Navy Sports Central

Adaptability & Collaboration: How the Navy Women's Swimming & Diving Team Continues to Outshine Their Competition

• Episode 60

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Welcome to Navy Sports Central - The Official Podcast of the Navy Sports Nation!

In today's episode, you'll get a complete update you on the Army-Navy Star Series, where in the month of February we saw some truly exceptional performances and record-breaking moments. 

On the biggest weekend of the Star Competition all year, outstanding Navy athletes stepped up when it really counted.  You will hear about all their terrific efforts on the rifle range, the track and on the gymnastics floor. 

In our Deep Dive segment, I sit down with Coach John Morrison, who gives us some great insight into the Navy Women's Swimming and Diving team and its history of sustained superior performance over the years. We chat about how adaptability and collaboration has played  a huge role in establishing such an impressive record in the Patriot League. These behind-the-scenes details will leave you with a new appreciation for the role of a dedicated coach in shaping champions.

And as always, we will have our Question of the Day and Mid Watch segments. So, stop in for a while and join us!

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We want your answer to our Question of the Day. Here is the one for this episode:

How many swimmers has Navy Women's Swimming & Diving Coach John Morrison sent to the Olympic Trials?
A.)  6
B.) 9
C.) 11
D.) 12

You can give us your answer on the Navy Sports Nation Group Facebook page.

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Check out the Navy Sports Nation group page on Facebook!

Music is provided courtesy of Audio Jungle. Artists featured in order:

  • Seven In Music (Intro)
  • Alexiaction (Deep Dive)
  • Loka Music (Question of the Day Lead In)
  • Cinematic Alex (Closeout Music)





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Karl:

Hi everybody, my name is Karl Darden and I'd like to welcome and thank all of you for joining us today on Navy Sports Central. I'm your host, and this is the official podcast of the Navy Sports Nation where we take a deeper dive into Navy Sports. It's already the middle of February and that means we are definitely in crunch time when it comes to the Army Navy Star Series. I'll have a complete breakdown for you in our sports update, including my take on how the remaining games and matches might play out, and in our deep dive segment I'll be joined by Navy women's swimming and diving coach, john Morrison, who is busy getting his team ready for the Patriot League Championships next week. All that, plus our question of the day and mid-watch segments are coming your way next, so stick around. We'll be getting things started shortly. Alright, it is great to have you with us here on Navy Sports Central, whether you are a regular listener or new to the podcast. Thanks for taking the time. So today we are going to kick things off by taking a look at the Army Navy Star Series.

Karl:

As you all know, february is the shortest month of the year, but it's also the month where the mids go head to head against the Black Knights in the most number of sports. The total number of sports in the Star Competition is 26, and 7 of them take place in February, so clearly this is a critical month when it comes to determining the overall winner. Whoever wins February has a pretty good chance of coming out on top on the overall series. Going into the month, army led 6-5, with one tie. In men's soccer, the first 1-13 wins this year takes the competition because of the tie. Normally it would take 14 wins, and on February 3rd there were 4 stars up for grabs. So let's take a look at each sport in the order in which the teams competed.

Karl:

First up was the Rifle Team. They traveled up to West Point for this match and, going in, the Black Knights led the overall series 47-35. But the mids had won the last two in a row and four out of the previous five matches. They were all pretty close, though, so it was really tough to predict this one. One thing that was a virtual certainty, though, was Navy's Marleigh Duncan having a strong performance. The junior from Wake Forest, north Carolina, was the highest scorer in each of the mids two previous star wins, and this year was no exception. She posted a score of 589 points out of a possible 600 in the small bore, and then she followed that up with 595 points in the air rifle, which was good for a total of 1184. Now, as far as the scoring goes, the top four individual scores in each category count towards the overall team total, and that was the Mids performance in the air rifle that allowed them to get the separation they needed. They actually grabbed the top four spots overall, with Isabella Baldwin and Clarissa Layland putting up 596 points each. Then came Duncan with 595, followed by Deonte Hayes, who came through with a personal best of 594 points. The final score was Navy 5896 and Army 5863. Now, the interesting thing is that the scores were program records for both teams in the star competition. So it's a real testament to how hard these athletes compete against each other. Now that the rifle competition is completed, the overall star series was deadlocked at 6-6-1. At least for the next couple hours anyway.

