2026 Patriot League Fan Guide: Army/Navy Men Battle, Mids Women Eye 14th Straight Title ...Middle East

By Annika Johnson on SwimSwam

2026 Patriot League Championships

Event Schedule

Wednesday, February 18

Thursday, February 19

Friday, February 20

Saturday, February 21

2025 Final Standings

Women:

Men:

Last year, the Army men took home their first Patriot League Championship title since 2001. Their battle with the Navy Midshipmen all came down to the final relay, and the meet was decided by just 16 points.

The Navy women cruised to a decisive victory, earning their 13th consecutive title by 268 points over Army. The Midshipmen displayed untouchable depth both in the pool–despite not winning any individual swimming events–and on the boards as senior diver MacKenzie Kim swept the 1-meter and 3-meter.

2025 NCAA qualifiers:

The Patriot League sent three swimmers to the 2025 NCAA Championships in individual races, all on the men’s side: Army’s Kohen Rankin and Johnny Crush, and Navy’s Ben Irwin. This was Rankin’s second consecutive NCAAs after being the sole Patriot League representative in 2024 and the Army’s first swimmer to qualify since 1987. Crush placed the highest in the 100 back in 8th with a time of 45.07, after blasting a personal best of 44.52 in prelims. He also raced the 50 and 100 free, finishing in 59th and 57th, respectively. Rankin was 29th in the 100 breast with a time of 51.90 and 33rd in the 200 breast (1:54.42).

Army qualified two relays: their 200 medley quartet of Crush, Rankin, Daniel Verdolaga, and Ben Vorthmann, and their 400 medley (Crush, Rankin, Verdolaga, and Thomas Hadji). They made history when they earned 15th place in the 200 medley relay, marking the first time Army scored in a relay at NCAAs since 1966.

Irwin snagged 20th in the 200 back at NCAAs with a time of 1:39.79 and 26th place in the 100 back (45.66), both with personal best times. This was the Navy’s fourth season in the past six years sending a swimmer to the national championships.

Swimmers to Watch

Women:

Clara Renner – Sophomore, Bucknell University

Renner was crowned the 2025 Patriot League Rookie of the Meet after winning the 400 IM and snagging 2nd place in both the 500 and 1650 free. She proved herself to be a fast championship meet swimmer–her 400 IM time was a personal best by two seconds (4:16.85), and her marks in both distance freestyle events were season bests (4:48.48/16:31.54).

The sophomore from Massachusetts will have a new option when deciding which individual events to compete in this year, as she closed out the regular season undefeated in the Patriot League in the 200 fly, as well as the 500 free. She’s come the closest to an NCAA qualifying time in the 200 fly. Her season-best time is a 1:59.39 from the Bucknell Invitational in November, but her personal best from last season’s ECAC Championships (1:58.21) is only one second away from the mark (1:57.11). Renner is Bucknell’s fastest 200 flyer in program history, and the first swimmer to take their team record under 2:00. She’s ranked 2nd in the Patriot League this year behind Army sophomore Sydney Braeger.

Renner will also be a formidable threat on relays after anchoring Bucknell’s school-record-setting 800 free relay of Virginia Hastings, Rylie Giles, Sydney Dettman, and Renner that placed 3rd at the 2025 Patriot League Championships with a 7:17.89. Bucknell is ranked 1st in the league in this year’s 800 free relay.

Molly Webber – Senior, U.S. Military Academy

Webber has been a pillar for the Army in distance free throughout her collegiate career. She owns team records in the 500 (4:46.20), 1000 (9:50.35), and 1650 (16:30.96), and has helped completely rewrite their relay record board as an anchor on all four relays. She’s set to close out her collegiate career on a high note after logging a personal best 50 free time of 23.44 in January, and best times in the 200 free (1:45.98) and 1000 free (9:50.35) in November.

Webber, a senior from New Jersey, is the defending Patriot League champion in the 200 free, 500 free, and 1650 free. She anchored the Army to first-place finishes in the 400 free relay–while swimming alongside Clara Williams, Angie McKane, and Meghan Cole–and the 800 free relay–racing with Williams, Jenna Hart, and Kira MacMullan. She is also within striking distance of NCAAs. Her best times place her within six seconds of an NCAA qualifying time in the 1650 (16:25.29) and within three seconds in the 500 free (4:43.70).

