2026 ASUN Swimming and Diving Championships
- February 18-21, 2026
- Rosen Aquatic Center, Orlando, FL
- SCY (25 yards)
- Start Times: Prelims- 10 am ET, Finals: 6 pm ET
- Defending Champions:
- Women: Liberty
- Men: Queens
- Participating Teams: Bellarmine, Delaware, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, North Florida, Old Dominion, Queens, UNC Asheville
- Psych Sheets
- Championship Central
- Watch: ESPN+
Schedule:
Wednesday, Feb. 18
- 500 Freestyle
- 200 IM
- 50 Freestyle
- Women’s 3-meter Diving
- 200 Medley Relay
Thursday, Feb. 19
- 200 Free Relay
- Women’s 1-meter Diving
- 100 Butterfly
- 400 IM
- 200 Freestyle
- Men’s 3-meter Diving
- 400 Medley Relay
Friday, Feb. 20
- 100 Backstroke
- 100 Breaststroke
- 200 Butterfly
- Men’s 1-Meter Diving
- 800 Free Relay
Saturday, Feb. 21
- 1650 Freestyle
- 100 Freestyle
- 200 Backstroke
- 200 Breaststroke
- Platform Diving
- 400 Free Relay
2025 Final Standings
Women:
- Liberty- 858.5
- FGCU- 690
- Queens- 644.5
- UNC Asheville- 459
- North Florida- 273
- Gardner-Webb- 221
- Bellarmine- 199
Men:
- Queens- 924.5
- FAU- 851
- Gardner-Webb- 506
- Old Dominion- 480
- Bellarmine- 295.5
The Liberty women and Queens men picked up wins at the 2025 ASUN Championships a season ago; the men’s team’s win marked their first ASUN title since becoming a Division I program. With Liberty now in the American Conference, the door has opened for a new women’s team to take charge in 2026.
Swimmers to Watch:
Women:
Victoria Novinskiy – Senior, Delaware
Delaware’s Victoria Novinskiy has accumulated at least one conference championship title in two separate conferences, winning the 100 back as a freshman in the MAAC, and winning the 200 fly twice in the CAA, and will be looking to find success again in the ASUN in 2026. This season, Novinskiy leads the conference in the 100 fly (51.94), 200 fly (1:54.65), and 200 IM (1:56.73), holding sizeable leads in each entering these championships. In her senior season, she has found great success across all of those events, having clocked her career bests in all three at the Bucknell Invite in November.
Novinskiy has never won more than one event at any of her conference championships, but in 2026 she is a heavy favorite to win all three. In both the 200 fly and 200 IM, she holds massive leads of more than three and a half seconds and four and a half seconds, respectively. Her biggest test will come in the 100 fly, where she is the only swimmer this season to turn in a time under 52 seconds, and the next-closest competitor is Maddie Foster of Queens at 52.68. A side note to Novinskiy will be how much she could lower ASUN conference records; she sits below the 200 fly mark from 2018, set by FGCU’s Christina Elmgreen at 1:55.55, and is just off the 200 IM record from 2025, set by Abigail Zboran of Queens at 1:56.06.
Izzy Ackley– Sophomore, Florida Gulf Coast
Ackley enters these championships as a clear frontrunner to repeat as the 100- and 200-back champion. In 2026, Ackley has separated herself from the rest of the conference in those two events, holding a near two-second lead in the 100 and another three and a half seconds in the 200 back. Last season, Ackley left no doubt in the 100 back, storming to a second-and-a-half victory in 52.61, and ended up tying for the win in the 200 back with Liberty’s Malia Francis in 1:54.87.
This season, Ackley has already logged times that make those winning efforts a thing of the past, having touched in 51.92 and 1:53.44 in the 100 and 200 back at the Eagle Invite in October. She sits just under three tenths off of the ASUN record in the 100 back and a little bit less than a second off the 200 back conference standard, but could put both in danger with big swims in Orlando. Her third event last season was the 100 fly, where she finished 3rd in 54.13. In prelims, she marked her career best in the event at 53.51, a time that would likely secure another high podium finish in 2026.
Abigail Zboran– Junior, Queens
Zboran is coming off a decorated 2025 campaign, which included three ASUN championship titles (200 fly, 400 IM, 200 IM) and another two event wins at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships (100 IM and 200 IM). Here in 2026, Zboran may look to switch up her event lineup. She holds the top times in the 200 free (1:47.29) and 400 IM (4:14.72), and she also sits 2nd to Novinskiy in the 200 fly. The 200 free could be an intriguing race for Zboran, as she is the only swimmer in the conference under 1:48.
The 200 free final last season saw three sub-1:48 swims, with Liberty’s Sydney Stricklin taking the win in 1:45.73. The top returner in the event is FGCU’s Jasmin Kroll, who has only been as fast as 1:51.33 this season. Delaware’s Angelica Ragazzoni sits closest to Zboran in the 200 free in 1:48.27, and could test Zboran in the championship final. Zboran’s best shot at a 2026 title on paper is the 400 IM, an event she won by nearly three seconds in 2025 (4:13.44), just missing the ASUN record time of 4:13.06. Here she is, an early three and a half seconds ahead of Aislyn Barnett of FGCU in 4:18.13.
Men:
James Shevchenko– Sophomore, Florida Atlantic
FAU’s James Shevchenko comes into the 2026 ASUN Championships with three of the top times in the conference: the 500 free (4:22.60), 200 fly (1:45.70), and 400 IM (3:48.79). He is also the reigning ASUN champion in the 200 fly, which he won the event in 1:46.45. He holds solid leads in all three events here in 2026, and the Swimulator projects him to come away with the conference titles in all three. The 500 free will be key event for him as he finished runner-up to his teammate Daniel Laureyssens last season.