Karl:

Right about the time that the rifle competition was winding down, the men's track and field team got things going against Army at the Wesley A Brown Field House. Joshua Boamah, who is a senior from San Diego, California, put up the first five points for the mids by winning the weight throw. He did that with a school record of 21.12 meters, which breaks down to 69 feet 3.5 inches, and, by the way, I'll give you both sets of units too, just in case you like the English units better. By the way, Boamah's throw broke his own record by a tenth of a meter. Also, Collin Green placed third, tying his personal best of 20.12 meters, which is about 66 feet 1 quarter inch. Boamah pulled down five more points by finishing first in the shot put, and he did that on a sixth and final attempt. His distance of 18.71 meters broke a school record that had stood for over 50 years, and it was also a new personal best by half a meter. Incidentally, that 18.71 meters translates to 61 feet 7 and 3 quarter inches. In the triple jump, jordan Payne and Sebastian Allen finished 1-2. Payne posted a jump of 14.59 meters, which is 47 feet 10 and a half inches, and Allen was right behind him, coming in at 14.42 meters, or 47 feet 3 and 3 quarter inches. Both of those efforts came on their final attempt as well, so they're kind of saving the best for last there. On the track, Brahmir Vick got a terrific jump out of the blocks in the 60 meter hurdles and never looked back.

Karl:

He beat his own school record by.02 seconds with a time of 7.74. And just to give you an indicator of Vick's dominance in this event, he now owns nine of the top ten times in Navy track and field history. Vick also won the 60 meter dash with a time of 6.83 seconds, which is fifth best in program history, by the way. Before I go any further, I want to give a quick shout out to Maura Kent for passing along all these details of the events I'm covering. Maura is one of the admins of the Navy track and field fans Facebook group and those of you who listened to the show may recall that she was a guest last summer when we featured her son, Nathan, who plays football in addition to running track.

Karl:

Now, all that makes for a very nice segue into these next two events, because the Mids' strong performance in the sprints continued, with Nathan picking up the double in the 200 and 400 meters. He was a little dinged up during football season but is in excellent form now. Kent's time of 21. 22 in the 200 set a new meet record by a tenth of a second, and he also clocked in at 47. 45 to win the 400 meter dash, and that qualifies as the fifth best time overall in the program. The mids also pulled off sweeps in the mile in 3,000 meters, with Sam Keeney and Murphy Smith picking up the wins there. When all the dust had settled, the final score ended up being Navy 101 Army 78. It was their fifth straight win over the Black Knights indoors, and now the mids finally had the lead in the star series. For the first time all year. It was 7-6-1 in their favor.

Karl:

Now it was the women's turn to take the track, and right about the same time the gymnastics team was getting ready to square off against the Black Knights over at the Halsey Fieldhouse. Like the men, the women dominated in the sprints. Sophomore Jia Anderson won both the 60 meter hurdles and a 60 meter dash with times of 8.36 and 7.53 seconds. Both were new school records, and she also finished second in the 200 meters and, by the way, that time of 24.18 seconds was also a school record.

Karl:

The Mids completed a dominating performance in the sprints by finishing 1-2 in the 400. Annie Lemelin and Taylor Woodworth put up times of 55.39 and 55.44 to pick up a total of 8 points in that event. Ellie Abraham won the 800 meters and the 400 meter relay team of Susanna Hines, Lexi Ensor, Mia- Claire Kezal and Kayla McGuire turned in an outstanding performance. They broke the old meet record with a time of 9. 05. 25 to finish in first place by an amazing 13 seconds. And by the way, just to give you a little perspective here, their winning time converts to roughly an average of 34 seconds per lap. That means that the 13 second margin of victory translates to about 76 meters, give or take a half a meter or so. That means when Kayla McGuire crossed the finish line, the Army runner still had half the final turn plus the entire straightaway in front of her. So yeah, I'd say that was a pretty impressive win.

Karl:

The women also won three field events. Alayna Schroeder finished first in the pole vault, clearing a height of 14.01 meters, and that translates to 13 feet one and three quarter inches. Sami Bollinger took the top spot in the triple jump with a leap of 12.01 meters, or 39 feet five inches, and Hannah Lowenstein took the long jump with a winning height of 1.71 meters, which comes out to five feet seven and a quarter inches. The final score was Navy 99, army 82. And it was also the fifth consecutive star the women had picked up, which increased their lead in the star series to 8, 6 and 1 overall. Shortly after that result posted, the gymnastics team made it 4 for 4 on the day by beating Army for the sixth straight year.

