2/25/2004 - Women's Swimming
Navy Prepares to Play Host to League Swimming Championship
Tori Throckmorton is already a two-time league champion |
The Navy men's and women's swimming and diving teams will compete in the Patriot League Championship this weekend when the event returns to Lejeune Hall for the fourth time. The event begins Thursday and runs through Saturday, with preliminary races taking place each morning at 10:30 a.m., and finals beginning each night at 6 p.m.
The Navy women's team will be after the program's ninth league title, but its first in two years. Each previous time the Naval Academy has played host to the event -- 1995, '99, 2002 -- Navy has emerged as the league champion.
"We feel very good about our chances this weekend," said Navy head coach Dick Purdy. "It will be a challenge as everyone in the league seems to be swimming very well in the weeks leading up to the championship. The winner may not be decided until the last event of the championship and I expect several teams to have a legitimate shot at winning."
Bucknell is the defending league champion and was picked to win the title again this year in the preseason poll of the league's coaches and sports information directors. Navy, second to the Bison at the 2003 event, was tabbed to place second again this season.
Individually for Navy, Jenn Windstein (So., Lancaster, Pa.) returns after winning the league's Swimmer of the Meet award at last season's championship. Windstein won each of her three individual events last year -- the 500 and 1650 freestyle, 200 butterfly. In Navy's dual meet season this year, Windstein has recorded victories in 35 of her 40 races.
Also back for Navy is Tori Throckmorton (Jr., Ann Arbor, Mich.), winner of the league's 100 butterfly title in each of her first-two seasons and the victor in 26 of her 32 individual races this season. Newcomer Aubra Thomas (Fr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) is also expected to be a factor this weekend. Thomas, who helped clinch Navy's victory in the Army-Navy meet this season, has won 27 of her 37 races this year.
Other returning Midshipmen with past league titles to their credit are Brielle Adamovich (Jr., Wheeling, W. Va.), Allison Moon (Sr., Bradenton, Fla.), Meakin Poor (Jr., Jonesboro, Ark.) and Megan Welsh (Jr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.).
The Navy men's team will be making its inaugural appearance in the Patriot League Championship this weekend. Despite not having competed in the event before, Navy was installed last fall as the league's preseason favorite to unseat 2003 champion Bucknell.
"One of the goals for our program is to compete for a team championship on an annual basis," said Navy men's head coach Bill Roberts. "Based on the season this team has had, we expect to contend for titles in several events, as well as the team title."
One of Navy's top competitors on the weekend is expected to be diver Kevin Teague (Fr., Lexington, Ky.) who was a combined 30-2 on the one and three-meter boards this season. He was tabbed as the league's diver of the week a league season-high six times.
In the swimming events, Marshall Boyd (Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.), Terrence Fenningham (Sr., Philadelphia, Pa.), Kevin Mukri (Fr., Silver Spring, Md.) and Noah White (Sr., El Cajon, Calif.) are expected to be just a few of the Mids vying for league titles.
Boyd, Navy's team captain, saved some of his best swimming for the end of the season, winning three of his final-six 200 freestyle races. Fenningham and White combine to give Navy a terrific 1-2 punch in the sprint freestyle events. Fenningham placed first or second in 12 of his 18 50 and 100 free races this year, while White took one of the top-two places in 23 of his 24 races in the same events. Mukri is expected to challenge in the backstroke events after winning five of his six 100 and 200 backstroke races this year against league foes.
