Payton Kelly Takes 7th, 8th Titles to Lead Ball State to Win at House of Champions Invite

2025 House of Champions Invite

• November 20-22, 2025
• IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Meet Site
• Day 1 Results | Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Results | Day 2 Recap
• Final Results

The final day of the 2025 House of Champions Invite was a record-setting bonanza. Led by the stars of the meet Logan Kelly, Payton Kelly, and Sam Lorenz, Meet Records were set in 12 different events on Saturday – sometimes multiple times in those events.

Logan Kelly of the host team picked up his 3rd and 4th individual wins, and 2nd individual record, of the meet, starting with the 200 breaststroke. There he swam 1:54.98 to break Artur Osvath‘s 2016 record.

He then came back later in the session and won the 100 IM in 49.71, which was under the old Meet Record, but didn’t actually get the record. Vitaly Kostin of D2 Lynn University finished 2nd in 49.97, and Missouri State freshman Kiefer Roemer finished 3rd in 50.14, both also under the old record, but Kostin’s 48.96 from prelims will come out of the fray as the standing mark.

Lorenz won the 200 backstroke in 1:43.49, winning by 2.3 seconds ahead of the field. That broke the old Meet Record of 1:44.48 set by Rodrigo Berti of UIndy in 2017.

Lorenz is in a unique position in that he’s training primarily with his club team, Schroeder YMCA and competing for the UW-Milwaukee Panthers. He also won the 100 backstroke on Friday in a new personal best. His time Saturday in the 200 back was .64 seconds slower than his best time.

On the women’s side, Payton Kelly from Ball State picked up two more wins to make 8 wins in 10 entries across the weekend. First she picked up the big one: a 49.11 in the 100 free, breaking the Meet Record of 49.66 set by North Texas’ Shaena McCloud in 2024.

She is the defending CSCAA National Invitational Champion in the 100 free.

She then anchored the Ball State 400 free relay with a 48.66 split. The rest of the relay were Anna Keen (50.24), Ava Butterfield (50.31), and Reagan Graves (51.07), part of the young core that will take over next season after Kelly’s graduation for the Cardinals.

That helped Ball State run away with the meet title, more than 800 points ahead of runners-up Missouri State. Ball State last won this meet in the 2023-2024 season, but were just 4th out of 4 teams in the Miami (OH) Invite last year.

Other Men’s Day 3 Winners

• IU Indy’s Hugo Arteaga won the 50 fly in 21.13, breaking his own Meet Record of 21.41 last year. He also beat Enzo Constable from Lynn University by just .01 seconds. That was one of four individual runner-up finishes for Constable in the meet.
• Lynn University’s Maurice Grabowski won the 100 free in a new Meet Record of 43.19, beating out the old mark of 43.35 set by Jeron Thompson of UIndy in 2022. He was the NCAA runner-up last season.
• Lynn’s Vitaly Kostin won the men’s 200 fly by 2.3 seconds in 1:45.22. That broke his own Meet Record of 1:46.16 from last year’s edition. He is the defending NCAA D2 Champion in the event, dropping big from mid-season to championship season last year.
• Missouri State freshman Zach Mendez ended his meet with a distance win and a huge drop, topping the field in the 1650 free in 15:29.83. Coming out of high school as more of a 200-500 freestyler, that’s a 26 second improvement for Mendez. He previously finished 2nd to Kostin in the 500 free earlier in the meet.
• Lynn University, which had the most wins at the meet even without the depth to take the team title, finished with a win in the 400 free relay. Kostin (44.41), Constable (42.99), Paul Mecler (44.66), and Grabowski (42.64) combined for a 2:54.70, breaking Michigan State’s Meet Record. That is already 1.4 seconds better than Lynn’s 10th-place relay from last year’s NCAA D2 Championship meet.

Other Women’s Day 3 Winners

• Ball State sophomore Anna Keen won the 50 fly in a new Meet Record of 23.57. That broke the old standard of 24.52 set by Marshall’s Madeline Hart last season. After four individual runner-up finishes earlier in the meet, Keen got two wins on Saturday: she later won the 100 IM in 54.71, another new Meet Record (Sami Roemer, Missouri State, 2024 – 55.96). Ball State was just 5th at last year’s MAC Championship meet, but the performance this week will have them looking higher up the table in February.
• Ball State’s Ava Butterfield won the 200 back in 1:58.24 after marking a new lifetime best of 1:57.93 in prelims. After not going a best time in this race as a freshman, she crushed her personal best on Saturday. Her previous best was set in March 2023 at 2:02.30.
• Little Rock’s Anna Nishizaki won the 200 breaststroke in 2:16.35, holding on at the wire to a hard-charging Kate Schilling of Butler (2:16.47). Schilling was .65 seconds better on the last 50, but came up a stroke short of the upset.
• Ball State’s Alexa Von Holtz won the women’s 200 fly in 1:58.54, clearing the field by almost two seconds and the Meet Record by more than one (Marizel Van Jaarsveld, UIndy, 2021 – 1:59.74). That almost matched the 1:58.52 that Von Holtz swam to finish 2nd at last year’s Mid-American Conference Championship meet.
• Ball State freshman Addy Czarnecki won the women’s 1650 free in 16:51.96. She was pushed the whole way by Missouri State’s Sophia Dela Coleta, who finished 2nd in 16:52.44.

Women’s Final Team Scores

1. Ball State – 2,995.5
2. Missouri State – 2,115.5
3. UIC – 2,029.5
4. Little Rock – 1,673
5. Milwaukee – 1,616.5
6. IU Indy – 1,488.5
7. Lynn University – 1,059
8. Saint Louis U – 1,024
9. Butler – 951.5
10. Southern Indiana – 620
11. Lewis U – 470
12. Montevallo – 332
13. Northern Kentucky – 296
14. Kenyon – 48 (Divers)

Men’s Final Team Scores

1. IU Indy – 2,743.5
2. Missouri State – 2,428.5
3. Ball State – 2,056.5
4. Lynn University – 1,795
5. Milwaukee – 1,580
6. UIC – 1,365
7. Saint Louis U – 1,302.5
8. Southern Indiana – 939
9. Lewis U – 856
10. Northern Kentucky – 686
11. Montevallo – 483
12. Kenyon – 34 (Divers)