Lauren Walsh – Senior, U.S. Naval Academy

Walsh was the Navy’s highest point scorer last year with 83 individual points, and she made big contributions to the Mids’ 200-point win over the Army. Walsh had an electric start to her career with the Mids, earning the title 2023 Patriot League Rookie of the Year and claiming 1st place in the 200 breast. Navy is hosting the meet this season in Lejeune Hall, and she’ll have the chance to rise back to the top of the podium after finishing in 2nd place in this event at the past two Patriot League Championships.

The senior from Connecticut also took 2nd place in the 100 breast and 3rd in the 200 IM last season, and she stands to score well for the Mids again this year. She’s swum a 2:12.04 200 breast this regular season to rank herself atop the conference and come close to the NCAA cut (2:11.27).

Men:

Johnny Crush – Sophomore, U.S. Military Academy

Crush has continued to dominate the Patriot League after earning Swimmer of the Meet as a freshman at last year’s championships. The sophomore from Kentucky is the defending Patriot League champion in the 100 back, and he helped the Black Knights to championship wins in the 400 medley, 800 free, and 400 free relays last year.

When Crush committed to swim for the Army in the summer of 2023, the team had not won a Patriot League title in the last 20 years. During his collegiate debut that fall, he broke the 100 back program record, and since then, he’s accumulated a total of seven team records as an underclassman. He was instrumental in guiding the team to their win last season and was the sole Patriot League representative to race in an individual ‘A’ final at NCAAs.

He’s shown no sign of slowing down this season after blasting a 44.10 lead-off 100 back split on Army’s program record-setting 400 medley relay to rank himself 3rd in the NCAA in early February. This was a personal best time for Crush and helped position the crew of Kohen Rankin, Daniel Verdolaga, and Thomas Hadji to punch their ticket to NCAAs together with a qualifying time of 3:04.10.

Crush is going into this year’s Patriot League Championships ranked 1st in the league in the 100 back, 3rd in the 50 free, 2nd in the 100 free, 7th in the 200 free, and 4th in the 200 back. He will have his pick of individual races to swim at this season’s meet.

Kohen Rankin – Senior, U.S. Military Academy

Rankin has never lost an individual breaststroke race at the Patriot League Championships. After sweeping the 100 and 200 breast from 2023-2025, the senior from Iowa is looking to complete an undefeated collegiate championship breaststroke career.

Rankin has only gotten faster this season, blasting best times of 50.76 in the 100 breast and 1:52.85 in the 200 breast in December at the Army vs. Navy dual meet. In the 100, he outtouched Navy junior Juan Mora to rank himself 4th in the NCAA. But, he may have more of a fight to win the 200 this year. Navy’s Michael Phillips and Mora are ranked 1-2 in this event in the Patriot League, .42 ahead of Rankin in 3rd.

Crush and Rankin were on the Army’s winning 200 free relay that decided the meet last year– alongside junior Thomas Hadji and Wes Tate, who has graduated–and they will be big factors in whether Army can overcome Navy’s depth this season to defend its championship title.

Ben Irwin – Junior, U.S. Naval Academy

On Saturday, all eyes will be on Navy junior Ben Irwin as he looks to three-peat the 200 backstroke/200 butterfly dirty double. The 2025 Patriot League High Point winner has not lost either event so far in his collegiate career at this championship meet. He’s ranked 1st in the league in the 200 back, but is 5th in the 200 fly and will have to contend with Navy teammates Dean Jones and Evan O’Dea to lock in the win.

Irwin, a junior from Georgia, was the #17 recruit in his high school class, and he made his first NCAAs last season. He’s currently ranked 13th in the country in the 200 back, but he could improve his position if he can match the personal best time of 1:39.79 that he swam at NCAAs last year.

Showdowns To Watch:

Women:

400 IM: Bucknell leads the field in the women’s 400 IM with junior Kelly Byrne ranked 1st and her teammate Clara Renner, the defending champion, in 2nd. They are closely followed by Boston’s Haley Newman, who took 2nd place last year.

