Swimming falls to Navy in team opener, 141-96

Despite a promising start that launched the Johns Hopkins' swimming team ahead of the Naval Academy Midshipmen, Hopkins fell 141-96 in a dramatic day of competition on Saturday, dropping the Jays to 1-2. Despite a strong and deeply talented team, Hopkins was hurt by a lack of viable diving entrants. Navy consequently swept both diving competitions, giving Navy 32 points to add to what otherwise would have been a slim advantage.

Straight out of the gate, Hopkins took a firm hold of the competition, placing first and second in the 400 meter medley relay. Hopkins' two freshman-laden quartets each finished in less than four minutes, seconds ahead of their closest Navy opponents. With a strong lead of 15-2, the Blue Jays placed second and third in the second race with strong showings from senior John Kleinman and junior Matt Chana in the individual 800-meter freestyle. Holding on to a 22-14 after the second race, Hopkins stood to take it all but faltered in the 200-meter freestyle. With Hopkins sophomore Richard Guerard a full second behind Navy's Andrew Thorn and the always-reliable freshman Matt Federcy finishing fifth, the Midshipmen took the lead from the Jays, 28-27.

Navy continued their rally in the 50-meter freestyle, taking first, third, and fifth, while freshman Bradley Test took second at 24.41 seconds and sophomore Tyler Harris fifth with a time of 25.02, only hundredths of a second ahead of Navy's Eric Bond. Luckily for the Jays, the Midshipmen were no match for the Hopkins line-up in the 200-meter individual medley.

Leading the pack was senior and team captain JP Balfour with a time of 2.10.37. Freshman Ryan Kim and junior Sean Kim finished closely behind with times of 2.11.56 and 2.11.74, respectively. The Hopkins triple threat launched the Jays ahead of the Midshipmen 49-44, but the lead did not last long as the competition entered into diving.

Hopkins had no entrants for the diving competition and Navy claimed all 16 points. Though the men's team made a valiant showing for the remainder of the competition, the point-less diving competition all but ensured defeat for Hopkins. With an 11-point deficit to overcome, the Jays faced an uphill battle to overtake their nautical opponents. Despite a first and third finish by Sean Kim and freshman Dan Kim, respectively, Hopkins still trailed 61-67 after the 200-meter butterfly.

In the night's eighth race, the 100-meter freestyle, Test made an impressive showing at second with 53.52, finishing four hundredths of a second behind Navy's Mike Linn.

Junior Zane Hamilton followed closely at third with 54.70 and freshman Andrew Stirn rounded out the top five with 55.01.

Ryan Kim finished second with a mark of 2:10.58 and Balfour at 2:11.72. Hopkins managed to grab only five of a possible 19 points in the 200-meter backstroke and fell further behind by a score of 74-92. In the 400-meter freestyle, Kleinman finished second and junior Brian Sneed took fourth, but none of this was enough to regain lost territory.

As the tenth race ended, Hopkins trailed the Midshipmen, 80-105, and stood little chance of narrowing the margin as before them laid yet another round of diving. Again, Navy claimed all 16 points, giving them a forty-one point lead on the Jays.

Never a group to go out quietly, the Jays' pulled out all the stops in the 200-meter breaststroke, the final individual event of the competition. With an impressive showing Federcy finished first, a full five seconds ahead of his closest opponent with a time of 2:23.15.

Harris also put up an impressive fight, finishing third in the event at 2:30.90. With the seemingly indestructible team of Test, Stirn, Balfour, and Hamilton, the Jays entered the day's final event, the 400-meter freestyle medley, confident, but fell to Navy, finishing second at 3:36.11.

With a final score of 141-96 Navy, the Jays are smarting from the loss to Navy, but they will have to pull it together quickly. The Jays get back into the pool on Oct. 30, as they face last year's Centennial Conference champs, Franklin and Marshall, who have yet to compete in the 2005 season.