stood at attention and faced the music. In front of him, the Army pep band played the West Point alma mater, and Brown’s chest heaved as his heart likely dropped.

This was Brown’s last scheduled game against Navy, and it was supposed to be the Midshipmen’s alma mater he heard first, signifying the loser of the service-academy basketball matchup.

But when the hymn finished, it was Brown and his Army teammates who made the sad turn toward the other end of Christl Arena where Navy whooped it up and stole the coveted Alumni Trophy from Brown’s dream.

No Army team has swept a series from Navy since 1991-92, and no Army team has hoisted the Alumni Trophy since 2002. That streak will go on for at least another season following Navy’s 71-63 triumph yesterday, and four failures will remain permanently etched as a blight in Brown’s stellar career.

It’s not as though the all-star Brown hasn’t tasted success against Navy his Army teams have beaten Navy four consecutive years, but never in the Star Game finale, the one televised by CBS and watched in the Pentagon and in war theaters abroad.

"It’s a big trophy to get here,‘’ Brown acknowledged. "It’s a bit of bragging rights, just to let them know you have the advantage this year. It’s definitely a big deal.‘’

Army (11-15, 4-8 league) was in ideal position to produce the first sweep since Navy’s rookie season in the league. The Black Knights played tenacious defense and held Navy to 20.7 percent shooting in the first half including 1-for-12 from 3-point range on the way to a 27-18 halftime lead. That lead would grow to 10 early in the second half before Navy found its shooting legs.

The Midshipmen (15-12, 8-4) started to pass the ball faster and find the open man quicker, helping set up 10 3-pointers after the break. Army actually shot the ball better in the second half but the Black Knights were trading twos for threes. Clif Colbert’s 3-pointer with 8:09 to play gave Navy a 46-43 advantage, a lead it would not relinquish.

"It’s a game of college basketball,‘’ Brown said. "Every team is going to make runs. It’s just a matter of who sustains runs and who steps up and plays defense and matches up and rebounds and who does all the little things to get you to where you were in the first half. Second half, we forgot some of those things.‘’

Brown, who had 35 points in Army’s 69-67 win on Jan. 27 at Annapolis, finished with 18 points. Josh Miller had 14 points and Cleveland Richard added 10.

Army’s top-ranked defense held Navy threats Greg Sprink and Kaleo Kina to eight points apiece but Adam Teague hit four 3-pointers as part of his 18 points, Colbert scored 17 and Chris Harris added 11.

"We wanted to come out and give it all we had,‘’ Brown said. "We just couldn’t get it done. We had the effort and we had the fight but we just didn’t have a couple possessions.‘’

The Army team which pulled off road wins at Navy, Holy Cross and Bucknell three dens of horror for the Black Knights has dropped four in a row and is 1-3 in league home games. Lafayette and Bucknell visit Christl Arena in the final week of the season.

"We are a little disappointed we didn’t get (the win),‘’ Brown said, "but hopefully we can learn from this and finish the regular season strong and go into the league tournament on a good note.‘’

<a href="mailto:kmcmillan@th-record.com">kmcmillan@th-record.com</a>

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 6:29pm

Patriot League Men’s Basketball Weekend Recap - 2.23.08

Navy Clinches Home Game in Patriot League Quarterfinals

Feb. 23, 2008

Center Valley, Pa. - There were only two Patriot League men’s basketball games on Saturday, but the standings cleared up as Navy strengthened its hold on second place and clinched a home game in the Patriot League quarterfinals with a 71-63 win at Army and Lafayette moved into a third-place tie with a 78-60 victory over Lehigh.

Three teams also played non-League contests. Holy Cross knocked off Northeastern, 61-47, and Bucknell fell at Old Dominion, 65-55, as part of the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters event. Colgate defeated North Carolina Central, 77-69. The wins by Holy Cross and Colgate give the Patriot League a record 62 victories in non-League action.

In addition to clinching a quarterfinal home game as a top four seed in the Patriot League Tournament, Navy also set up a showdown for first place in the League when it hosts American on Wednesday. The Eagles have the lead at 9-3 in League action, with the Mids right behind at 8-4. Bucknell and Lafayette share third place at 6-6, while Colgate, Holy Cross and Lehigh are all tied for fifth at 5-7. Army has a 4-8 record in League action.