Karl:

But things did not look good going into that meet. Navy's All-American Isaiah Drake was hurt in practice the day before, so the Mids were already down their best all-around gymnast and the meet hadn't even started yet. It didn't seem to bother them one bit though, because the team won five out of six rotations Coming out on top in the floor exercise, palmer Horse, rings, vault and High Bar. The individual winners were Sian Burr de Gunta and the floor exercise. He is having a terrific year, by the way. Also, riley Rose took first in the rings, as did Caleb Hickey in the High Bar.

Karl:

You know there's a time when the gymnastics star meet was practically an automatic win for the Black Knights. Early on in the rivalry, army won 19 out of 20 between 1949 and 1969,. But things started to change in 1983 when Navy Athletic Director Bo Coppedge hired Peter Korman. Korman was a bronze medalist in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He led the program for six years and was a perfect 6-0 against the Black Knights. Over the last 40 years Navy holds a pretty impressive 28-12 advantage. Now Army does still lead in the series. The score there is 45-41 with two ties. But the fact that the deficit is only four now pretty much tells you the kind of hole the Mids were in when Korman was hired in 1983. Current coach Kip Simons has a 7-1 record in the star meet. So Navy could pull even before too much time goes by if they continue to perform at this high level.

Karl:

The gymnastics win increased the Mids' lead to 9-6-1, but Army was not going to go down quietly. They ended up winning both the stars in Men's and Women's Basketball, and last night in wrestling the Mids got edged out 18-17. And I got to tell you I thought they got robbed in that one, because in the very last contest, at 149 pounds, navy's Kaeman Smith looked like he had pulled off a great upset by pinning his guy, but the rest just didn't see it that way. A pin would have given the Mids enough points to put him over the top, but unfortunately that didn't happen and they came up short. So now this year's competition is tied up at 9-9-1, with seven sports to go, and you can count on the rest of the Star Series being a dogfight from here on out.

Karl:

Now, I'm not into prediction game here, because I'm way too superstitious. Besides, we all know that records don't matter when it comes to Army-Navy. So what I am going to do is point out the sports where I think the Mids have the best chance of coming away with a win, and remember they need a total of 13 to clinch the series. I'd have to say that the best opportunities for the Mids to pick up a couple of wins in the spring are in Men's and Women's Outdoor Track. Coach Jamie Cook always seems to have both teams ready to go, and I don't expect this year to be any different. Both teams are also a little stronger outdoors because of their depth. After Track and Field, I'm kind of leaning towards Men's Tennis. Navy has won the last two Patriot League championships there, and they've also won the last couple of star matches against Army. Of course, I get that you can throw the record books away in these situations, but Army is coming to Annapolis this year and the Mids are pretty tough to beat on their home court. Now we're up to Men's and Women's Lacrosse and, quite frankly, both of those are a coin flip.

Karl:

Let's go ahead and start with the men first. On paper, army probably has an advantage. They won the Patriot League last year, but the same could have been said in 2021 and 2022. They had a strong squad in each of those two years and the Mids pulled off the upset both times. Also, navy's got something to prove. Last season, they were kind of wrecked by injuries, so if they can stay healthy this group of seniors led by Xavier Arline and Jackson Bonnets they have got a great opportunity to go out strong, and one way to do that is by picking up a big win in their last star game.

Karl:

On the women's side, army is also returning a pretty good team. Last year, the Mids lost a heartbreaker to them in double overtime in the Patriot League semifinals, and the Black Knights have won the last two star games, although Navy did beat them in the 2022 Patriot League tournament, so they got a little bit of payback there. Anyway, as far as a star game goes, the women are due, so that, and the fact that this is a home game, is the reason I give them a decent chance of winning this one, and I will be there to watch that game, so hopefully I don't jinx them Now. If Navy doesn't pick up a star there, the women's tennis team will have their shot at Army. And here's another situation where both teams are pretty even. After the Mids won the star, the last couple of years, army did come back to beat them in the Patriot League tournament. So again, it's another coin toss here.

