2024 PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2024 Patriot League Championships were riddled with technical difficulties, from overturned disqualifications to bulkhead misalignment. It was also a dramatic team race with the Navy and Army men competing for the team title. Navy is seeking a 20th consecutive Patriot League title while Army looks to end its reign.
It was a close contest on the final day, with the Navy holding a slim 45-point lead over the Army. With the addition of the ranked C finals, the point distribution this year is even more interesting.
After the preliminary rounds, the Navy men appeared poised to trump the Army in the final round. But then Army took four of the top eight spots in the 1650 and took the lead by 37 points.
The next race was the 200m backstroke, where Army had placed three men ahead of Navy's two in the A final. One of these swimmers was Jake Douberly, who qualified eighth with a time of 1:46.71. Later in the session he was also scheduled to swim the 200 meters, also from lane eight.
In the 200, Douberly maintained his seeded placing, but added almost exactly 10 seconds to finish in 1:56.67. Since this swim was completed in the A final, he should still score 22 crucial points for Navy. However, he was disqualified due to the “honesty rule,” the text quoted below:
“Coaches must ensure that student-athletes put forth honest effort in all competitions. Failure to demonstrate an honest effort could be considered disorderly conduct (Rule 2-5-6) and could result in disqualification and/or disciplinary action by the Referee or Competition Committee.”
So instead of getting a guaranteed 22 points for Navy to keep up in the final standings, Army widened the gap to 80 points.
According to reports on deck, the start of the women's 200-meter race was delayed by 30 minutes because the Navy disputed the disqualification. However, it appears the call has been held as Douberly still appears disqualified in the 200m backstroke.
He still had the second half of his double to go and placed fifth in the men's 200-meter dash, improving his lead time by exactly one-tenth of a second (1:47.79).
The meet isn't over yet and Navy has five athletes in the men's 3-meter diving final compared to Army's three, but Army now has a 23.5-point lead in the team standings. There is also the 400 free relay, in which Army has the top group.
We've seen a similar situation before: at the 2021 Women's Big Ten Championships, Northwestern's Miriam Guevera was disqualified in the 100-meter dash in the first half of a double with the 200-meter dash, which was also nearly 10 seconds behind her preliminary time, but this case did not have such dramatic consequences in a team race.
The 200-meter dash and the 200-meter dash are a tough one-two punch, especially when it comes on the final day of a meet, but we've seen swimmers have success with it in particular in their NCAA careers Brendan Burns at Big Tens.