Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving competed at the Navy Invitational, collecting 34 top-five finishes, two event wins and one top-ten time in school history.
The meet was unscored, but the Bison took on several Patriot League foes, including hosts Navy, Lehigh, American and Lafayette.
The Orange and Blue opened up the day strong, finding the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the team of Natalia Gajecki ’29, Virginia Hastings ’27, Clara Renner ’28 and Kyla Kelly ’26 finishing in a combined time of 1:34.59, less than half a second ahead of second-place American.
The men found similar success in the same event, with the team of Damian Czartoryjski ’28, Colin Smith ’27, Drew Greene ’27 and Finn Russell ’27 finishing second behind Navy with a time of 1:22.70.
Victoria Castro ’29 claimed the silver in the next event, finishing the 200-yard IM in 2:06.40, behind a Midshipman. Dante Buonadonna ’28 would find similar success, finishing third in the 200-yard IM, posting a time of 1:50.85.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Jennifer Bolden ’26 took second place, swimming a mark of 5:02.71. Jason Kellerman ’29 would follow her with a third-place finish in the same event, recording a time of 4:34.96. James Lombardi ’27 found a close second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, where he was under half a second off the top spot. In the next event, Emma Briganti ’29 claimed a second-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, swimming a mark of 2:07.56, less than a second off the top finisher. In a close battle, Kennedy DeVeaux ’29 finished third in the 100-yard freestyle, less than a tenth of a second away from claiming the silver.
In the 1650-yard freestyle, Kelly Byrne ’27 was dominant, finishing first with a time of 17:00.90, over 15 seconds ahead of the Mountain Hawk in second place. Her time also earned her a spot in the Bison record books as the tenth all-time.
In the 200-yard medley relay, the team of Shane Wynne ’26, Lombardi, Greene and Smith placed second with a time of 1:31.69, less than three-tenths of a second off the top spot.
Swimming and Diving continue their season on Feb. 18-21, where they return to Annapolis, Md. to compete at the Patriot League Championships.