Karl:

One sport where it might be a little bit of an uphill battle for the Mids is in baseball. I'm not saying it's a done deal, but if they were to come away with the star against Army, I think it would be a nice bonus. Chuck Restano is the new Navy coach and the Mids do return five starters, but they also lost their top two hitters and their number one pitcher to graduation. The star in baseball is decided by playing a three game series. Last year the Mids were unable to get into the win column in any of those games and they were outscored 24 to 6. So it'd be pretty nice to erase that memory by pulling out a win.

Karl:

Okay, that takes care of our fairly comprehensive sports update, but please don't go anywhere, because our deep dive segment is next, where we'll get an up close and personal look at the Navy women's swimming and diving team.

Karl:

Stay with us. You know, in our last episode I had a great conversation with Navy men's swimming and diving coach, bill Roberts. I hope you all had a chance to check that out, because we've got a good look into not only one of the elite programs in all of Navy athletics, but also the entire East region, and you can say the same about the women's program as well. They've won a total of 21 Patriot League championships, including the last 10 in a row, so it's only fitting that we follow up our visit with Coach Roberts by welcoming the women's coach. He is in his 20th year leading the program and has compiled an impressive dual meet record of 168 and 44. He's also been named the Patriot League coach of the year seven times, so I am very happy to have Navy women's swimming and diving coach John Morrison join us today. Okay so, coach Morrison, it's really great to have you here with us on Navy Sports Central. Thanks for taking the time.

Coach Morrison:

Well, thank you for having me. It's awesome to be in our sport of swimming. We don't get to highlight it too often. It's great of you to recognize us.

Karl:

Okay, well, no problem at all. Believe me, I can tell you that when it comes to the sports I used to watch in the yard, I did see my share of swim meets and they were really a lot of fun to watch, awesome, awesome. So one of the things I noted and I kind of mentioned this when I was talking with Coach Roberts a couple of weeks ago the Navy swimming and diving program, for both the men and the women, has been a model of consistency for decades and you've been a big part of that because of the stability you bring, having been there for 20 years and so forth. So what I want to know is, in the time that you've been there and you have just different athletes that come through the academy year after year, certainly you want to stay true to a certain model that you have to keep that level of performance up, but are there any things that you've had to adapt to over the years to keep things fresh? You know, recognizing that athletes change over time.

Coach Morrison:

Yeah, I think our training has adapted quite a bit over time. Just the scientific approach to rest and feeling the body and those things have changed so drastically that it's a lot different than before. But on an individual, I think every class comes in with their own personality. I think they all come in from different areas of the country, so our team has a very good way of pulling each other together to support one common cause, just like the United States Naval Academy or just kind of a smaller microcosm of that.

Karl:

Okay, all right, cool. Now. Another question I have kind of along those lines is when you look at how your team is performing over the course of a season, or even the course of a couple of seasons, are there any specific things that you'd look for or certain things that you identify as potential red flags that indicate, okay, maybe we're getting a little bit into a rut here. How can you guard against that and how do you steer clear of those things?

Coach Morrison:

Great question. I think we have to read the athletes on a daily basis. The interesting part of my position because I teach and coach at the same time. So I teach swimming and then I coach in the afternoon and obviously through the varsity program, so I get to the midshipman as a whole, kind of follow the same type of bio rhythm as I go through and any given year, maybe dictated by leadership and maybe just the attitude in the hall, and to be able to see that in the classroom and then also kind of witness it and pay attention to some of the maybe a negative vibe coming from the classroom. They're a little bit run down and beat up in the classroom just coming over once a week.

Coach Morrison:

We can certainly see that happening to our mids as well.

Coach Morrison:

So taking a lot of cues from our general mid-population, midshipman population and then also moving that into our program, all the things that we look at for just body language, attitude coming over to practice.

Coach Morrison:

Fortunately we have a very good value system and we've been fortunate to have people grow up in the program and respect those that came before them. So a lot of legacy that holds to some of the true values that we sustain in our program. One of them is maintaining a positive atmosphere and ask questions, communicate so open communication between the coaches and the athletes to not only see how they're feeling on that day, but also what can we do as coaching staff, what can we do to help support you to get better as an individual or as a team? And it's one of the great leadership points of our program here at the academy, across the yard, is having input and having the student athletes actually be a part of the solution. So, given that empowering in that position and allowing them to help make adjustments really kind of hopefully yields hitting that big slump at any given season and hopefully we can get ahead of the curve, that's coming Right, right, okay.

