We’re back for another edition of the 2024-25 NCAA digest and folks, the season is really in full swing now. There weren’t many top Division I programs in action this weekend–though we’ll certainly get to the ones that were–but the mid-major schools kept us busy this weekend as among other highlights, Georgetown headed to Howard for the third edition of the Battle at the Burr.
As if that weren’t enough, on Oct. 7, the House vs. NCAA settlement was granted preliminary approval, which is a key step in the landmark case that is changing the face of collegiate sports.
House vs. NCAA Settlement Granted Preliminary Approval
One month after Judge Claudia Wilken sent the settlement parties “back to the drawing board” during a preliminary hearing, she granted preliminary approval to the revised proposal this week. Lawyers representing both sides filed the revised proposal on Sept. 26 which clarified the term “booster” and the guidelines around the pay-for-play incentives. The Athletic reports that the NCAA is trying to eliminate as part of the settlement.
Final approval for the hearing is scheduled for April 7, 2025. However, there is the possibility for more legal appeals between now and then. If final approval is granted in April, direct revenue sharing between schools will begin in July 2025.
BC Returns To Competition
A year and two weeks after Boston College’s swimming and diving program was suspended, the Eagles dove back into competition with a pair of wins over UMass. The meet also marked the NCAA coaching debut of head coach Dara Torres, a 12x Olympic medalist and 5x Olympian. In the release announcing her appointment, Torres said “this opportunity to share what I’ve learned, in and out of the pool, and pass along technique, confidence, and support as part of the Boston College Athletics Department is a dream.”
In their sweep of UMass, the freestyle groups particularly stood out. The Eagle women won narrowly by 14 points, in large part thanks to their young freestylers. Freshmen Lauren Lee and Lizzie Oliphant went 1-2 in the 50 free, then Oliphant and sophomore Madison Connor went 1-2 in the 100 free a few events later. Lee won the 200 free, while senior Megan Kramer took the distance events, giving the Eagles the freestyle event sweep.
The men’s meet wasn’t as close. The Eagle men won 10 of 14 events, though their freestyle sweep was spoiled by UMass junior Sammy Quigg winning the sprints. However, the Eagles won the 200, 500, and 1000 freestyle as their top recruit, freshman PJ Nolan, dominated the 200 free, swimming 1:41.67 and winning by almost three seconds.
Splashy Season Debuts
The BC freshmen freestylers weren’t the only ones to make waves this week. The ASU women haven’t surged up the NCAA standings the way their men’s team did, but they got off to a hot start this season in their dual against UNLV.
Miriam Sheehan, Iza Adame, Julia Ullmann, and Caroline Bentz took down the five-year-old 200 medley relay program record by .21 seconds, swimming a 1:37.05 in the first event of the meet. Three of the four women on this relay are new to the roster; both Sheehan and Bentz transferred from other Power 4 schools, while Ullman is a freshman from Switzerland.
Sheehan, who transferred from NC State, very nearly broke the 100 backstroke program record as well. She swam 52.67, good for the third-fastest in program history and just .09 seconds off the ASU record of 52.58 that Charli Brown swam last season. The record may be on borrowed time, as Sheehan’s lifetime best of 51.99 is well under the mark.
Switching gears to the mid-majors, George Washington lost two big pieces in the offseason; Djurdje Matic and Toni Dragoja, the latter of whom transferred to Alabama. However, they’ve brought in graduate transfer Elliott Irwin, who was named the 2024 Summit League Male Swimmer of the Year after winning three individual events and helping Lindenwood to three relay victories at the league’s championships. He’s already climbed into the program’s all-time rankings from his swims at GW’s quad meet with William & Mary, Delaware, and UNCW. Irwin clocked 47.08 in the 100 fly for the fifth-fastest in program history and 19.99 in the 50 free for the sixth-fastest.
Freshman Natalie Sens swam 1:02.25 in the 100 breaststroke, jumping to the third-fastest in GW history during her second regular-season collegiate meet. Sens’ lifetime best of 1:01.48 would rank second on the school’s all-time list, behind the 59.75 Ava DeAngelis swam last season when she became the first in program history to break 1:00.
Sold Out Regular Season Meets
Howard hosted Georgetown for the third edition of the Battle At The Burr, the meet largely responsible for injecting life back into regular season dual meets. The meet sold out quickly when tickets went on sale, and Georgetown won the women’s and men’s meets as the Burr Gym Pool played host to more than 1,000 fans, including Olympians like Simone Manuel and Maritza McClendon.
North of the cross-D.C rivalry, the UConn women hosted two other Connecticut schools, Sacred Heart and Southern Connecticut State University. The Huskies sold out their meet and gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about as they won.
Quick Hits
- Texas raced its annual Orange and White meet, now named the Sam Kendricks Memorial after the longtime swimming commentator. Kos continued to shine in the new season for the Longhorns, as Nate Germonprez and Rex Maurer also impressed. Erin Gemmell, Jillian Cox, and Piper Enge highlighted the women’s meet.
- Ilya Kharun also continues to post head-turning times. At ASU’s dual against UNLV, Kharun won the 200 fly (1:39.47), 100 fly (44.57), and 200 IM (1:44.57), swimming an ‘A’ cut in the former, where he is the defending NCAA champion. Kharun also threw down a 19.38 50 fly split, which is just outside the top-10 fastest performances all-time and faster than what he split at 2024 NCAAs. Kharun owns the fourth-fastest 50 fly split in history from the 2024 NC State Invite, where he split 19.24.
- Letitia Sim raced in a Michigan cap for the first time since the 2022-23 season, as she took an Olympic redshirt last season. Sim won the 100 fly, touching in 55.16. She also swam breaststroke on the 200 medley relay, splitting 27.83 as she, Lexi Greenhawt (25.33 back), Brady Kendall (24.40, fly), and Lindsay Flynn (21.79, free) swam 1:39.35 for the win.
- Tanner Edwards took down Jordan Tiffany’s BYU program record in the 50 butterfly. Edwards swam 21.43, lowering the previous record, set last season, by .25 seconds.
- For the first time in program history, the Catawba men beat Division I’s Gardner-Webb at the ECU Pirate Duels.
- It’s early in the 2024-25 season but we’ve already got a dual meet tie. The Towson and Old Dominion men drew at 143.5 points.
Grant House was the junior world champion in the 200 free
Were tickets actually sold? Or were they meets with a full Natatorium.
No shot, perhaps a handful of *VIP* tickets, but general admission is free
Gotta say I’m loving this attitude with regular season meets. If teams can sell out regular season meets with some help then I do believe that the potential for our sport to try and change for the better is possible but it will take a lot more for this to hopefully and eventually succeed.