Katherine Blake Sets National Record On Day 1 of 2025 Collegiate Club Swimming Championships

2025 College Club Swimming National Championships

• March 28-30, 2025
• Skyline Aquatic Center, Mesa, Arizona
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
• Meet Central (Includes Live Results & Live Stream)
• Qualifying Times
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results available via Meet Mobile: “2025 TYR CCS National Championship”

The 2025 College Club Swimming National Championship meet kicked off on Friday evening in Mesa, Arizona. The meet pulls together a number of different communities within the sport, from former NCAA swimmers, to swimmers who loved the sport after high school but chose not to go the NCAA route, to swimmers coming to the sport for the first time as adults.

The first version of this meet, called the East Coast Collegiate National Championships (ECC), was hosted by Georgia Tech in 2004 with 73 swimmers from 6 teams. This year, 1,550 athletes from a record-setting number of 132 teams are competing.

This year’s meet is already off to a fast start, with a pair of Collegiate Club Swimming national records falling on opening night during the timed-finals session.

The first record of the day came in the 400 IM, where Michigan’s Katherine Blake defended her title in a time of 4:32.28. Her winning time slid under Allison Nastasi’s CSS record of 4:32.94 from 2019, and she also beat her own winning time from last year by nearly three seconds. Blake was an NCSA Junior Nationals qualifier in high school and represented Rockville Montgomery Swim Club throughout her age group swimming days.

Blake made a name for herself at last year’s CSS meet, causing one of the biggest upsets on opening night. There, she out-touched Michigan State’s Sydney Kelly in the 400 IM 4:35.17 to 4:35.31. Kelly was the two-time defending champion at the time, and was even a member of Michigan State’s varsity team before the program was cut.

The other meet record fell in the women’s 400 medley relay, where Cal Poly’s quartet of Brooke Javor (58.02), Dariko Djatej, Ella Grace Krampert, and Clara Luisetti punched a time of 3:54.37. The previous record of 3:54.79 was six years old, set by Georgia Tech at the 2019 edition of these championships. There was a timing malfunction for their lane, so their exact individual splits are not available.

Georgia Tech did not let Cal Poly go down without a fight in this one, finishing in 3:54.81 and nearly breaking the old record as well. Virginia was hot on their heels as well, making it a three-way battle down the backstretch. The Cavaliers had to settle for bronze with a time of 3:55.20.

Other Day 1 Winners:

• The defending champion Virginia women opened their meet with a dominant 7:48.91 in the 800 free relay. That relay included Gabriela Belsol, Ciara Graves, Elizabeth Miller, and Anna Sheng. 23-year-old Belsol was the only new addition to the relay squad this year, as Graves, Miller, and Sheng all appeared on last year’s gold medal-winning team.
• Liberty University’s foursome of Trent Kolter, Thomas Hill, Xander Williams, and Whittman Brown edged ahead of defending champions Georgia Tech in the men’s 800 free relay. Their final time of 6:48.39 was fast enough to out-touch the Yellow Jackets by 0.23.
• Purdue’s team of Ashton Sun, Andrew Witty, Kellen Reese, and Matthieu Foucu were too quick for the field in the 400 medley relay. They scorched to a final time of 3:20.90, denying Liberty a double relay victory by 0.34.
• Arizona State’s Hugo Batchelor won the 400 IM, touching in 4:01.12 – exactly .2 seconds shy of his personal best time from November. Georgia Tech’s Ryan Altera, a former finalist at the USA Swimming Futures Championships and Georgia High School State Championships, touched 2nd in 4:02.21.
• UCSD’s Erin Swift was dominant in the women’s 200 back, notching a final time of 2:03.01. She narrowly missed Amanda Ng’s CCS record of 2:02.41 from 2023.
• Florida State’s James Riordan was the only man under 1:51 in the 200 back. He finished with a time of 1:50.48 to secure the title and win by 1.49 seconds. He also clipped his best time of 1:51.09, which he clocked en route to 5th at these Nationals last year.
• Grand Canyon’s Isabella Parish, who entered the meet as a big favorite in all three breaststroke events, won the 200 in 2:18.50. That’s a new lifetime best, shaving 1.45 seconds off her time from the PN Washington State Senior Champs in December.
• A nailbiter ensued in the men’s 200 breast, with UVA’s Emmett Hannam (2:02.47) able to outreach Cal’s Joaquin Jamieson (2:02.81) at the wall. Jamieson repeats as the silver medalist, but was about a second slower than he was last year when he clocked 2:01.85.

Team Scores After Day 1:

Women’s Top 5:

1. Virginia — 200 points
2. Cal Poly — 184 points
3. Florida State — 181 points
4. Georgia Tech — 176 points
5. Colorado Boulder — 148 points

Men’s Top 5:

1. Liberty — 267 points
2. Purdue — 200 points
3. Georgia Tech — 196 points
4. Arizona State — 174 points
5. Virginia — 150 points

Combined Top 5:

1. Georgia Tech — 372 points
2. Virginia — 350 points
3. Florida State — 317 points
4. Cal Poly — 310 points
5. Grand Canyon — 284 points