Two League Records Fall On Night One Of The 2025 Patriot League Championships

02/19/2025 09:29 PM

By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam

2025 Patriot League Championships 

• February 19-22, 2025
• Kinney Natatorium — Lewisburg, Penn. 
• SCY (25 Yards) 
• Start Times: prelims – 10 am ET/finals – 6 pm ET 
  • Day 1: finals only – 5 pm ET 
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Navy (13x)
  • Men: Navy (20x)
• Championship Central 
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results 
• Livestream 

It's night one of the 2025 Patriot League Championships and two league records have already been broken.

The Loyola men defended their 200 medley title from last season in league-record fashion. The team of Joe Hayburn(21.23), Brennan Coyle(23.41), Patrick Hayburn(20.21), and Caleb Kelly(18.89) ripped 1:23.74, slicing six-hundredths off the standard that Navy set at the 2024 ECAC Open Championships, a week after the Patriot League Championships.

Army jumped out to the lead after freshman Johnny Crushdropped a 20.77 backstroke lead-off leg and Kohen Rankinsplit 22.96 on the breaststroke leg. The Black Knights led the race until the final relay exchange, holding a nine-hundredth lead over the Greyhounds. Kelly's 18.89 split was the difference maker as he pulled Loyola ahead of Army and got his hand on the wall first. It's a massive split for Kelly, whose best flat-start swim is a 19.65 from leading off the 200 freestyle relay at last year's Patriot League Championships.

After taking second in the 200 medley relay, Army dominated the men's 800 freestyle relay. Thomas Hadjigrabbed the lead with a lifetime-best 1:34.68 first leg, and the team didn't look back. Senior Jack Pogue split 1:36.74, then Crush split 1:32.71 in his second swim of the day. Senior Wes Tateanchored the Black Knights' relay in 1:34.39. The team combined for a 6:18.62, shattering the Patriot League record by 3.80 seconds. The previous mark was a 6:22.42 swum by Navy in 2023.

Navy's Everet Andrew(1:35.26), Dean Jones(1:36.21), Kellan Pattison(1:35.34), and Ben Stankovich (1:36.41) swam 6:23.22 for second place, well ahead of Bucknell's 6:30.18 for bronze.

Army swept the 800 freestyle relays. Lehigh led the women's 800 freestyle relay after the first 200 yards as Willa Werwaiss led off for the Mountain Hawks in 1:48.46. Army sat in second after Clara Williams led off in 1:48.79. Lehigh continued to lead at the 400-yard mark after a 1:47.73 split from Mairin Ludwig. Bucknell moved into second place, with Army running third.

At the final exchange, the Mountain Hawks still held the lead, but the gap was back down under two seconds. The lead changed hands with 100 yards to go as Navy took control of the race. Junior Molly Webbermoved Army into the lead with 50 yards to go, inching .18 seconds ahead of Navy's anchor. Webber powered through the final 50 yards and extended the lead even further. She stopped the clock at 7:15.17, earning the win for Army.

Navy's team of Samantha Clifford(1:49.98), Allie Maloney (1:50.45), Erin Miller(1:48.77), and Tiffany Shields(1:48.44) held on for second place, clocking 7:17.64 and finishing .25 seconds ahead of Bucknell's 7:17.89.

The championships got underway with a thrilling race in the women's 200 medley relay. Loyola held the lead after the backstroke leg thanks to a 24.12 lead-off from fifth-year Lily Mead. Navy was in third place after the backstroke leg but pulled into the lead at the halfway point, with Lauren Walsh's 27.23 breaststroke split.

Caroline Irwin's 23.86 fly split kept Navy in the lead at the final exchange, four-tenths ahead of Loyola. Charley Tuliocharged on the freestyle leg, ripping 22.43 for the Greyhounds. She pulled even with Navy's anchor Catherine Weaverling, and the two hit the wall together. At the touch, Weaverling secured the win for Navy by the slimmest margin, a hundredth of a second, in a pool record 1:39.17.

Navy and Loyola pulled well ahead of the field in their race for gold. Army's quartet of Angie McKane(24.99), Catriona Gilmore(27.97), Sydney Braeger(24.19), and Meghan Cole(23.12) rounded out the podium in 1:40.27, touching a tenth ahead of American University. The Eagles quartet of Piper Crosby (25.42), Marin Priddy (28.69), Mimi Watts(23.11), and Lian Jeong Engle (23.15) set a program record 1:40.37 for fourth.

Team Standings Through Day 1

Women:

1. Navy — 218
2. Army — 184
3. Bucknell — 162
4. BU — 145
5. Lehigh — 121
6. Loyola (MD) — 106
7. American/Colgate — 97
8. (Tie)
9. Holy Cross — 95
10. Lafayette — 93

Men:

1. Army — 120
2. Loyola — 116
3. Navy — 110
4. Bucknell — 106
5. Lehigh — 98
6. BU — 94
7. Holy Cross — 88
8. Colgate — 84
9. American — 70
10. Lafayette — 46

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Two League Records Fall On Night One Of The 2025 Patriot League Championships