Hall of Fame
The 1958-59 USMMA swimming & diving team put Kings Point on the map in the competitive northeast collegiate swim & dive landscape. A push in the late 1950’s by the Academy’s athletic administration to strengthen every team with bolder recruiting efforts brought in a new class of top-notch performers who blended greatly with the veterans of the team. The Mariners finished the regular season with a 9-3 record, defeating the likes of Union, Fordham, Manhattan and Adelphi and went toe-to-toe with perennial powerhouses NYU and Columbia. Multiple times throughout the season, the squad produced impressive, and in some cases academy record-setting performances at the time in events like the 100-yard backstroke, the 400-yard medley relay, the 200-yard breaststroke, the 220-yard freestyle, the 400-yard freestyle relay and diving. The highlight of the season, and one of the most memorable moments in Kings Point athletic history, came at the ECAC Championship Meet, when the all-freshman 400-yard freestyle relay team defeated NYU by just over a second - the same NYU team that dominated the Metropolitan Championship Meet just weeks earlier, including an easy win in this relay event. This marked the first time in Academy history that USMMA had won a race at a major swimming conference meet. The 1958-59 Mariners set the stage for a bright future for the Academy’s swimming & diving program.