Byrne has hit her stride this season after winning the 400 IM ‘B’ final at last season’s championships with a 4:22.99, a time that would have earned 5th in the ‘A’ final. She’s since lowered her best 400 IM time to 4:17.67, and crushed her best times in the 500, 1000, and 1650 free, the 200 back, and the 100 breast. With a team battle for 3rd place forming between Bucknell and Boston, this could be an important race for both the Bisons and the Terriers.

200 breast: This race will likely feature a rematch between seniors Catriona Gilmore of the Army and Lauren Walsh, from the Navy. Gilmore is the defending champion, but this season her fastest time (2:12.30) ranks her 2nd behind #1 Walsh by .26. They are two of three swimmers under 2:15.00 this year, and are joined by Navy senior Maddie Koutavas.

The women’s 200 breast is shaping up to be a lopsided Army-Navy dual with Navy holding spots 1-3-4-5 in the Patriot League and Army in spot #2. This is one of the Navy’s strongest chances to take home a title in an individual swimming race this year if Walsh gets her hand to the wall first.

Men:

100 back: While defending champion Johnny Crush is the favorite to win, having swum 1.7 seconds faster than #2-ranked Ben Irwin this season, the top three men have all logged NCAA qualifying times, and the podium order is far from decided.

Loyola junior Joe Hayburn is also in the running for 2nd place after posting a 46.06 in November. Navy freshman Luke Lamb could challenge them for the podium as well. He’s ranked 4th with a 46.69, just off of the NCAA qualifying time (46.29).

200 medley relay: The first relay of the meet could be anyone’s game and will set the early tone of the weekend. Army’s Crush, Rankin, Daniel Verdolaga, and Ben Vorthmann posted the top time of the season so far (1:22.95), but Navy’s team of Irwin, Gavin Green, Lachlan Andrew, and Ben Denman-Grimm is in 2nd close by (1:23.80). Loyola is the only other team that’s joined them under 1:25.00 after their group of Hayburn, Brennan Coyle, Hans van Lierop, and Derek Feldman swam a 1:24.33 in mid-February.

This could be a great opportunity for the Greyhounds to edge out either Army or Navy and take back some points.

SwimSwam’s Top 3 Picks:

Women:

The Navy women look to win at home after going undefeated in the Patriot League all regular season. Seniors Lauren Walsh and Sarah Eldridge, this year’s team captain, headline the team’s incredible depth. Walsh holds the top time in the 200 breast, and Eldridge placed inside the top six in all three of her individual events last year. The team retaining star diver MacKenzie Kim, a senior this year who swept 1-meter and 3-meter last season, is also huge for the Mids.

An unpredictably close race is forming for 3rd place between Boston University and Bucknell. If we had to pick, it seems Boston could edge out Bucknell with their high-ranking relays and diving strength. The Terriers hold the top time in the league in the 200 free relay, and they have senior diver Rena Ho, who scored in the 3-meter ‘C’ final and 1-meter ‘A’ final last year. The Bisons graduated one of their top divers last year, Regina Frias.

Boston’s Haley Newman and Molly Barber will also make a huge difference in the team’s fight for 3rd. If Newman beats Bucknell’s Byrne or Renner in the 400 IM, this could help tip the scales in Boston’s favor. Freshman Terrier Molly Barber stands to score big in sprint free and relays. She holds the second-fastest time in the league in the 50 free, third-fastest time in the 100 free, and she led off their league-leading 200 free relay in October that posted a time of 1:31.87.

Men:

Navy men have been in great form all year. They went undefeated in the Patriot League in the regular season and won their dual meet against Army by 112 points in December. But, after the Army’s 400 medley performance in early February, it looks like the Black Knights have more fire in the tank. They also have strong relays and a solid sprint breaststroke group, led by Rankin and Joey Kling. Where the Navy is really set to pull ahead is diving. They retained junior Finn Gelbach, who took 2nd on 1-meter and 3-meter last season. This meet is set to be another battle for 1st that will likely come down to the wire.

According to our Swimulator, Loyola is projected to score over 1000 points to triumph over Boston and retain their 3rd place finish from last year. The Greyhounds are ranked 3rd in both the 200 and 400 medley relays, and are in podium contention in multiple individual events.

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