Kate Augustyn (MIT) Lowers Own DIII Record in 100 Back at 2025 NEWMAC Championships

2025 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Championships

• Dates: Thursday, February 20–Sunday, February 23
• Location: WPI Sports & Recreation Center, Worcester, MA
• Defending Champions: MIT women (13x); MIT men (15x)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Teams: Babson, Clark, MIT, Mount Holyoke (women), Smith (women), Springfield, US Coast Guard Academy, Wellesley (women), Wheaton, WPI
• Day 1 Results | Day 2 Results

Kate Augustyn cut over a tenth of a second off her own DIII NCAA record in the 100 backstroke leading off MIT’s 400 medley relay at the 2025 NEWMAC Championships. Her time also established new NEWMAC meet and open records.

The senior is the defending national champion in both backstroke events, as well as the 200 medley relay. At the 2024 DIII NCAAs, she first took hold of the 100 back national record leading off the 400 medley relay. In the individual event a day later, she matched that time exactly for her first national title. Now, she’s sliced another 0.12-seconds off her own mark.

“Our team had such great energy at finals yesterday and our medley relay was just excited to have the opportunity to race and see what we could do suited and with a little bit of rest,” said Augustyn after the session. “As [MIT head coach] Meg [French] always says “the better the energy the better the outcome” and I think that was really true last night.”

Compared to her splits last March, Augustyn swam a slightly more controlled opening 50 (26.02); both of her previous record-breaking swims were out under 26 seconds. However, she rocketed home to make up the difference (27.27). That bodes extremely well for her 200 back, where she has yet to break 2:00 this season and is the #2 performer all-time.

Split Comparison:

While Augustyn is the favorite to take home a repeat title in March, she will likely still have to contend with Williams’ senior and 2024 runner-up Sophia Verkleeren. Verkleeren opted for the 100 and 200 fly at NESCACs this year, but holds the #2 time in the country this year from another relay lead-off (54.00). Still with this swim, Augustyn has distanced herself even further from the field.

All-Time Top 10 DIII Performers, Women’s 100 Backstroke:

1. Kate Augustyn, MIT — 53.29 (2025)
2. Celia Oberholzer, Kenyon — 53.46 (2013)
3. Taylor Kitayama, JHU — 53.61 (2014)
4. Sophia Verkleeren, Williams/Cindy Cheng, Emory — 53.65 (2024/2018)
5.  —
6. Jessica Flynn, NYU – 53.69 (2022)
7. Megan Jungers, Emory – 53.71 (2022)
8. Brittany Sasser, Amherst – 53.85 (2008)
9. Olivia Smith, Kenyon – 54.00 (2023)
10. Nicole Ranile, NYU – 54.08 (2025)

Behind Augustyn, MIT reset its own school record in the 400 medley relay, as well as the NEWMAC meet and open records. She was joined by first-year Sarah Bernard on breast (1:02.53), sophomore Sydney Smith on fly (54.17), and fifth-year graduate student Alex Turvey on free (50.37). All four athletes had the fastest splits of the field, and their final time was over 12 seconds faster than the runner-ups (3:40.36). The Engineers hold their #3 ranking behind NYU and Kenyon.

Augustyn turned in another record-breaking performance earlier in the session, smashing the NEWMAC Open record in the 200 IM from 2013 by over a second (2:00.31). The previous record was held by another Engineer, Anna Kokensparger, who set the standard in her senior year (2:01.58). Augustyn led a 1-2-3-4-5 finish for the Engineers, who are in position to take home the team title for the 14th year in a row.

The MIT women have looked incredibly strong all year, winning two match-ups against Division I teams (Northeastern and BU) during the regular season and setting numerous school records before the post season even began. They’ve continued to roll through the first two days of NEWMACs and have swept every event so far through day 2. They’re in position to do it again tonight; Augustyn is the top qualifier in the 400 IM where she’ll seek to add a fourth-straight title to her impressive resume.

The other women’s event winners from the session were MIT (200 free relay, 1:31.48), Sarah Bernard (500 free, 4:53.99), Ella Roberson (50 free, 23.24), and Fiora Beratahani (1-meter, 495.10).