Navy (15-12, 8-4 Patriot League) earned a split of its season series with Army (11-15, 4-8) for the fifth year in a row, and also claimed the Star Game between the academies for the sixth consecutive season. The Mids have now won five games in a row for the first time since the 1999-2000 season and have tied a school record with five Patriot League road wins.

The Mids had to rally from behind, as they trailed 27-18 at the half after shooting just 6-of-29 (20.7 percent) for the period. Army stretched the lead to 35-25 with 16 minutes left in the second half, but the Mids took over from there. Navy went on a 21-8 run over the next eight minutes, with Clif Colbert scoring 11 of the 21 points. Colbert’s three-pointer with 7:57 to play gave Navy a 46-43 advantage, its first lead since the first half. The lead was still at three when Adam Teague connected on a three-pointer with 1:20 to play to give Navy a 65-59 cushion. After Army cut the lead to four, Teague hit another three with 41 seconds left to seal the win.

Teague had his first-career double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Colbert added 17 points and six boards. Chris Harris scored 11 points and equaled a career-high with seven rebounds. Navy scored 53 points in the second half, thanks in large part to a blistering 58.6 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. Navy connected on 10-of-17 three-point tries in the second half. Colbert scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, while Teague scored 14 of his 18 in the final frame. Navy outrebounded Army, 45-31, with 12 boards by Greg Sprink.

Army was led by Jarell Brown with 18 points. The Black Knights shot 41.9 percent from the field, but just 23.1 percent from three-point range.

Lafayette (15-12, 6-6) split the season series with rival Lehigh (12-14, 5-7), and broke the tie in the League standings with the Mountain Hawks with a convincing win at home on Senior Day.

Lehigh led by eight points early, but the Leopards closed the first half on a 10-2 run for a 33-23 halftime lead, and expanded the advantage to 49-29 less than five minutes into the second half. In all they posted a 26-8 stretch in an eight-minute span to take control of the contest. The Leopards stretched the lead to 25 points before settling on the 18-point victory.

Three seniors had strong showings in their final game at the Kirby Sports Center. Bilal Abdullah notched 18 points and 13 rebounds, Matt Betley had 13 points and Ted Detmer scored 11 points with seven rebounds. Andrew Brown also finished in double figures with 13 points. The Leopards shot 50 percent for the game, including a 14-of-23 (60.9 percent) effort in the second half. Bryan White had 18 points and eight rebounds to lead Lehigh.

Holy Cross (15-11, 5-7) led almost from start to finish in its win over Northeastern, and was led by Tim Clifford’s 26-point effort on 13-of-16 shooting. Clifford has hit 27-of-34 shots in the last two contests. Colgate (14-13, 5-7) led by as many as 22 points and held on for the victory over North Carolina Central. Kyle Roemer had 20 points, while Kendall Chones finished with 11 and went over 1,000 career points in the game. Bucknell (11-16, 6-6) went on a run to take a two-point lead with 6:15 to play in the game, but Old Dominion finished the contest on a 22-10 run to claim the win. John Griffin scored 19 points for the Bison.

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 6:31pm

That highly anticipated Beltway Showdown for first place between American and Navy was in jeopardy of being relegated to irrelevancy Saturday afternoon when Army took a 27-18 lead on the Midshipmen at halftime of their annual Stage Game and went on to stretch the margin to 10 early in the second half.

Then the Mids began lighting up Christl Arena in ways Niagara Mohawk can only dream of, knocking down 10 second half threes en route to a 53-point half and a 71-63 come-from-behind win over the Black Knights of the Hudson.

With the Midshipmen¹s big three of Greg Sprink, Chris Harris and Kaleo Kina held in check all afternoon, reserves Clif Colbert and Adam Teague carried Navy (15-12, 8-4 patriot) to its fifth straight win. Teague hit all four of his threes and 14 of his team-high 18 points in the second half. Teague also added 11 rebounds for the first double-double of his career. Colbert finished with 17 points, 13 after the intermission.

