College Swimming Roundup: Conference Season

COLLEGE SWIMMING ROUNDUP

🏊‍♀️ SWIMS OF THE WEEK 🏊🏽‍♂️

Tons and tons of conference meets last week, let’s go quick-hits and get to as many of them as we can.

D1 Conference Champs

Horizon League:

• As they’ve done every year since joining the conference the Oakland Golden Grizzlies took home both men’s and women’s titles. Swimmer of the Meet on both side, however, went to IUPUI Jags. Emmaleigh Zeitlow took the longer free triple in 1:47.28/4:47.24/16:25.95 - the 1650 a PR by 12 second and a new meet record by almost ten seconds. Jordyn Shipps powered the Grizzlies with 53.04/1:58.58 flys (the 100 a meet record) and a 2:00.53 200 IM, plus 23.00/50.17/1:48.68 free relay leadoffs.

• Spencer Jyawook took the men’s Swimmer of the Meet award home off of wins in the 50 free (19.66) and 100 fly (46.11) and third place 100 free (43.74). Oakland senior Jack Wike comes from a storied northern Illinois swimming family, and he had a heck of a breakout senior conference meet, taking down the meet record in the 200 IM (1:44.66, dropping 2 seconds), won the 100 back (47.80), and dropped 3 seconds in his 200 back (1:44.24), plus 19.73/43.49/1:36.48 relay splits.

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:

• Marist took control of the men’s meet early on, and if you’re going to break an 11-year conference winning streak (held by 2024 3rd place Rider), this is a good way to put an exclamation point on it:

Four freshmen and a sophomore too, that’s one heck of a training group. Iona’s Michael Faughnan won Swimmer of the Meet off of two meet records (200 free 1:34.79, 200 back 1:43.61) and another win (500 free 4:20.64).

• Niagara and Fairfield duked it out on the women’s side, with Niagara getting the title by 60 points. Fairfield’s Nora Segurola got the consolation Swimmer of the Meet award with wins in the 50 free (23.43) and backstrokes (54.92/1:59.06). The 100 breast was perhaps the best race of the meet, with Fairfield’s Tone Sandsjo pulling ahead of Niagara’s Alaina Pitton on the back half to take a 1:01.45-1:01.73 win.

Sun Belt:

• Madison Cottrell fittingly starred as James Madison ran away with the title. Her week featured wins in the backstrokes (53.47/1:58.68) and 100 fly (52.93), with blazing 22.07/49.14 free relay splits and a 23.37 fly relay split. Of additional note were teammate Jess Pryne’s 1:59.54 200 IM, and Marshall’s Paige Banton’s 1:01.36/2:13.06 breaststrokes.

America East:

• UMBC has won 14 of the last 20 men’s championships, but Binghamton and Bryant came to play here, relegating the Retrievers to third. Binghamton only won 3 individual events (Eli Lanfear 19.68/44.02 frees, Mark Stern 1:47.79 200 fly) but their depth carried them through. UMBC’s Daniel Nicusan took home Swimmer of the Meet with three big PR wins in the breaststrokes (52.57/1:55.58) and the 200 IM (1:46.36).

• On the women’s side, Vermont won their first title, taking over the meet lead on the penultimate day and holding off hard charging New Hampshire and Bryant with a 50 point spread from first to third. Ella Church’s 1:50.16/4:51.21/16:40.48 distance free efforts led the way for Vermont. As on the men’s side, triple winner Ella Guilfoil got Swimmer of the meet. She took her wins in the IMs (2:00.06/4:17.42) and the 200 back (1:56.93), and also led off three relays in PRs (800 free relay 1:48.32, 200 medley relay 25.44, 400 medley relay 54.61).

D2 Conference Champs

Sunshine State:

• Defending NCAA champs Nova Southeastern women are going to be another handful come next month, winning one of the top D2 conferences by over 200 points. Their distance duo led the way, with Emily Trieschmann sweeping the longer free events 1:47.27/4:49.16/9:45.27/16:24.21 and teammate Hailey Williams not far behind with 1:51.06/4:51.12/9:50.74/16:25.72. They now rank #1/#2 in the division in the longer two events, while Trieschmann and Emilia Ronningdal (1:47.70) are #1/#2 in the 200. Additional top ranked D2 times came from Lynn’s Laura Dekoninck (22.53 50 free) and NSU’s Rafaela Raurich (53.15/1:56.71 flys).

