2025 Sun Belt Conference Championships
- Dates: Wednesday, February 19–Saturday, February 22
- Location: Rosen Aquatic & Fitness Center, Orlando, FL
- Defending Champions: James Madison women (1x)
- Live Results (MeetMobile)
- Live Video: ESPN+
- Championship Central
- Fan Guide
- Teams: Georgia Southern, James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion
- Results: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Team Scores After Day 3:
- James Madison- 712.5
- Marshall- 648
- Georgia Southern- 464.5
- Old Dominion- 263
James Madison is on track to win their 2nd straight conference championships, finishing day 3 with a total score of 712.5 over Marshall’s 648.
Day 2 Recap:
On day 2 of the meet, James Madison set three new conference records across five events, winning all five of them.
They started the finals session with a sweep of the podium in the women’s 500 freestyle. Senior Angela Ritchie won the event in 4:52.14, a new personal best time for her by a little more than a second from the 4:53.29 she went at last year’s conference meet. Katelyn Fitzgerald took 2nd in 4:53.35, and Madison Wimmer finished 3rd at 4:54.58
The 200 IM went to 5th year Jess Pryne who won the 200 IM for the 2nd year in a row. Pryne went 2:00.35 in the event, a new season best time for her. She has a lifetime best of 1:58.97 from 2022. Marshall picked up their first medal of session, with Molly Warner finishing 4 tenths back at 2:00.95
James Madison saw their first record of the session in the women’s 50 freestyle with junior Jamie Cornwell swimming 22.54 to win the event. This time was also the NCAA ‘B’ cut time in the event, marking the first standard of the meet. Marshall picked up a 2nd silver from Kseniia Luniushina’s 22.83.
The 2nd record came in the form of Alexa Holloway’s 350.35 score in the 3-Meter finals. Again, Marshall grabbed the 2nd position with Grace Kelsheimer’s 345.60, and James Madison’s Kate Vitolo finished 3rd overall.
The final event of the day, and James Madison’s final championship record, was the 200 free relay. Alex Volk (23.24), Grace Bousum (22.37), Madison Wimmer (22.89), Jamie Cornwell (22.09) went 1:30.59 to win the event by over a second. Following the trend of the session, Marshall finished 2nd in the event at 1:31.43.
Day 3 Recap:
Marshall came back hard in Friday’s events, taking the top two spots in the women’s 100 fly. Madeline Hart won the event in 53.79 and teammate Lauren McNamara finished 2nd in 54.23. Old Dominion’s Kiersten Donnelly went 54.61 for 3rd.
Jess Pryne, from James Madison, won her 2nd event of the meet in 4:14.25, a full two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Marshall was not giving up easy, however, finishing 2nd and 3rd in the event. Eszter Laban went 4:16.31 for 2nd, and Lauren McNamara touched at 4:22.42 to take third by one one-hundredth over James Madison’s Maddy Coombs.
Again, we saw a James Madison and Marshall podium in the 200 freestyle. JMU’s Grace Bousum won the event in 1:47.54, half a second ahead of teammate Katelyn Fitzgerald’s 1:48.01. Marshall picked up the bronze with Molly Warner’s 1:48.26
Riley Bridgman won the 100 breast for James Madison in 1:01.11, but places 2, 3, 4, and 5 all came from Marshall swimmers, allowing them to pick up huge points.
The 100 back podium looked very similar to the 100 fly podium. Marshall took the top two spots with Kseniia Luniushina (52.49), and Mia McBride (54.61). The 100 back bronze went to the same swimmer as the 100 fly bronze, Kiersten Donnelly from Old Dominion, who went 54.92.
Marshall took home the gold in the final event of day 3, the 400 medley relay, coming in almost two seconds ahead of James Madison with their team of Kseniia Luniushina (52.85), Paige Banton (33.36), Madeline Hart (53.60), and Audrey West (50.23) swimming 3:38.11.
