Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) – Men and Women
- Dates: Wednesday, February 19–Saturday, February 22
- Location: Allan Jones Aquatic Center, Knoxville, TN
- Defending Champions: Liberty women (1x), SMU men (1x)
- Live Results
- Live Video: ESPN+
- Championship Central: women’s site ׀ men’s site
- Fan Guide
- Teams: Bellarmine, Florida Atlantic (men), Florida Gulf Coast (women), Gardner-Webb, Liberty (women), North Florida (women), Old Dominion (men), Queens, UNC Asheville (women)
- Psych Sheets
- Results: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Full Meet
- Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
After a relay miscue cost them the top spot heading into the final day of competition, the Queens men roared back to claim their first ASUN swimming & diving title, while the Liberty women finished their time in the conference with an exclamation point on Saturday.
Men’s Recap
2025 ASUN Champions, Queens University of Charlotte Men. Courtesy: Queens Athletics
Final Team Scores
- Queens – 924.5
- Florida Atlantic – 851
- Gardner-Webb – 506
- Old Dominion – 480
- Bellarmine – 295.5
After a disappointing end to Friday’s session, when an 800 free relay anchor left 50 yards early and disqualified the team, the Queens men came out swinging on Saturday morning. In the day’s first event, they qualified six swimmers to the eight-man A-final of the 100 free, which in one fell swoop put them back in control of the meet.
In finals, they wound up placing 1-2-4-5-6-8, led by senior Matej Dusa in a new conference record of 42.25. That broke his own Meet Record of 42.63 set last season, and marks a perfect four-for-four in 100 free conference titles in his career. The first two came in the NCAA Division II Bluegrass Mountain Conference, and the last two have come in the NCAA Division I ASUN.
With Queens ineligible for NCAA Championship competition until at least next season, and possibly the season after, Dusa will finish his season at the CSCAA National Invitational Championship, where last season he won the 50 free, 100 free, and 50 fly. His 100 free time at that meet was 42.24, which is the overall ASUN conference record.
Dusa also won the 50 free (19.11) in a new conference record earlier in the meet.
That was one of three event wins for the Queens men on the final day of competition. They concluded the session with a 2:52.13 in the 400 free relay, unsurprising after their 100 free dominance. That relay included Daniel Meszaros, Nien Levy, Conner Wang, and Dusa as the anchor. Meszaros split 42.89 on the leadoff leg and Dusa led the field with a 42.44 anchor leg.
In between those races, their other win came from senior Andreas Maerz in the men’s 200 backstroke in 1:44.12. He got off to a big early lead ahead of Gardner-Webb freshman Agustin Orechia, and while Orechia fought back on the last 50, Maerz had enough to hold on for a win by .62 seconds.
Where Queens was good on Saturday, they were very good – they had a 1-3-4 finish in that 200 backstroke to extend their lead ahead of FAU.
FAU, meanwhile, came up empty handed on the last day, as swimmers from Gardner-Webb and Old Dominion fought out a tight battle for 3rd place. Gardner-Webb’s Luke Weber won the men’s 1650 in 15:37.05, which is an 11-second and six spot improvement from his performance last season.
The top seed in that event, Bellarmine’s Sam Jones, slipped all the way to 9th, adding 29 seconds from his seed time, but he still wraps up his junior season with a huge breakout year to springboard off into next season.
Like Gardner-Webb, Old Dominion finished the meet strong as well. After Zach Redding finished 3rd in the 100 free in 43.00 among a sea of Royals, junior Bryce Mortimer won the 200 breaststroke in 1:55.54 – almost a second ahead of Gardner-Webb’s Justin Bender (1:56.50).
Ultimately, though, with three guys in the A-final and another three in the B-Final, that 200 breaststroke put the third place team trophy out of reach, aside from a DQ, for the Bulldog men heading into the final relay.
That is a flip for those two teams, as ODU finished a spot ahead of Gardner-Webb last season.
ASUN Men’s Championship Meet Records Broken
- Matej Dusa, Queens – 50-Yard Freestyle (19.11)
- Queens – 200-Yard Freestyle Relay (1:17.55)
- Justin Bender, Gardner-Webb – 100-Yard Breaststroke (52.59)
- Matej Dusa, Queens – 100-Yard Freestyle (42.25)
ASUN Men’s Championship Awards
- Most Outstanding Swimmer: Justin Bender, Gardner-Webb (57 points)
- Most Outstanding Diver: Isac Faxius, FAU
- Most Outstanding Freshman Performer: Matheus Teixeira Przewalla, Queens
- Swimming Coach of the Year: Jeff Dugdale, Queens
- Diving Coach of the Year: Alik Sarkasian
Women’s Recap
Final Team Scores
- Liberty – 858.5
- Florida Gulf Coast – 690
- Queens – 644.5
- UNC – Asheville – 459
- North Florida – 273
- Gardner-Webb – 221
- Bellarmine – 199
The Liberty Flames entered their final ASUN Championship wanting to leave the conference with a statement before joining the AAC next season, and they did just that on the final day of competition.