Harris, Navy’s second-leading scorer, finished with 11, almost four below his average, on a 3 for 10 effort from the field. Sprink, the league’s leading scorer, was 2 for 11 from the field, finishing with 8 points, over 13 below his average. Kina, who averages 14 ppg, also had 8.

As a team, Navy shot 39.7 percent (23-58) from the field. But after going 6 for 29 (20.7 percent) in the first half, with just one trey on a dozen tries, the Midshipmen shot 58.6 percent (17-29) from the field in the second. They were even hotter from the arc, going 10 for 17.

Army was 26 for 62 from the field (41.9 percent), but connected on just 6 of 28 three-point tries and shot only 9 free throws, making 5. Navy was 14 for 22 at the line and held a 45-32 edge on the boards, including 14 offensive rebounds that resulted in 17 second chance points.

Jarell Brown led Army with 19 points. Josh Miller added 14 and Cleveland Richard had 10.

The loss eliminates Army from contention for a first round home game in the Patriot League Tournament. The win, Navy¹s school-record-tying fifth road victory of the season, guarantees the Mids a first round home game and moves Navy to within a game of idle American for the league lead. The Mids and American meet Wednesday night in Annapolis. A Navy win would give it the tiebreaker edge if the two finish tied for first by virtue of a sweep of American.

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 6:33pm

All-Time Army-Navy Record: 881-664-38 (.569)

2007-08 Record Against Army: 14-7 (.667)

2007-08 N-Star Record Against Army: 13-4 (.765)-Mids win N-Star series against Army for the 12th-straight year

2007-08 Results

Sprint Football: Won, 30-17; Won, 41-13 (N-Star)

Women’s Volleyball: Lost, 3-1 (N-Star); Lost, 3-0

Golf: Won, 6.5-4.5 (N-Star)

Men’s Cross Country: Won, 23-35 (N-Star)

Women’s Cross Country: Won, 23-38 (N-Star)

Women’s Soccer: Won, 2-0 (N-Star)

Men’s Soccer: Lost, 2-1 in overtime (N-Star)

Women’s Swimming & Diving: Won, 206-94 (N-Star)

Men’s Swimming & Diving: Won, 231-69 (N-Star)

Football: Won, 38-3 (N-Star)

Men’s Basketball: Lost, 69-67; Won, 71-63 (N-Star)

Women’s Basketball: Lost, 58-49; Lost, 70-66 in overtime (N-Star)

Men’s Indoor Track & Field: Won, 95-86 (N-Star)

Women’s Indoor Track & Field: Won, 93.5-87.5 (N-Star)

Rifle: Lost, 5842-5745 (N-Star)

Men’s Gymnastics: Won, 340.75-322.6 (N-Star)

Wrestling: Won, 22-12 (N-Star)

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 6:35pm

Navy women ease to victory in initial NCAA lacrosse game
Published February 24, 2008

By BILL WAGNER

Head coach Cindy Timchal thought it was important for the Navy women’s lacrosse program to make a positive impression in its Division I debut.

The Midshipmen certainly did not disappoint their legendary coach, controlling play from start to finish en route to a convincing victory in their inaugural varsity game.

Sophomore midfielder Erin Rawlick fired in five goals and assisted on two others to lead Navy to a 21-10 rout of Longwood at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Freshman midfielder Meg Decker and sophomore attacker Mary Ruttum scored four goals apiece for the Mids, who jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and never looked back.

“This was a great start for Navy women’s lacrosse. I’m excited about the victory,” Timchal said. “We talked about making a statement about Navy lacrosse. We want everybody to know we’re here and ready to compete. My praise goes out to the players. They really put it on the line today.”

Freshman midfielder Katrina Nietsch and senior attack Kaylene Klingenstein both scored three goals for Navy, which won 20 of 33 draws and out-shot the visitors 41-27.

“We kind of had pressure on us today to set the tone for how we’re going to play this season. I was proud because we came out strong and played really well together,” said Ruttum, an Annapolis resident and St. Mary’s High graduate.

Timchal was not surprised that Navy scored 21 goals because the team showed that type of scoring potential last season while playing primarily a club schedule with a handful of games against NCAA members sprinkled in. Senior attacker Amanda Towey, the team’s leading goal-scorer last season, was able to serve as more of a setup player yesterday and finished with a game-high four assists.

