2026 NEC Championships
- February 17-20, 2026
- Spire Institute, Geneva, OH
- SCY (25 yards)
- Start Times: Prelims- 10 am ET/Finals 6 pm ET
- Day 1: Finals only- 6 pm ET
- Defending Champions
- Women: Central Connecticut State University (3x)
- Men: Howard (1x)
- Participating Teams: Central Connecticut, Howard, Le Moyne, LIU, Saint Francis (PA), Stonehill, Wagner
- Women’s Championship Central
- Men’s Championship Central
- NEC Championships Preview
- Live Results
- Livestream: NEC Front Row
On the second day of the Northeast Conference Championships, Howard’s Zuilda Nwaeze notched her 3rd consecutive title in the women’s 50 freestyle, her 7th career NEC championship title.
Nwaeze clocked he only sub 23-second time in the championship final in 22.82, leading a final that included five Howard swimmers, including the event runner-up Rhanishka Gibbs in 23.01, improving six spots from her prelims swim of 23.59, where she finished 8th.
Long Island’s Finn Drysdale defended his 2025 crown in the 500 free, dominating the field in 4:28.26, well off his meet record of 4;244.75 from last season, but touching nearly eight seconds better than any other swimmer in the event’s final.
Wagner’s Nia Goodale took a tightly contested women’s 500 free in 4:55.57, outpacing Central Connecticut’s Maggie Rutledge on the final 100 to secure the win by just twelve hundredths of a second.
Howard’s Kaleb James notched the win for the Bison in the men’s 200 IM, touching over half a second ahead of Emilio Garcia of Long Island in 1:49.40. Despite Garcia outsplitting james on the freestyle by over six tenths (25.50), James was out a second and a half faster through the first 100, giving him a cushion on the way to the win.
Central Connecticut’s Megan Dunnigan logged the only sub 2:04 finals performance in 2:03.81. Her teammate Addison Kenney finished just over a quarter of a second behind in 2:04.05 to give CCSU a 1-2 finish and 37 key points.
Six of the eight championship finalist in the men’s 50 free dipped under 21 seconds, with Howard’s Mason Green leading the charge in 20.17. LIU freshman Mario Paulson finished 2nd, swimming an identical time to his prelims swim in 20.32.
Howard occupied five of the top eight in the men’s 3-meter diving final, as Zion Wilson and Trevor Sewell finished 1st and 2nd in 263.20 and 236.50, respectively.
The LIU quartet of Poulson (20.71), Leandre Renault (20.24), Garcia (20.03), and Polat Tasbasi (19.74) captured the men’s 200 free relay in 1:20.72, a near full second ahead of Howard’s 1:21.65.
In the final event of the evening, the Howard women’s 200 free relay downed their own meet record of 1:32.43 from last season’s championships in a dominant 1:31.53. The record-breaking relay consisted of Nwaeze (22.92), Gabrielle Vickles (22.92), Zenya Posada (22.69), and Jasmine Morgan (23.00) finishing two and a half seconds better than any other team.
Team Standings After Day 2:
Women:
- Howard- 321
- Central Connecticut- 305
- Wagner- 145
- Saint Francis- 125
- Long Island- 116
- Le Moyne/ Stonehill- 111
Men:
- Howard- 361
- Wagner- 296
- Le Moyne- 269
- Long Island- 210