Karl:

So let's get into the game day, or the day of the meet atmosphere. One of the things I've always been curious about is you and your staff, and, of course, the team, put together a plan, a strategy that you're looking to execute during the day, and once the day gets going, maybe things don't track according to the original plan. I mean, I'm sure that happens all the time. So my question is, first of all, can you give us an idea of what you and your coaches are doing after the meet has gotten underway? And then, secondly, what might a contingency plan look like if you had a race or two that just didn't go as you had anticipated?

Coach Morrison:

Yeah, another good question. This is a. So a lot of a lot of coach prep goes into meet preparation in terms of where we can put people, what their abilities are, of the other teams. So there's a lot of research from the other other teams. The nice thing about our sport is all time related, so you can see where you're going to.

Coach Morrison:

For the most part, you can see where things are going to line up. You don't know who's going to be missing from your opponent, but you know who you might be missing due to injury or illness. So you have a good idea of how to set a lineup and then allow the team to know what that lineup looks like. And also, if there are adjustments from event to event we don't hit an event quite the way we'd like we can make those switches. We've already had it kind of game planned out as to okay, this is what we're going to do to switch out this person later in the event in the meat list and hopefully I gain a little bit more leverage on the on the overall meat outcome.

Karl:

Okay, all right, very interesting. Yeah, I was. I didn't actually see you when I was watching the Army Navy meet, but I was listening to Rowdy Gaines and he said that after that, the very first relay, when you guys touch the wall first, he was like, oh, coach Morrison is like really fired up, you know. So I imagine a good amount of that, that time you spend, in addition to just looking for those times when you have to make some adjustments, is just, you know, supporting the athletes out there as they are competing.

Coach Morrison:

Absolutely. I mean, it's a you know to to keep their confidence up and motivate them, to help them come up with the best race or best possible case scenario. The Army Navy meet is a little different than most. The emotions are high and it's not we almost, as coaches at that point, have to control the emotions or so, then then allow them just to, just to feed off them. So I was more emotional, I think, than most of them are at times, but I think that's a good thing, because they're controlling them.

Coach Morrison:

I'm not, but I know I was excited that that that first relay is certainly one in which you can really judge a lot from that first relay because it's a mentally relay. So you see your top swimmer in each discipline the backstroke, the breaststroke, the butterfly and freestyle and if you're competitive or you're winning that first event in the mentally relay you you kind of can see the the cards a little bit later in the session as those events come up as an individual events. Those, those folks hopefully will shine.

Karl:

Okay. So, speaking to the Army Navy meet in particular, obviously, anytime you compete in a duel there's a certain level of intensity, but you and I both know that when it comes to Army, that's just a whole different stratosphere. So the thing that I find is interesting and I kind of had a little conversation with Coach Roberts about this as well is you got freshmen out there who six months previous they were just high school seniors, you know having a good old time, and six months later they're competing against Army and seemingly they're unfazed. And and I'm pointing to somebody like Ella Habyan who let off your 200 medley relay and had a really strong leg in the backstroke she won the 100 backstroke and looks like she won the 200 backstroke as well. So when it comes to what you've seen over the years with your freshman performing, have you seen any differences in terms of how they handle this kind of pressure and, if so, what do you attribute that to?

Coach Morrison:

Good question, I think. I think some are. I think everybody's a little bit different Because we do have some, some freshman that might be a little green at the national level or that. That feeling of you know it's all my shoulders. But one of the things that that our team does are pretty good job at is Helping each other find their own success. So they, they help each other. You encourage, motivate and know that if there is a down swim or not so good swim, they're gonna be. They had their back regardless. So it's a, it's kind of a nice sisterhood in that regard in terms of setting them up. But I think the the overall, I think I do think the young folks today I say young, much younger than I, but the differences I tend to be I think they are aware of their surroundings a little bit more, and it might be Social media, might be just the way they're teaching in high school or the way their club teams and their high school teams are happening, so they're a little bit more aware. That can be a distraction or Very good.

Coach Morrison:

And in terms of Ella's case, she is a talented athlete and she was able to do some incredible things. She broke a league record and her first Army Navy meet. I'm fastest than anybody has ever gone in our league in the last 25 years, so that's pretty incredible when you had those, those level athletes that just know, on game day, we, they are just excited to go out perform in the environment at the At the Army Navy meet, like you said, on the front end that's. That's upper echelon, as rowdy gains called it. It's one of his favorite meets to come to.