“We have a great offense. Our execution on offense has been good. We definitely have some real good scorers, but the real key today was that everyone was unselfish and looking for the open player,” Timchal said.
Sarah Bushong, a junior attacker from West River, etched her name in the history book by scoring the first goal in Navy’s Division I history. Bushong, who attended Southern High for one year before moving to Guam, rebounded a shot that had bounced off the pipe and fired it past Longwood goalie Jennifer Holliday 1:50 into the game.

Navy dominated possession and scored six goals on free position shots in building a 10-4 lead by the 17:46 mark. The Mids maintained a healthy margin the rest of the way and took a 13-8 halftime lead, but Timchal felt the defense let down a bit toward the end.

“We were a little sloppy and out of sync in the first half so at halftime we did address the defense,” she said. “We talked about being poised, communicating, getting back in the hole and protecting the goal.”

Navy’s defense clearly stepped up in the second half, holding Longwood to just two goals on nine shots. Senior goalkeeper Natalie Blandon had a solid outing with nine saves and got good support from line defenders such as Margaret Gardner, Jessie Rosa and Brittany Winters.

The Mids basically put the game away by scoring five unanswered goals to start the second half and build a commanding 18-8 advantage. That 10-goal margin led to a running clock that was in effect for most of the final 1612 minutes.

“I am very happy with the way we played today. I think we played really well together and took advantage of our opportunities,” Rawlick said.

Indeed, Navy showed sound organization on offense and defense, dominated the ground balls to the tune of 61-35, succeeded on 10 of 12 clearing opportunities and converted 5 of 8 free position shots. The Mids moved the ball well through the air by connecting passes and displaying above-average stickwork.

“I think back to those first tryouts when half the team couldn’t even catch the ball. We’ve come a long way since then. We looked like a real Division I team today,” Rawlick said. “The good thing about this program is that it can only get better from here. We’re going to continue to grow and progressively get better because we have great coaching and great senior leadership.”

Timchal also marveled at how much Navy has improved since just last year when it lost to Longwood 18-16. “We’ve come a long way. This is a game we would not have won last year,” she said.

Longwood (0-3) 8 2 - 10

Navy (1-0) 13 8 - 21

GOALS: L - Warehime 3, Dean, O’Brien, Owen, Farmer, Sellmayer, Brentlinger, Haines. N - Rawlick 5, Decker 4, Ruttum 4, Nietsch 3, Klingenstein 3, Towey, Bushong. ASSISTS: L - Dean, O’Brien. N - Towey 4, Rawlick 2, Decker, Nietsch. SHOTS: L - 27. N - 41. SAVES: L - Holliday 4, Coughter 3, Liebig 1. N - Blandon 9. GROUND BALLS: L - 35. N - 61. DRAWS: L - 13. N - 20.

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 7:06pm

For Immediate Release
Sent Sunday, Feb. 25, 2008
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772

Navy’s Dinh Qualifies for U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy’s Thuy-Mi Dinh (So., Anaheim, Calif.) capped off a record-setting weekend by qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in the 50-meter freestyle, Sunday morning at the Navy Long Course Meet held in Lejeune Hall.

Dinh advanced to the trials by posting a time of 26.30 in the event Sunday morning. A long course (50-meter length pool) time of 26.39 was needed to qualify for the trials in the 50 free.

“I am really excited about qualifying for the trials,” said Dinh. “I’ve wanted this for a long time. I grew up watching the trials and the Olympics and I never thought I would be there myself.”

“Thuy-Mi is another one of our athletes who is setting new standards for our program,” said Navy women’s swimming head coach John Morrison, the 2007 and '08 Patriot League Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year. “The other athletes on the team see what she is accomplishing and it inspires them. What Thuy-Mi has achieved this weekend is a big step towards receiving national recognition in the swimming world for herself, our program and the entire Naval Academy.”

