2025 American Athletic Conference (AAC) Championships
- Dates: Wednesday, February 19–Saturday, February 22
- Location: Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr McMillion Natatorium, Dallas, TX
- Defending Champions: Florida International women (1x)
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Championship Central
- Fan Guide
- Teams: East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, North Texas, Rice, Tulane
SCHEDULE
Wednesday (2/19)
- Team diving
- 200 medley relay
- 800 free relay
Thursday (2/20)
- 500 free
- 50 free
- 200 IM
- 1-meter diving
- 200 free relay
Friday (2/21)
- 100 fly
- 400 IM
- 200 free
- 100 breast
- 100 back
- 400 medley relay
- 3-meter diving
Saturday 2/22)
- 200 back
- 100 free
- 200 breast
- 200 fly
- 1650 free
- Platform diving
- 400 free relay
2024 STANDINGS
- FIU – 778.5
- SMU – 666
- Rice – 593
- East Carolina – 446
- FAU – 417
- Tulane – 379
- North Texas – 336.5
Florida International won the AAC title last season, winning the meet by a considerable margin. Of note, last year’s runner-up, SMU, is no longer in the conference, bringing the total number of teams down to 6.
There were a number of NCAA qualifiers last season who are no longer in the conference, either graduated or transferred. FIU’s Christie Chue was among that lot. A great breaststroker, Chue competed in the 100 breast and 200 breast at NCAAs last season, finishing 19th in the 100 breast and 24th in the 200.
Tulane freshman Victoria Raymond was also huge last season. In her first collegiate season, Raymond put up a huge 51.70 in the 100 fly, which earned her an invite to NCAAs. She would swim the 100 fly and 200 fly at NCAAs, taking 54th and 45th respectively. Raymond has since transferred to Alabama.
Jaclynn Fowler (SMU), Paige Burrell (FIU), Alicia Mora (FAU) are all divers who qualified for NCAAs last season. Fowler is no longer in the conference, while Burrell and Mora graduated.
RETURNING NCAA QUALIFIERS
Ella Dyson – Rice
Rice has the only returning NCAA qualifiers from last season. She qualified for NCAAs at the Texas A&M Last Chance Meet in early March, swimming her career best of 16:14.03 in the 1650 free. She would race in the mile at NCAAs, swimming a 16:18.01, which earned her 36th place. She also swam the 500, where she took 54th. She made a huge impact in her sophomore season, winning the 1650 at the AAC Championships, and taking 2nd in the 500 free with her career best of 4:44.00. She’s also a strong 400 IM’er having finished 5th in the event at AACs last year.
Fast forward to this season, where Dyson leads the AAC in the 500 free with her season best of 4:46.68. She’s also already been 16:20.86 in the 1650 free this season, which is faster than she swam to win the event at AACs last year. Her 400 IM season best clocks in at 4:19.49, which is good for 6th in the conference.
Arielle Hayon – Rice
Arielle Hayon was Rice’s other NCAA qualifier last season. As a junior, she represented Rice at NCAAs in the 200 IM, 100 fly, and 200 fly. She came in 64th in the 200 IM, 34th in the 100 fly, and 47th in the 200 fly. She was huge for the Owls at last year’s AACs, winning the 100 fly (51.38), and taking 2nd in both the 200 fly (1:56.97) and 200 IM (1:58.55). Those 100 fly and 200 IM times stand as her career best, while she’s been 1:56.26 in the 200 fly, which she swam at the 2023 AACs.
Heading into the meet, Hayon leads the AAC this season in the 100 fly with a 52.28. She has the top time in the conference by over a second, setting herself up nicely to win another title. Hayon also leads the AAC in the 200 fly, where she’s been 1:58.03 so far this year. She hasn’t been quite as strong in the 200 IM to this point in the season, coming into the meet with a season best of 2:02.70, which is good for 6th in the conference.
OTHER STARS OF THE CONFERENCE
Nicole Frank – FIU
Junior Nicole Frank is back as one of FIU’s best swimmers this season. Frank enters this meet as the top seed in the 200 IM, where she’s been 1:59.52 this season. She’s the only swimmer in the AAC to go under 2:00 to this point in the season. Her career best stands at 1:58.85, which she swam to take 2nd at last year’s AAC Championships.
Frank also leads the 200 breast this season with her season best of 2:11.62. Like the 200 IM, Frank finished 2nd in the 20o breast at last year’s meet, clocking her career best of 2:10.81.
