The Navy men's swimming and diving team closed its double-dual meet against Cornell and Yale with victories in the final two events to allow the Mids to defeat both teams Saturday afternoon in Lejeune Hall.  The Mids recorded a 159-141 victory over the Bulldogs and a 174-126 win over the Big Red.  Additionally, Yale posted a 167.5-132.5 win over Cornell.

The win was Navy's first over Yale in three years, its first against Cornell in seven years and the two wins marked the first meet sweep of the Big Red and the Bulldogs by the Mids in a decade.

Navy trailed Yale 11-6 and Cornell 13-4 following the first event, the 200 freestyle relay.  Navy's Erik Hunter (Fr., Placerville, Calif.) then placed first and Sam Martinette (Fr., Richmond, Va.) placed third in the first individual event of the day, the 800 freestyle, to give the Mids a 20-16 lead over the Bulldogs and a 19-17 advantage over the Big Red.

A few events later, Navy had extended its leads to 71-41 over Yale and 64-48 over Cornell following back-to-back wins in the 100 breaststroke by Ari Molina (Jr., Arlington, Va.) and in the 200 fly by Adam Meyer (So., Bethesda, Md.).  The Mids soon went into the first break holding a 22-point lead over Yale and a 16-point lead over Cornell.

Navy slowly built up its lead over Cornell, taking a 139-109 lead with just three events remaining, but Yale rallied and took a 124-121 advantage over the Mids following the 100 butterfly.  The Mids clinched the meet victory over the Big Red thanks to the diving results, but at the same time the Bulldogs were still clinging to a 134-130 lead over the Mids.

Navy proceeded to make a huge move in the 200 individual medley, the final solo event of the meet, with a 1-2-3 finish in the race.  Meyer won the race with a time of 2:04.78, with teammate Billy Vey (Jr., Huntersville, N.C.) placing second in his Meyer's heat and overall with a time of 2:06.39.  Earlier, Patrick Veltmann (Fr., Midlothian, Va.) had won the first heat of the event with a time of 2:07.83, and his time held up to allow him to place third overall in the final standings.  This gave Navy a 146-137 lead over Yale heading into the 200 freestyle relay.

Navy closed the meet by having the foursome of Christopher Jenkins (Sr., Chicago, Ill.), Nate Durham (Jr., Greensboro, N.C.), J.J. Helms (Fr., Conroe, Texas) and Jack Curran (So., Silver Spring, Md.) place second to Cornell with a time of 3:27.51 to secure the victory for the Mids over Yale.

"We dug a hole for ourselves in the first relay, but to the credit of our guys they came back strong starting with the 800 free and carried that through to the end of the meet," said Navy head coach Bill Roberts.  "The key to the win was the great swims we had in the first heat of every race.  Veltmann's 200 IM swim was a perfect example of that effort."

The Mids will next be in action Jan. 26 when Navy plays host to Penn.

The Navy women's swimming and diving
team totaled seven first-place finishes as the Mids
split a double-dual meet against Cornell and Yale,
Saturday afternoon in Lejeune Hall.  The Mids (12-1)
dropped a 174-126 decision to Yale (2-2) and posted a
175-125 victory over Cornell (2-5).  In the remaining
contest, the Bulldogs recorded a 219-81 win over the
Big Red.

Yale matched Navy with seven event victories during
the meet, but the Bulldogs accrued nine second and
third-place finishes with the Mids placing second in
seven events and third just once.

Thuy-Mi Dinh (So., Anaheim, Calif.) highlighted the
Navy efforts on the day as she recorded victories
during each of her three individual events.  She
posted a time of 1:05.79 to win the 100 backstroke,
won the 50 free with a clocking of 26.05 and recorded
a 57.92 to win the 100 freestyle.

Diver Katie Griffin (Sr., Ellicott City, Md.)
continued her strong season by sweeping both boards
during the meet.  She totaled 241.95 points to win the
one-meter event by 10 points then scored 308.40 points
to win the three-meter event by 53 points.

Also recording wins for Navy on the day were Allison
Ranzau (Fr., Alpharetta, Ga.) and Kelly Zahalka (Jr.,
Richmond, Va.).  Ranzau won the 200 free with a time
of 2:05.71 and Zahalka won the 200 individual medley
with a clocking of 2:21.90.

"Yale swam extremely well today," said Navy head coach
John Morrison.  "I was a little disappointed in some
of our times.  We need to step up better.  We did have
a number of good swims and had a lot of close races,
but we need to race better and stronger throughout the
meet."

Navy will continue its season in two weeks when the
Mids play host to Penn Jan. 26.