WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army swimming & diving team split a Patriot League dual meet with visiting Lehigh, Friday night, at Crandall Pool. The Black Knight men cruised to a 176-123 victory, while the Mountain Hawk women were victorious, 167-133.
Freshman Alyssa Tran and sophomore Paige Brink were each quadruple winners for the Army women (3-6), while four double-winners and winning performances in 12 of the night's 16 events spelled victory for the men (6-2).
"Tonight was a good start to the championship part of our season," said Army head coach Mickey Wender. "It is always a little challenging to come back after spending an extended amount of time just focused on training. Our younger performers are learning every time they compete and comprehend more what it will take to be successful down the road, especially come championship time."
Tran took top-honors in the 50 freestyle (24.04), the 100 free (54.10) and the 100 fly (58.29), while Brink touched the wall first in the 200 butterfly by almost three seconds (2:07.94) and the 200 individual medley (2:13.81). Brink was a member of both winning relays, teaming with Tran and freshmen Juliana Lynch and Becky Malone to start the night with a win in the 400 medley relay (3:59.00), and then joined Malone, Lynch and freshman Danielle Myers to close the meet with a win in the 200 free relay (1:40.22).
"Alyssa is very talented. I was proud of the way she came back to win the 100 free showed us a gear that we hadn't seen before. She caught the Lehigh swimmer out of the corner of her eye and came back like gangbusters to win the event. Paige was perhaps the most impressive. It is nice to have her back in the lineup after returning from a shoulder injury that limited her in the fall. Her win in the 200 fly showed a lot of toughness, and the way she held everyone off in the 200 IM was a great swim for her. To anchor both winning relays punctuated a great come-back meet for Paige," continued Wender.
Lynch's night included a runner-up effort in the 200 backstroke (2:12.43) as well as a third-place showing in the 100 back (1:02.70), while Malone added a third-place clocking in the 100 breast (1:09.33).
Senior Lindsey Adao swept the diving events, compiling winning scores of 244.57 on 1-meter and 227.85 on 3-meter.
Other highlights included a second-place swim by junior Corri Payne in the 500 free (5:16.81) to go along with a third-place effort in the 200 free (1:59.45), while senior Amy Tang finished second in the 200 fly (58.82) and freshman Christine Esachina was third in the 200 breast (2:32.17).
On the men's side, Lehigh started the night off by winning the 400 medley relay, but the Black Knights responded by winning 12 of the next 13 events to put the meet away.
Sophomore Cody Reeb got Army back on track by taking first in the 1,000 free with a 9:49.03 clocking and later won the 500 free in 4:45.60. Freshman Bill McCarty followed with a winning effort in the 200 free (1:43.62) before also notching a first-place swim in the 100 free (47.54) later in the evening.
"Cody has been consistently good for us and is one of the stronger distance swimmers in the conference," commented Wender. "We really think he is coming around nicely and the best is yet to come for him for sure down the stretch."
Two events later, senior James McLaughlin touched the wall first in the 100 breast (58.16) before later cruising to a win in the 200 breast (2:07.39). Sophomore Brody Blickle followed suit with a victory in the 200 fly (1:55.16) and also swam the evening's top time in the 100 fly (59.87) to lead a 1-2-3 Army sweep in the event.
Junior Brendan Murphy (21.46) and freshman Brandon Faust (21.70) went 1-2 in the 50 free, before freshman Chris Nguyen led a 1-2-3 Black Knight sweep in the 3-meter diving event with a score of 248.17 to give the Black Knights a commanding lead.
Sophomore Chuck Zhou added a winning performance in the 200 back (1:55.00), while freshman Chad Drake was the top performer (245.25) in a 1-2-3 Army sweep in the 1-meter diving competition.
The Black Knights will be back at it tomorrow afternoon, hosting Patriot League foe Bucknell starting at 1:00 p.m. Army will then head to Georgetown for a 5:00 p.m. dual meet with the Hoyas on Friday (Jan. 22) before competing in a quad meet at George Mason with Old Dominion and American on Saturday (Jan. 23) scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
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