Frank’s best event is arguably the 400 IM, in which she’s the defending AAC champion. She swam her career best of 4:12.18 to win the event last year. This season, Frank hasn’t been quite as fast so far this year, coming into the meet with the 4th-fastest time in the conference (4:18.70).
Andrea Zeebe – Tulane
Tulane junior Andrea Zeebe is the top backstroker in the conference to this point in the season. Zeebe clocked her season best of 54.28 in the 100 back leading off the 400 medley relay at the Magnus Cup in the fall. That’s Zeebe’s career best in the event as well.
Zeebe is arguably better in the 200 back, where she’s been 1:57.23 this season. That time also stands as a career best for Zeebe, and was also swum at the Magnus Cup.
A great 200 IM’er as well, Zeebe enters the meet as the 4th-fastest 200 IM’er in the conference this year. She’s been as fast as 2:01.83 this season.
Amelia Kane – Rice
Rice senior Amelia Kane is a force to be reckoned with in the middle distance and distance events. The reigning AAC champion in the 500 free, Kane holds a career best of 4:43.70. So far this season, she’s been 4:49.78, which is 4th in the conference. Kane recently swam her career best in the 1650 free with a 16:21.03 at the Houston First Chance Meet on February 8th. That swim puts her 2nd in the conference behind her teammate Dyson.
Kane has also been excellent in the 400 IM this season, leading the AAC into the meet with her season best of 4:15.85.
Maya Wilson – Tulane
A grad student at Tulane, Maya Wilson is one of the top sprinters in the AAC this season. She leads the conference in the 100 free by a wide margin, boasting an impressive season best of 48.50. She enters this meet as the top seed in the 100 free by nearly a full second. Wilson also stands a chance of qualifying for NCAAs in the event.
Wilson is just as strong in the 200 free, where she leads the AAC this season by over a second with her mark of 1:45.46. Both Wilson’s season bests in the 100 free and 200 free stand as her career bests as well.
Wilson has a lot of pure speed as well, entering the meet as the 2nd seed in the 50 free with her season best of 22.69. She holds a career best of 22.37, which she swam at last year’s Pac-12 Championships when she was a member of UCLA. It’s Tulane teammate Catherine Russo who holds the top time in the conference this season with a 22.29.
SHOWDOWNS
1650 Free
It’s not often that the mile shows up as a showdown race, but in this case, it should be an awesome race. The fun part about it is the race is likely to come down to 3 swimmers, who are also teammates. Rice holds the top 3 times in the conference this year by a huge margin. Ella Dyson leads the way with her season best of 16:20.86, while Amelia Kane has been 16:21.03, and Ava Portello has been 16:26.29. Dyson has the edge, as her career best is 16:14.03 from last season, while Kane and Portello’s times are their career bests, and were just swum at the Houston First Chance meet 2 weeks ago.
The next-fastest swimmer in the conference is 25 seconds slower than Portello, so this race should come down to this Rice trio in the middle of the pool.
100 Breast
The 100 breast looks like it should be a fantastic race as well. It’s East Carolina’s Kaylee Hamblin who leads the conference so far this season, having gone 1:00.99. Hamblin was the runner-up in the event at last year’s meet, where she swam a 1:00.63. SHe holds a career best of 1:00.06 from the fall of 2023.
FIU’s Frida Loebersli is close behind Hamblin, entering with a season best of 1:01.12. That swim, which she did at the Purdue Invite in November, also stands as her career best, since this is her first season in the NCAA.
100 Back
The 100 back looks like one of the deeper events in the conference this year. We already went over Tulane’s Andrea Zeebe, who leads the conference with a 54.28. There are, however, 3 other swimmers who have been under 55 seconds in the AAC this season. FIU’s Diana Santamaria Losada is the next closest to Zeebe, having been 54.52 this year. Then there’s a Rice duo of Ava Hamblett and Mimi Filkin, who have been 54.76 and 54.89 respectively this season.
SWIMSWAM’S PICKS
- Rice
- Tulane
- FIU
FIU has some promising young swimmers, but we have to roll with the Swimulator on these projections. According to the Swimulator, Rice comes out on top in this meet based on their season bests by a decent margin. FIU is certainly a threat to repeat, but they did lose some of their best swimmers and divers from last season.
Meanwhile, Tulane, which finished next-to-last at last year’s meet, is looking primed to rocket up the rankings this year.