Coach Morrison:

Just because of the excitement and just the sheer emotion of that meet on both sides of the pool deck from the Army side and and Navy side is Incredible. I mean, I've, I've competed in you know ACC matchups UNC UVA or UNC Duke and Tennessee when I was coaching there. We go Tennessee against Georgia or Florida and it was a huge, huge match. But there is no level of just understanding what the other, the other opponents, are going through and that that you just want. You want to beat your, your, your counterpart on that day, knowing that for the rest of your life you're gonna be standing shoulder to shoulder.

Karl:

Right, right, okay. So this past Army Navy meet a couple of months back Was the closest that it's been with the women since, since you've been there, and I was wondering if you could Identify the one race that kind of you know. Once it was over with, you said okay, we've got a little bit of breathing room here. I think we have the separation. We need to close things out First. About which race was that and can you give us a little bit of a recap?

Coach Morrison:

Yeah. So I think the mentally relay was huge. I always feel. I think every coach feels a little bit more confident coming off that relay like okay, we're in a good place as a team, being able to compete, knowing that they had had some good distance swimmer Molly Weber up front in the thousand and they have a two very good 200 freestylers. I look to those next two strokes Ella coming back in the hundred backstroke they're performing very well with Megan Murphy, who's who's been very solid for us, but she, she stepped up to a different level on that day and then our brush strokeers and then our two flyers came through as well.

Coach Morrison:

So I think that those three events right after the 200 freestyle, as soon as we got through them, that was okay. We, we are solid, we're gonna keep this me close. And what are gonna be our, what's gonna be our? The separator and our sprinter stepped up that day. Huge. Our two seniors, maya Novak and Anna Freeman, and then Maya Novak and and Hannah Pratt and the hundred freestyle. They kind of really Solidify. I knew at that point when they came back and they both won personal best times and the hundred freestyle, I knew they that we had a good thing going, and then that just followed up with Ellison and Gabby Baldwin's one to finish in the two back. So At that point I I wasn't breathing a sigh of relief, but I knew we're in a good spot to be able to move through. So it was about halfway through the meat that Met that right, right, okay, good, good.

Karl:

So in the post meet interview you spoke to the energy in Lejeune Hall and before I continue I want to throw out something I had heard years ago when the I was watching the special on when the US hockey team beat the Russians at the Lake Placid Olympics and they're interviewing Al Michaels and he was describing what it felt like when they got to go ahead goal with about ten minutes ago in the game and he said the place was just Unbelievable. He said that's one of those times when sound had a feel to it. You know. So, with that in the back of your mind, can you describe what it's like on the day of the Army Navy meet, just you know, after an exciting race or like, for instance, after that medley relay, what, what is that like?

Coach Morrison:

Yeah, gosh, it's, it's. It's surreal. You, you train for, you know, a year you're recruiting for two, three years to get to that point of Competition and and you have environment. That that is. Lejeune Hall is packed to the rim. We got thousand seats, all seats are full and people are standing in the Vestibules and along the windows and on deck and it is electric when you, when you feel it and even mr Gladjak has been to many a sporting event, so it's one of the most exciting Events they go to and and an experience is just that whole hype for that first initial send-off of the relay it you get. I'm right now I'm getting hair stand up on the back of my neck. It's just so, so exciting the, the emotion of your team and and the, the folks be on the other side of the pool and and just everything. Everything's such a high level of focus and concentration and excitement that it is electric. It certainly is electric and me and you just feel that energy Throughout.

Coach Morrison:

And you know, fortunately our team came away with the win this year. You said it was the closest, closest one in years and it was. It was a tight one. Is we're gonna still have to fight, fight, fight for some more. So right, it's always, always fun, it's always fun, but that they the energy in that the facility. And even talking to Rowdy, after no who's Been at every Olympics for the last, you know whatever 15 Olympics me. We even says that. You even says it's one of the most electric environments he's ever been in, because there's so much pride on the line. Right for you, for your whole team, right, right.

Karl:

Okay, this is going to be the last question I'm going to basically ask you to think about. You have the Patriot League championships coming up in less than a week. Basically, you start on Wednesday. What are your two top priorities when it comes to making sure that your team is as ready as they can be to defend that title?

Coach Morrison:

I think, set in a tone of confidence that we put in the work for the years, is our real big top priority.