• Tampa took the men’s title but overall seemed to be saving a lot for next month after their big midseason meet, so the big breakout swims more or less came from other teams. Much like the women, NSU was driven by their distance squad, with Luca Alessandrini swimming 1:37.79/4:24.63/9:02.87 PR/15:17.72 PR and teammate Keith Peristeridis going 4:22.91 PR/9:05.21 PR/15:36.19 with a 3:54.71 400 IM PR to boot. Rollins’s Luke Dinges was also on fire, with PRs across the board in 22.59/49.03 backs and 48.00/1:44.92 flys. That 200 fly puts him #3 in D2.

Rocky Mountain:

• Colorado Mesa won big here in altitude, almost doubling runners-up Colorado School of Mines on both sides. Agata Naskret and Benedict Nagy starred for the CMU women, with Naskret sweeping the backstrokes (53.02/1:57.27) and Nagy taking the IMs (2:00.63/4:16.00) and the 200 fly (2:01.39). CSM’s Jordan Tierney popped the D2 #2 100 breast and #5 200 breast (1:02.32/2:15.88).

• On the men’s side, perhaps most impressive was 4 men hitting sub-2:00 200 breast at altitude. OCU’s JT Amrein took the win in 1:57.20 over Simon Fraser’s Dylan Kormendy (1:59.41) and Hayden Visscher (1:59.48), while CMU’s Marcus Otero went a 1:58.20 in a time trial. The 800 free relay also offered an outstanding race, with CMU (Kiszczak 1:38.71/Ghaffari 1:36.85/Urbanek 1:38.74/Sampson 1:35.99) getting the edge over OCU (Amrein 1:39.07/Rollen 1:37.88/Brammer 1:38.17/Rosado 1:35.63), 6:30.29-6:30.73.

PSAC:

• West Chester continued their run of titles, a 15+ year long streak on both sides broken only by NCAA sanctions in 2021-2022. WCU’s Keely Durkin swept the distance frees for women’s Swimmer of the Meet, while IUP’s Luke Mikesell broke a conference record with a 4:24.65 500 to take the men’s award. Bloomsburg’s Rylee Wenzel dropped over half a second for a 22.92 50 free win, while Clarion’s Connor Cary popped a 47.26 conference record 100 fly.

South Atlantic:

• Wingate swept this relatively new conference, but Catawba’s Maks Minichowski was the story of the meet. We’ve chronicled some of his exploits, but he leveled up again here with wins in the sprint frees (20.11/43.78) and 100 breast (52.94), all PRs.

GM-MEC:

• Findlay easily swept both sides of this conference, led by their versatile stars Emily Mears-Bentley and Tim Stollings. Mears-Bentley PRd her flys (53.83/2:00.51) and 200 IM (2:02.23), adding in a PR 50.37 free relay leadoff, while Stollings hit PRs in the sprint backstrokes (21.07/46.15) and won the 100 fly (46.37).

Pacific:

• CSU-East Bay took the women’s title, while Biola was victorious on the men’s side. CSU-EB’s Tehani Kong had a nice meet, her 23.14 50 free and 54.67 100 fly both sitting at 11th in D2.

Northern Sun:

• Two-sport star Bryn Greenwaldt led Augustana to the title here. Her sprints (22.83/51.15) were strong but not bests, but the swim that really sticks out is a 53.52 100 back, a PR by almost two seconds that vaults her to #2 in D2.

D3 Conference Meets

Lots and lots of these, so let’s hit ‘em quick:

Kenyon swept the NCAC in close battles against rival Denison. Bengizu Caymaz went a nation #1 500 free (4:49.26) for Kenyon while Dension’s Eijah Venos hit PRs in the breaststrokes (53.63/1:58.21) for big wins.