Shevchenko is already faster than his 200 fly winning time from 2025 and is a near two seconds faster than the rest of the conference, with Queens’ Matt Shanahan (1:47.48) leading a pack of three sub 1:48 swimmers. Shevchenko also leads the 400 IM ahead of Shanahan, setting up a pair of potential showdowns for two ASUN titles. If FAU wants to compete with Queens for the team title, Shevchenko will likely need to pick up three event wins to keep them in contention.
Matheus Teixeira Przewalla- Sophomore, Queens
Matheus Teixeira Przewalla was a three time finalist a season ago, and has put himself in a position to potentially capture one or more event wins here in 2026. Przewalla holds the top time in the ASUN in the 200 IM this season in 1:46.23, atime that would have secured the win in this event last year over Gardner-Webb’s Justin Bender (who sits 3rd in 1:48.46). In addition to his 200 IM top time, he also sits 2nd to Bender in the 200 breast, only by a deficit of .55 seconds in 1:57.63.
Those two matchups will be the most likely wins for Przewalla. His likely 3rd event will be the 400 IM, where his time ranks 3rd this season in 3:54.77. A season ago he was 3:54.26 at these championships to finish 3rd, but with him and Shanahan in the top three, could be a solid scoring event for Queens. We mentioned how Shevchenko may need to win all three of his events to keep FAU in contention, if Przewalla can leapfrog to the top of the 200 breast, Przewalla could be a major factor in Queens separating themselves from the rest of the competition on that final day.
Zach Redding– Junior, Old Dominion
Redding is among the top sprinters in the ASUN this season, and comes in as the top 100 freestyler and 100 butterflyer to this meet. He was a three time finalist last season, with his top placing coming in the 50 free, where he was the runner-up in 19.65. This season, he enters in a sort of underdog position, sitting 6th in the ASUN in 19.73. Fortunately he is not in any come-from-behind position in either of his other two events, boasting top times of 42.52 and 46.47 in the 100 free and 100 fly, respectively.
None of these races will come as clear wins, as the top ten in the 50 could all be under 20 seconds, and the current projected 100 free field is separated by a second from 1st to 6th. The 100 fly has the potential to be one of the to praces of the meet, with the top three separated by a little more than a quarter of a second, and three different teams all represented at the top with Delaware’s Kade Snyder (47.51) and Queens’ Emil Harlen (46.75) breathing down the neck of Redding.
Showdowns:
Women’s 100 Breaststroke- The top seven in this race are separated by less than a second, with the top five all within about a half second. gardner Webb’s Dakota Townley (1:01.88) and Delaware’s Brianna Cottingham (1:01.91) sitting as the top two swimmers, and the only two under 1:02. Annika Huber of Queens’ (1:02.12) and Cassie Bauer (1:02.23) follow closely behind. In 2025, this race was dominated by Liberty’s Aly Bozzuto, who clocked a massive 59.17 to win. Huber is the highest placing returner, having finished runner-up in 1:01.06, if she were able to replicate that success, or improve on that time, Huber could be sitting atop the podium in this event on Friday.
Women’s 100 Freestyle- Florida Gulf Coast boasts the only two women under 50 seconds in this event this season with Leah Gentry-Tuney (49.71) and Libby Russum (49.85) leading a tight event field. Three of the next four top times come from Queens with Maren Patterson (50.05, 3rd), Maddie Foster (50.23, 4th) and Sabina Kupcova (50.49, 6th) all vying for the opportunity to overtake FGCU. FGCU’s Mia Burke sits as the highest placing returner from this event last season, having placed 5th in 50.25, but is the 12th fastest in the ASUN this season in 51.12.
Men’s 100 Butterfly- As previously mentioned, this race is already shaping up to be a tight one to the finish, with three swimmers sitting at the top of the event being separated by just over a quarter of a second in Redding, Snyder and Harlem, those three alone could be nearly equal at the final turn with a conference championship title on the line. There are a few other potential podium busters outside of those three; Queens’ Nien Levy (47.25) and FAU’s Rush Clark (47.75) are the only other competitors under 48 seconds. Redding was 4th in this race last year, Clark was 5th and Levy was 6th, those three are the only returning championship finalists form a season ago.
Men’s 200 Backstroke- In one of the tightest top 3s you will ever see, Gardner Webb’s Agustin Orechia (1:45.51), the 2025 ASUN runner-up in the 200 back, holds only a three hundredths of a second lead over Delaware’s Kal Levterov (1:47.54), and a four hundredths lead over Queens’ Pablo Ortega Navarro (1:45.55). Orechia was significantly faster than that time last season when e finished 2nd, touching in 1:44.74. But the looming threats of Levterov and Ortega Navarro could change the dynamic of this race and keep Orechia from taking that top spot. Caden Fritz of Queens (1:46.17) is just outside of that top three conversation, but has been as fast as 1:44.70 in his career, which would be the top time this season by a significant margin, giving him a rightful spot in the conversation.
SwimSwam Pick (Top 3):
Women:
- Delaware
- FGCU
- Queens
The Swimulator likes Delaware to take home the women’s team title in 2026, behind a number of potential game-changing performers. FGCU also sees a deep roster of scorers with Izzy Ackley, Aislyn Barnett, Leah Gentry-Tuney, and Nora Hetyei. Though FGCU and Queens may be able to get the upper hands on some relays, the individual output from some of Delaware’s stars could be the difference for the Blue Hens.
Men:
- Queens
- FAU
- Delaware
Queens is in a great position to maintain their control over the ASUN in 2026. Their depth is key, but the opportunity to have multiple swimmers close to the top of the podium in multiple events sets them apart. FAU and Delaware each have very strong individual performers, but the Royals posses arguably the deepest roster in the ASUN on the men’s side, giving them the edge here.