The meet-ending 400 free relay was one of Jake Shellenberger’s two target races coming into the week (along with the 800 free relay), and an emphatic conference record-setting 3:15.31 meant mission accomplished for Liberty’s 7th consecutive conference team title.
That final relay included many of the stars that carried the team throughout the week, and one from each class: freshman Aly Bozzuto led off in 49.03, handed to junior Shelby Kahn (49.65), who handed to senior Sydney Stricklin in her career finale (48.80), who handed to the star, sophomore Kamryn Cannings, to anchor in 47.83.
That broke Queens’ Meet Record of 3:16.80 set last season by a second-and-a-half. In total, including a mid-season 3:16.97 that didn’t include Kahrn, the Liberty women took two-and-a-half seconds off their 2018 school record in that event this season.
Including a tie, the Liberty women made a clean sweep of the final day’s events, starting with junior Eden Troxell (16:43.88) and junior Isabelle Gomez (16:55.79) going 1-2 in the women’s 1650 free. Gomez’s climb was especially noteworthy – she was 9th at last year’s meet and was 23+ seconds faster to finish as the runner-up this year.
Cannings then completed a perfect three-for-three in individual events with a 48.45 win in the 100 free ahead of Queens’ Ryley Heck (49.12).
Liberty took a gamble in an effort to preserve Cannings’ energy for relays, leaving her out of the 200 fly that she won last year in favor of this more-competitive 100 free. That gamble paid off with a three-win performance, ASUN Swimmer of the Meet honor, and records in both of the team’s target free relays.
The next race, the 200 back, saw a tie between Florida Gulf Coast freshman Izzy Ackley and Liberty junior Malia Francis. They swam matching 1:54.87 after being separated by only .05 seconds in prelims.
Francis was 2nd in this race last year behind now-graduated teammate Abbie Shaw. Her Saturday swim took 1.2 seconds off her best time in the event, which had stood since the U.S. Winter Junior Championships in December 2019.
That was the last moment where Liberty would even share the top of a women’s podium at this meet. The freshman Bozzuto completed her breaststroke sweep, winning the 200 in 2:11.52, leading into the relay performance to end the meet.
Ackley’s swim helped FGCU ahead of Queens in the final team standings. Their 45.5 point margin means that even a DQ’ed Queens relay earlier in the meet wasn’t enough to explain the difference between the two teams.
The Eagles used depth and a whole lot of newcomers to climb back up the ladder from their 3rd place finish last season. 73% of their points at the meet were scored by newcomers. On the final day, that was highlighted by things like two freshmen in the A-final of the 200 breaststroke, led by Cassie Bauer in 4th in 2:16.10; and Ackley co-winning the 200 back.
With Liberty departing the core group of the ASUN next season, which has been together for about 15 years in different conferences, a young Eagles team that graduates fewer than 100 points and a single relay leg is the favorite for next year’s title, though the addition of a strong Delaware team, among others, will provide another shakeup to the established order.
ASUN Women’s Championship Meet Records Broken
- Abigail Zboran, Queens – 200-Yard Individual Medley (1:56.06)
- Sydney Stricklin, Liberty – 200-Yard Freestyle (1:45.73)
- Liberty – 400-Yard Medley Relay (3:33.34)
- Aly Bozzuto, Liberty – 100-Yard Breaststroke (59.17)
- Liberty – 800-Yard Freestyle Relay (7:06.42)
- Liberty – 400-Yard Freestyle Relay (3:15.31)
ASUN Women’s Championship Award Winners
- Co-Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Championships: Kamryn Cannings, Liberty/Abigail Zboran, Queens (60 points each)
- Most Outstanding Diver: Shannon Icard, Liberty
- Most Outstanding Freshman: Aly Bozzuto, Liberty
- Swimming Coach of the Year: Jake Shellenberger, Liberty
- Diving Coach of the Year: Samantha Pickens, Liberty
Jake’s power training has really developed some fast swimmers