Emory swept the UAA over NCAA meet stalwarts such as NYU, UChicago, WashU, and Carnegie Mellon. Med school transfer from Alabama Derek Maas is ostensibly a breaststroker but is playing backstroker for NYU with 46.78/1:42.40 to go with a meet record 1:44.72 2IM. Last year’s big NCAA breakout Kaley McIntyre leveled up again, taking the sprints 22.60/49.47/1:46.87.

Another sweep at the SCAC from Trinity University. The Tigers have a nice sprint free duo in Michael Kohl (20.22/44.35/1:38.45) and Nathan Early (20.67/45.40/1:38.30), while Neely Burns (2:16.46 2breast, 2:02.59/4:21.15 IMs) swept her events on the women’s side.

The NESCAC women’s meet featured a 53.65 100 back from champ Williams’s Sophia Verkleeren which would have won the national title in the event last year, as well as a 1:59.47 200 IM that knocked a hundredth off her 2023 national title-winning swim.

TCNJ’s men looked ready for big things at the NJAC. James McChesney, 200 free D3 record holder, hit 19.88/43.55/1:35.95 sprints, and Ryan Higgins dropped at least 2.5 seconds in each race for a 1:45.88 200 back and 1:47.32/3:50.53 IMs.

Kelsie Miller’s 54.95 100 fly was a 1.5 second PR and vaulted her to 8th in the nation in the event as the highlight of the Atlantic East women’s meet for St. Mary’s. Teammate Luke Schwenk had a huge meet for the men, with 19.86/44.26/1:39.80 sprints and 21.97/48.67 backstrokes.

Vineet Ranade was a versatile force for Rose-Hulman at the Heartland champs. Between individuals and relay leadoffs he went 44.85/1:38.63 frees, 2:00.65 200 breast, 21.84/48.44 fly relay splits, and a 1:49.24 200 IM. Franklin won 16 of 20 events for the women, led by Samantha Phillips’s clean sweep in the 200/500 free (1:53.93/5:03.27) and 200 fly (2:05.94).

Grove City’s Rachel Wallace and Caleb Einolf ran clean sweeps of their individuals and relays to lead their championship teams at the President’s Athletic Conference, with Wallace going 55.54/2:05.88 flys and a 2:09.60 IM and Einolf hitting 20.50/44.86 sprints and a 48.51 100 fly, plus a 55.17 100 breast time trial.

🏊🏽‍♂️ Weekend Preview 🏊🏼

Power Five starting up this week!

SEC, ACC, Big Ten women are the heavy hitters.

AAC, ASUN, Summit League, Patriot League, Mountain West, MPSF, A-10, Ivy League women, Missouri Valley, NEC for the mid-majors.

D2 finishes up with New South and Conference Carolinas.

And another big batch of D3 meets, headlined by the NESCAC men, MIAAC, NEWMAC, and SCIAC.

In Case You Missed Yesterday’s Podcast…

#366 Dan Wallace on Scottish Pride, Building Team GB, and Getting Back in the Water

Dan Wallace discusses his competitive swimming career, the rising talent of British swimmers, and his journey from retiring young to rediscovering swimming through challenges like ice swimming, coaching, and swimming the English Channel.

They talk about…

• Dan's background growing up in Scotland and swimming career at the University of Florida under Gregg Troy & training with Ryan Lochte.

• The mentality and team culture that contributed to Dan's success, and how embracing a new environment helps athletes to adapt and thrive.

• The recent success of British swimming teams, particularly in the 200m freestyle, and swimmers like Tom Dean and Matt Richards emerging as top talents.

• Dan's Scottish heritage and pride representing Scotland, as well as his retirement from swimming at a young age after achieving his goals.

• Dan rediscovering his passion for swimming after taking time away, through activities like ice swimming and charity swims.

• Both of their experiences with burnout and the importance of reconnecting with swimming in new ways to find joy in it again.

Follow Dan, here.

Enjoy!

Listen on Apple Podcasts here.

Watch on YouTube here.

Become a part of the Sprint Revolution! Get access to our growing collection of workouts, seminars, and exclusive content. New items added every month.

✓ 1 Month of Sprint Workouts (24 New Workouts Each Month)

✓ Online Educational Seminar

✓ Live Q & A with Brett Once a Month