2025 NEC Swimming and Diving Championships
- Feb 19-22, 2025
- SPIRE Aquatic Center, Geneva, OH
- SCY
- Defending Champions
- Women: Central Connecticut (2x)
- Men: Wagner (1X)
- Championship Central – Women
- Championship Central – Men
- Fan Guide
- Results
After two days of swimming and diving action at the 2025 NEC Championships, the CCSU women look poised to win their 3rd consecutive title, while the Howard men continue to hold a slight lead over their field.
On day 2, the CCSU Blue Devils started strong with a win from grad student Abbey Keane in the women’s 500 freestyle. Keane managed to defend her conference title in a time of 4:56.99 to win by just over a second.
The CCSU women gained another win on the diving boards, as Kaitlyn Carroll continued her strong meet to claim gold in the 1-meter diving event in a score of 255.20. Carroll’s teammate Zoe Baker finished 2nd to give the Blue Devils a huge boost in points and a 1-2 punch in the event.
In the 50 freestyle, Howard junior Zuze Nwaeze threw down an impressive performance en route to a conference record in the event. Nwaeze touched in a time of 22.65, taking down her own conference record of 22.74 from last year’s meet. She later improved upon that time with a 22.57 leading-off the Bison’s 200 freestyle relay. In that event, Nwaeze combined with Jasmine Morgan, Summer McKoy, and Kelsey Roberson to produce a final time of 1:32.43, breaking the conference record of 1:32.60 from last year.
With her final time from the relay, Nwaeze becomes the first woman from an HBCU to record an NCAA Division I cut. She is now only the second HBCU swimmer in history to record an NCAA cut, joining fellow Bison Miles Simon.
The other individual event on the night, the 200 IM, saw Wagner’s Rebekka Luoto post a winning time of 2:00.83 to win the gold medal by over 2 seconds ahead of the field.
On the men’s side, it was LIU that got off to a strong start on the night, with the team continuing to show its freestyle poweress as freshman Finn Drysdale set a new meet record in the 500 freestyle. Drysdale touched in a time of 4:24.75, slicing over 4 seconds off of the previous meet record of 4:28.87 and winning the event by 8 seconds.
LIU also took the top spot in the men’s 50 freestyle thanks to Alejandro Pascual Del Cid, who posted a time of 20.23 to hold off Howward’s Darin Johnson by a tenth of a second.
The 200 IM saw a tight battle between Mason Green from Howard and Nikko Carrillo of Wagner, with the pair exchanging the lead throughout the race. Ultimately, it was Carrillo who came away with the gold in a time of 1:50.36, with Green holding on for second in a 1:50.47.
To close the night, Wagner, LIU, and Howard threw down in the men’s 200 freestyle relay. Despite trailing at the final 50, Pascual Del Cid posted a firey 19.59 split over the final leg to give the edge to LIU at the touch. He combined with teammates Fabrizio Infante, Emilio Garcia, and Marcelo Chauvet to produce a final time of 1:21.63, only .2 ahead of Howard.
Women’s Team Standings – Day 2
- Central Connecticut – 379.5
- Howard – 281
- Wagner – 196
- Saint Francis U – 182
- LIU – 147
- Le Moyne – 106
- Stonehill – 85.5
Men’s Team Standings – Day 2
- Howard – 326
- Wagner – 281
- LIU – 214
- Le Moyne – 189