Coach Morrison:

Just a couple of workouts that we go through. It's kind of race prep, the mental prep for those races and allowing the mind to kind of just allow the body I shouldn't say allow the mind, allow the body do what it's been trained to do. We do a lot of race prep in the last few days, just kind of drawing that confidence going into the meat From a coaching staff point of view. Well, that day to day, those two and a half hour practices, we're working on that. But then you know, we just came out of meeting with my assistant going through our day to day every 15 minutes what we're going to be doing to make sure that we have them fed on time back at the hotel on time, sleeping on the right time, given everything that we can control, trying to take all those variables that we can control and make them the absolute best for them. So it's giving them the confidence, controlling what we can control and just having a lot of fun going down the stretch, a lot of smiles when we start to rest.

Karl:

Yeah, yeah. And I'll say one more thing when you're group, you talk about creating a positive environment. I mean, those athletes look like they're having all kinds of fun, you know when they're competing, so that's really really cool to see. And I will tell you this it's times like when I was watching the meat on ESPN Plus. It's times like this where I wish I didn't live in Arizona. I wish I was, you know, within a stone's throw of an apple so I could make there for those meats. But thank goodness that we have the streaming available so I can at least be there in spirit.

Coach Morrison:

Well, we appreciate your support.

Karl:

There's no doubt about it Right, right, okay, coach, I'm going to go ahead and close things out from here. Listen, thank you so much for taking the time to join me today. I know how busy you are, considering what time of the year it is, so I really appreciate it, and best of luck as you guys go out there to defend your title next week.

Coach Morrison:

Well, thanks so much for having me and supporting our programs, and come back to LeJune Hall soon. The 10 meters still open.

Karl:

Yeah, all right. Thanks so much, coach. Bye-bye. Okay, we're going to go ahead and take a short break now, but before we do that, I did want to give you all a couple of ways to stay up to date on Navy Sports. The first is to join the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page. I've got a link to that in the show notes. Just click on it, answer a couple of questions and you'll be good to go. The second way takes even less time. Just hit the follow button on whichever platform you're listening to this podcast right now. It can be Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart Radio, it doesn't matter. Once you do that, every episode will be downloaded to your directory when it's released and you can listen to it whenever you're ready. So please consider becoming a member of our group and you can actually tap that follow button right now to show your support for the podcast. I'm looking forward to having you join us. We'll be right back.

Karl:

Welcome back to Navy Sports Central, Karl Darden here with you, and I'm still lapping a little like Coach Morrison's reference to the 10 meter platform at the end of our deep dive segment. For those of you who may not be as familiar with the requirements at Navy, every mid has to take a semester of swimming each year and sometime during the final year all seniors have to jump off the 10 meter tower. So when Coach Morrison made that reference, it reminded me of a story I'd heard just a few years after I graduated. I'm not sure what year it happened, but the guy who told me the story said it involved someone from his company. This guy was down to his last couple of weeks of the semester and he still hadn't done the tower jump. So of course the anxiety started to kind of build up because he couldn't graduate without checking that box. Now when his company officer, who happened to be a Marine captain, got the word that one of his mids was in a tough spot, he stepped up and actually offered to do the jump with the guy as a show of support.

Karl:

So the next time he had PE, the mid told his company officer and he met him there at Lejeune Hall. They both climbed up the tower and the captain says to the mid okay, this is just a walk in a park, we'll jump together at the count of three. So he starts to count. When he gets to three he jumps, mid, doesn't? The Mid is still standing there on the platform, marine goes into the water. He climbs back out, heads back up the tower slightly annoyed. All right, he sees the mid, who's still not looking all that confident. This time the Captain takes him by the elbow and tells him once more that they're going to go on his count. So when he gets to three the captain jumps, but the mid pulls his elbow free at the last second and down goes the Marine for the second time. Now he's supremely ticked off. He comes out of the water squaring up a storm and in a blink of an eye he's making his way back up the tower again, ready to unload on this mid who clearly hasn't appreciated his leadership by example. Then, at some point before he got to the top of the tower, the captain hears a splash and then when he got up on the platform, he sees that the mid had finally jumped. So I guess the Mid's momentary fear of heights was nothing compared to the fear of facing the wrath of an angry Marine. That story makes me laugh every time I think about it.

