Kevin Teague

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- One year after defeating UMBC by one point in Baltimore, the Navy men's swimming and diving team dropped a one-point decision to the Retrievers, Friday evening in Navy's Lejeune Hall. UMBC improved to 3-0 on the season with the 122-121 victory, while the Mids suffered their first defeat in four contests this season.

"My hat is off to UMBC," said Navy head swimming coach Bill Roberts. "They are a good team and swam really well. We knew it was going to be a close meet coming in, and for the second-straight year it came down to the last event."

The Retrievers quickly jumped out to a 26-10 lead by placing first and third in both the 400-meter medley relay and in the 800-meter freestyle. The Mids fought their way back and eventually held a 48-45 lead after the fifth event, the 50-meter freestyle. Navy began its run by claiming the top-three places in the one-meter diving event, led by first-place finisher Kevin Teague (So., Lexington, Ky.) with a score of 299.77. UMBC's Jakub Sroczynski held off Navy's Tyler Hill (Fr., Houston, Texas) to win the 200-meter freestyle, 153.10-155.61, but the Mids gained valuable points in the event as Andrew Thorn (Fr., Elizabethtown, Pa.) placed third and Danny Flemming (So., Loganville, Ga.) placed fourth. Mike Linn (Jr., Newhall, Calif.) then helped Navy win 13 of a possible 16 points by winning the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 23.54.

UMBC reclaimed the lead after the 200-meter individual medley, won by Karn Yisomruary, and would hold it until Navy took an 85-84 lead after nine of the 13 events. After Teague won the three-meter diving with a score of 382.20, a 100-point margin of victory, UMBC went 1-2-3 in dominating the 200-meter butterfly, won by Geza Szabo in a 2:06.11 clocking. Linn quickly bounced back from his 50 free win by capturing the 100-meter freestyle in a time of 52.89. With Hill placing third and Brad Penley (Hickory, N.C.) placing fourth in the contest, the Mids had taken their one-point lead.

The lead would be short lived, though, as Sroczynski won the 200-meter backstroke (2:04.46) and teammate Ryan Karrer won the 400-meter freestyle (4:03.52) to give UMBC a 106-101 lead after 11 events. The Retrievers would extend their lead to 120-106 by placing first (Yisomruary, 2:25.31), third and fourth in the last individual event of the meet, the 200-meter breaststroke.

Needing only to complete the race to win the meet, UMBC placed third in the 400-meter freestyle relay to seal the victory.

For Navy, Linn swept the sprint freestyle events for the second time in as many meets and for the second time in his career, while Teague improved to 8-0 on the season and 38-2 in dual meets in his career.

Navy will be back in action Nov. 6 when the Mids play host to Bucknell and UNC Wilmington in a double-dual meet at Lejeune Hall starting at 12 noon.