2025 House of Champions Invite
- November 20-22, 2025
- IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, Indiana
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Day 1 Results
The 2025 House of Champions Invite is following the old NCAA Championship schedule, which meant a warmup 200 IM for IU Indy star breaststroker Logan Kelly on Thursday evening.
Kelly won that race in 1:48.17, which is about a second shy of his best time in that event done at the 2024 Horizon League Championships.
Kelly a 5th year who sat out last season for IU Indy, is in a unique position this season. His easiest path to the NCAA Championship meet is winning the Horizon League Championship in better-than 52.58. With a best time a second better – 51.56 from his season-opening dual meet this year – the 52.58 barrier seems very doable. The bigger risk in waiting to qualify, though, is Christopher Palvadre from Oakland University, who has already been 52.70 in a dual meet his year.
He did split 51.85 on the 400 medley relay on Thursday to warm up his breaststroke. That was part of a 3rd-place effort for IU Indy.
The winner of that race was NCAA Division II Lynn University in 3:10.21, which took more than two seconds off Missouri State’s House of Champions Meet Record from 2024.
A veteran relay of Paul Melcer (48.17), Maxim Tsyfarov (52.22), Vitaly Kostin (46.88), and Enzo Constable (42.94) was within a second of the 3:09.43 they swam to place 6th at last year’s NCAA Division II Championship meet.
On the women’s side, the highlight was a 1:30.78 in the 200 free relay from Ball State. That won by a second-and-a-half and shaved .08 seconds off the old Meet Record.
That is a young relay that included freshman Anna Keen, freshman Kiley Zoeller, sophomore Ava Butterfield, and the senior anchor Payton Kelly, splitting 21.90.
Kelly also won the 50 back to start the session in 24.60 and the 50 free in a Meet Record of 22.24 to open her meet. Keen was 2nd in the 50 free in 22.61, also better than the old Meet Record.
Kelly finished her quadruple day with a 48.26 anchor leg as Ball State broke another Meet Record to finish the session. Butterfield (54.93), Maya McDonald (1:03.38), Keen (53.22), and Kelly (48.26) combined for a 3:39.79.
That’s already faster than Ball State’s time at last year’s MAC Championships, where they placed 5th in 3:40.31.
Other Day 1 Highlights:
- Little Rock’s Megan Stewart won the 200 IM in 2:01.02. That’s a new lifetime best for the South African freshman and breaks the school record in just her second-ever attempt at the event in short course yards.
- Lynn’s Kostin won the men’s 500 free in 4:21.99, and the Fighting Knights went 1-2 in the 50 back with Grabowski winning in 21.92 and Melcer finishing 2nd in 22.22. Then again, they went 1-2 in the 50 free with Grabowski winning again in 19.59 and Constable finishing 2nd in 19.79. Lynn actually won five of six men’s events on the day, adding a victory in the 200 free relay in 1:19.43, including a 19.45 anchor from Grabowski.
- Illinois-Chicago’s Madison Helmick won the 500 free in 4:49.77. She finished 2nd at last year’s Missouri Valley Conference Championship meet in this event, behind only her teammate Molly Kroeger (who finished 2nd on Thursday in 4:51.69).
