Mike Linn won the 50 free and helped Navy win the 200 free relay

LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Navy men's and women's swimming and diving teams combined to win four titles on day one of the Patriot League Championship, Thursday evening in Lewisburg, Pa. The Navy men stand in first place after the opening day of competition, while the women are in second place after the first of three days of the championship.

The men picked up a trio of titles from its 200 freestyle relay team, sprinter Mike Linn (Jr., Newhall, Calif.) and diver Kevin Teague (Lexington, Ky.), while Aubra Thomas (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) won her second-straight 200 individual medley championship.

"It was an up-and-down day for us," said Navy head coach Bill Roberts. "We had some good swims in the morning, but we also had some times we weren't really expecting. The guys came out strong right from the start of the evening session, though. Our relay and the 500 free guys were great and really started us going well. Teague followed with some awesome dives."

"We swam really well as a team," said Navy assistant coach Chris Villa. "We posted season-best times through every event. The team is really fighting hard for every possible point.

"Aubra had a great swim to win the 200 IM. Her evening swim was much improved from the morning, and was also an NCAA ‘B' cut qualifying time."

The Navy men totaled 249 points on the first day to lead second-place Army by 59 points and third-place Lehigh by 68 points. The Mids began the championship by winning the 200 free relay in a time of 1:21.59, finishing 1.7 seconds in front of second-place Lehigh. Navy's winning foursome consisted of Joe Smutz (Jr., Marriottsville, Md.), Brad Penley (So., Hickory, N.C.), Danny Flemming (So., Loganville, Ga.) and Linn.

Army's Efri Ruthenberg won the first individual event of the championship, winning the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:29.62. Navy swimmers followed in the bext three places. Placing second was Kevin Mukri (So., Silver Spring, Md.) in a time of 4:31.65, Flemming was third with a 4:32.00 clocking, and Andrew Thorn (Fr., Elizabethtown, Pa.) rounded out the Navy trio with a time of 4:33.43.

Navy struggled during the preliminary heats of the 200 individual medley, advancing only one swimmer -- Christopher Jenkins (Fr., Chicago. Ill.-- to the final. Jenkins turned in a career-best time of 1:54.77 to place eighth in the event final.

Smutz entered the 50 freestyle as the top seed in the event, followed by teammate Linn in second place, and recorded the fastest trial heat time of 20.16, one-half second in front of Linn's second-place time. However, Linn posted a career-best time of 20.04 to win the event by 19-hundredths of a second over the second-place Smutz.

Teague picked up his second-straight three-meter diving title with a score of 599.25, well in front of Army's Doug Klein who placed second with a score of 508.95. Teague's mark also broke the league record score of 553.90 he set one year ago.

The Navy men closed the day by placing second in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:22.48, 1.5 seconds in back of Lehigh,

Bucknell leads the women's field with a score of 227, with Navy second at 155 points and Lehigh third with 123 points.

The Bison won the opening event of the meet, the 200 freestyle relay, in a time of 1:34.88 to edge the second-place Mids by one-half of a second (1:35.44).

Navy swimmers then placed second and fourth in the first individual event, the 500 freestyle. Top-seeded Meghan Thiel from American won the event in a time of 4:51.69, with Navy's Jenn Windstein (Jr., Lancaster, Pa.) second at 4:59.57 and Meakin Poor (Sr., Winnetka, Ill.) fourth with a time of 5:03.99.

Thomas picked up Navy's first championship of the weekend, winning the 200 IM in a time of 2:03.23, only four-hundredths of a second in back of the league championship record she set in winning the event last year.

Kelly Freeburn (Fr., Virginia Beach, Va.) followed by placing fourth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.95. Navy ended day one by placing second to Bucknell by five seconds in the 400 medley relay (3:52.95).

The championship runs through Saturday with trial heats each day at 10:30 a.m. and finals each night starting at 6 p.m.