Karl:

By the way, I do have one more Navy swimming and diving. Note both the Patriot League championships and the ECAC championships will be held in Annapolis at Lejeune Hall. So if you've never had a chance to check out a Navy swim meet, I highly recommend you get out there for at least one of those two. Trust me, you'll be glad you did. As I mentioned before, the Patriot League championships start on February 21st and the ECAC championships begin on the 29th.

Karl:

All right, now it's time for our question of the day and, like we always do, let's go ahead and check out the responses to the question from our last episode. Here was the question Coach Bill Roberts has led the Navy men's swimming and diving team to 19 Patriot League championships. How many East Coast Athletic Conference championships have they won since he became the head coach? Is it A7, b11, c13 or D15? The most popular answer was C13 championships. There were 66% of you who went with that choice, and then there were 26% of you who said 11 titles and finally, 9% of you decided on A7 championships. So it turns out that the correct answer was C. The Mids have won 13 ECAC championships under Coach Roberts. That includes the last nine in a row. So congratulations to those of you who came up with that answer.

Karl:

Now let's take a look at our question for this episode. In addition to winning multiple league championships. Navy women's swimming and diving coach John Morrison has also developed a number of swimmers who have qualified for the Olympic trials. How many have gone to the trials under his direction? Is it A6, b9, c11 or D12? You can take some time to think about that one, and if you want to reply back, you can do so by going to the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page. I will have it posted by the end of the day. All right, now let's go ahead and roll into our midwatch segment and see how our two athletes are doing.

Karl:

First we've got Zanay Barnett Gay, who plays guard for the Navy women's basketball team. She continues to impress as the season goes on. A couple of weeks ago she was recognized as the Patriot League's player and rookie of the week for the second time this season. She averaged 19 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in the two wins over Colgate and Lehigh. The mids record is 5 and 7 and they are currently 9th out of 10 teams in the Patriot League. But don't let that fool you, because they are only two games out of second place. With six games to go. The league standings are very bunched up, with only three games separating first through ninth place. Barnett Gay leads the team in minutes, played points and rebounds. She is also the team leader in steals. Now, considering how young this team is, I've got to say that I've been really surprised and pleasantly surprised at that at how much they've improved since the beginning of the season. They started two freshmen and three sophomores in their last game versus American University and won by a score of 69 to 55. And, led by Zanay Barnett Gay, they're only going to get better over the next couple of years.

Karl:

Now let's check in with Austin Benini, who plays guard for the men's basketball team. He is a sophomore and unfortunately, the team has really hit a rough stretch of road lately. After beating Army at home back on January 20th, they've lost seven in a row, including the star game last weekend. Unfortunately, army won it at the free throw line after their player got fouled on the Black Knight's final shot and he hit those three free throws to give Army the win. I did see some slight contact on the shooter's non-shooting elbow as he was coming up, but the rest were letting a lot worse go during the game, so I was a little surprised they made that call. Anyway, it was a tough way to lose after coming from nine points down with five minutes to go. The Mids had actually taken a one point lead going into that last play. Benini did get 11 points in the Mids most recent game to lead the team in scoring, but they lost by double digits at home to American. No one shot the ball all that well, so let's hope they can shake off that shooting slump in time to move up into standings in the next couple of weeks. Benini is still the team's leading score at nearly 16 points per game, and if the Mids do start hitting more consistently from the field it could open up things more on offense, where he can get to the rim more frequently. That's where Benini is at his best. That's going to do it for this edition of Navy Sports Central.

Karl:

Thank you all so much for joining us Now. If you like what you've heard, please be sure to hit that follow button wherever you get your podcasts and remember to get the word to all the other Navy fans out there. Once again, I'd like to thank Navy Women's Swimming and Diving Coach, john Morrison, for joining me today. It was great getting a closer look at one of the Academy's truly elite teams.

Karl:

Our question of the day continues to be a show favorite. You can get in on that by joining the Navy Sports Nation Group Facebook page and giving your answer to this week's question. I will pin it to the top so you don't miss it. And just a quick reminder the views expressed on Navy Sports Central are my own and do not reflect those of the US Naval Academy or Navy Athletics. By the way, the music used in Navy Sports Central comes to your courtesy of Audio Jungle. This is a great site for purchasing the rights to use the music from thousands of artists around the world, and those featured in the podcast will be credited in our show notes. Talk to you soon, everybody. Until next time. This is Karl Darden. Go Navy beat Army.

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