Dinh rewrote the Navy and Patriot League record books over the past three days at the Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championship. She broke the school and league records in the trial heats of the 50-yard freestyle Thursday morning, then broke those marks again later that evening in winning the final of event with a time of 22.37. The trial heats of the 100 freestyle saw her set new Navy and league records in the event to enter Saturday night’s final as the top-seeded swimmer. She would go on to lower the standards even more during the final by posting a winning time of 49.91.

She became the first swimmer in league history to go under 23 seconds in the 50 free and the first to record a sub-50 second time in the 100 free.

Additionally at the championship, Dinh helped the Mids set new Navy and league records in winning the 400 freestyle relay, win the 200 freestyle relay, place second in the 400 medley relay and record a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay.

“Before I came to Navy I was swimming just for fun,” said Dinh. “I was kind of stuck on a plateau. But I have improved a lot since coming here and have since set new goals for myself, like going to the NCAA Championship and the Olympic Trials. I had a lot of confidence coming into this weekend.”

The U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials will be held June 29-July 6 in Omaha, Neb. Dinh will have a lot of company at the event as she one of four current or former Navy swimmers who have posted qualifying times for the trials. Current sophomore Mallory Dietrich (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has qualified in the 100 breaststroke, Kevin Mukri, a 2007 Navy graduate, has qualified in the 100 backstroke, and Joe Smutz from the Class of 2006 will compete in the 50 and 100 freestyle events.

GreatAmerican · February 24, 2008, 9:34pm

For Immediate Release
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Maggart (410) 293-8771

Navy Wins Patriot League Indoor Championship

LEWISBURG, Pa. Navy mens track & field multi-event athlete Ron Belany (Sr./Haiku, Hawaii) won the 60-meter hurdles and was crowned the field athlete of the meet as the Midshipmen won the 2008 Patriot League Championship on Sunday at Bucknells Gerhard Field House.

The Midshipmen used 14 IC4A performances to finish the three-day championship with 188.5 points, 50.5 more than second-place host Bucknell and 80.5 higher than co-preseason favorite Army. The Patriot League Indoor title is the third for the Mids within the last-five years and their first since the 2005 championship. In addition to the team title, head coach Stephen Cooksey was recognized as the Patriot League Coach of the Year.

This was just a great day by the entire team, stated Cooksey. We knew coming in that we had some stronger scoring events, but we would also need the depth to step up and get points in some other areas. Thats exactly what happened all of our guys dug deep and gave us a comfortable lead going into the final events.

Belany, who provisionally qualified for NCAA Championship in winning the heptathlon and also topped the field in the long jump on Saturday, posted an 8.12-second clocking to win the 60-meter hurdles. The personal-best showing also ranks as the third-fastest time in school history, just 0.05-second off the record set by Adesina Ekundayo in 2002. Belany was not alone in etching his name into the record books in the event on Sunday, as Matthew Hanley (So./Rapid City, S.D.) came in second with a career-best time of 8.20 seconds, the seventh-fastest mark in program history.

Ron Belany did a great job all weekend and had a tremendous day, said Cooksey. We knew how tired he was going to be in order to deliver in every area we asked of him this weekend. We got some luck yesterday when there were only 15 entries in the 60-meter hurdles, so the preliminary round was skipped and he was able to get some added rest.

Navys biggest production came in the 800-meter run, where the Midshipmen claimed three of the top-five times to capture 20 points. Team captain Craig Meekins (Sr./Baldwin, N.Y.) led all runners with a time of 1:53.40, soon followed by Paul Harriss (Sr./Fairburn, Ga.) 1:53.71 second-place clocking. Lucas Burke rounded out Navys scoring in the event with a fifth-place 1:55.14 showing.

The Mids delivered two of the three-top distances in the shot put to total 16 points. Darryl Hunter (Sr./Des Moines, Iowa) out-distanced the field with a career-best mark of 563-3/4 (17.16 meters) and Andre Barber (Sr./Carrollton, Texas) landed third with a career-best effort of 534-1/4 (16.26 meters).

The Midshipmen also came away with 11 points in the 3,000-meter run by virtue of three top-six efforts, all of which surpassed the IC4A standard. John Olsen (Sr./Staten Island, N.Y.), who placed fourth in the 5,000-meter run on Saturday, finished second on Sunday with a career-best time of 8:19.02. Andrew Hanko (Fr./Montville, N.J.) came in fifth with a 8:25.01 showing and Matthew Leyndyke (Jr./Traverse City, Mich.) placed sixth with a 8:29.45 clocking.

The Navy 4x400-meter relay recorded one other event victory on the track on Sunday. The group of Kevin Edwards (Fr./Charlotte, N.C.), Will Ricks (Sr./Hopewell, Va.), Meekins and Harris teamed up for a time of 3:18.59, 0.19-second ahead of Armys second-place time.

In the field, Navy also brought home 10 points in the triple jump with a first-place mark. Dante Marshall (Sr./Hermitage, Pa.) came up with a season-best distance of 491-3/4 (14.98 meters) to best all jumpers.

Ben Kozy (Sr./Houston, Texas) came in third in the mile run with a 4:12.86 showing, followed by Andrew Grants (Jr./Athens, Ga.) 4:15.47 showing for fifth place. Later in the day, Kozy returned in the 1,000-meter run and placed sixth with a 2:30.86 showing.

Another highlight of the day was produced by sprinter Shun White (Jr./Memphis, Tenn.) in the 60-meter dash finals. One day after breaking the school record in the semifinals, White tied for second in the finals with a time of 6.95 seconds, the third-fastest mark in program history. He finished just 0.07-second off the first-place time produced by Lafayettes Kyle Clayton.

In the pole vault, Kraegen Bramer (Sr./Auburn, Calif.) and Bo Fisher (Sr./Longview, Wash.) each cleared 149 (4.50 meters) to place third and fourth, respectively, to contribute 10 points.

The Midshipmen will next head to Boston for the IC4A Championship on March 8-9.

GreatAmerican · February 25, 2008, 7:33am

For Immediate Release
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Maggart (410) 293-8771

Navy Suffers 8-1 Loss to Arkansas State

MILLINGTON, Tenn. Despite a solid pitching performance by Navy southpaw Yale Eckert (So./La Selva Beach, Calif.), the Midshipmen came up on the short end of an 8-1 decision against Arkansas State in baseball action during the third and final day of the Service Academy Spring Classic at USA Stadium on Sunday. Navy fell to 2-1 on the year with the loss, while Arkansas State upped its mark to 2-1.

Arkansas States pitchers did a good job of getting ahead all day and really shut us down, stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. They threw very well. Their starter (Jacob Maggard) had a real hard fastball, slider and attacked the zone.

Eckert, the tough-luck loser, scattered four hits and two runs over 6.1 innings with no walks and six strikeouts. The tall left-hander used only 66 pitches to record 19 outs, 45 of which were strikes. However, Navys offense was held in check by Arkansas State starter Jacob Maggard, who fired six innings of shutout baseball to earn the win.

Yale pitched very well and was the big positive of the day, said Kostacopoulos. He has all three of his pitches going against a good hitting Arkansas State team. He gave exactly what we were looking for with six-plus innings and a close, 2-0, ballgame.

The Indians took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, as leadoff hitter Derrick Coleman homered for the second time in as many days. That would be the games only scoring until the sixth inning, when Todd Baumgartner scored on a wild pitch. Following Eckerts departure, the Indians plated six runs against Navys bullpen over the final 2.2 innings.

Navys best opportunity to tie or take the lead came in the fourth inning, as the Midshipmen loaded the bases with a pair of hits and walk. However, Maggard got out of the jam with a strikeout to maintain the one-run cushion.

The Midshipmen got on the scoreboard in the eighth inning, when Thomas Hamilton (Sr./Houston, Texas) singled home Renaldo Hollins (Sr./Virginia Beach, Va.), who had reached on a one-out walk.

Hamilton was the lone Navy hitter to post a multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4 with the eighth-inning RBI. The Midshipmen were out-hit by the Indians, 9-4.

The Midshipmen will fly back to the East Coast and host Georgetown on Tuesday in their home opener at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The first game of the nine-game homestand is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start and GameTracker will be available on [NavySports.com</a> - Official Athletic Site for Navy Athletics](<a href=“http://www.NavySports.com%5DNavySports.com”>http://www.NavySports.com).

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