Vermont Wins CCSU Open Water Festival With Four of Top Five Finishers

2025 CCSU Open Water Festival

• September 21, 2025
• Marlborough, Conn.
• Open Water
• Individual Results
• Team Results

Courtesy: UVM Athletics

MARLBOROUGH, Conn. – The Catamounts officially started the 2025-26 campaign Sunday afternoon with a team win at the CCSU Open Water Festival from Lake Terramuggus. Katie Lester was Vermont’s top finisher in the 5k circuit, placing second overall. Four of the top five finishers and six of the top ten were Catamounts. All nine student-athletes who competed for Vermont finished with a time to qualify for the CSCAA Open Water Championships in Sarasota, Florida.

RELATED LINKS
Individual Results
Team Results

COACH’S QUOTE
“I was impressed with our student-athletes performance this morning,” said Head Coach Gerry Cournoyer. “Seeing them compete at a high level this early was impressive. Having all nine of them qualify for the open water national meet in December was icing on the cake.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Vermont brought home the win in the race scoring 21 team points, 35 points better than second place Sacred Heart.
• Lester was second overall with a time of 55:47.29. Sacred Heart’s Sophia Velleco was just under six seconds faster on the day.
• Natalie Schlemmer followed with a third-place finish clocking in at 57:20.60. Gabby Puryear-Lynch came fourth finishing 2.99 seconds behind her teammate.
• The other top ten finishers for Vermont included Jocelyn LeGere (5th, 57:25.54), Lilly Acker (7th, 57:46.10), and Autumn Bullinger (9th, 57:49.98).
• With today’s Win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to the Lund Family Center through the Cat’s Win, Community Win’s initiative. Vermont Mutual has donated over $5 Million Dollars since launching their Charitable Giving Fund in 2014.

UP NEXT
The Catamounts’ full team will be back in action on Saturday, October 4, for a dual meet at Northeastern’s Barletta Natatorium. Action will begin at 10 a.m.

Next weekend as a part of UVM Weekend the team will be hosting an Alumni gathering at Four Quarters Brewing (70 Main St, Winooski) on Saturday, Sep. 27 from 6-8:30 p.m. Register at go.uvm.edu/swimalum.

Courtesy: Sacred Heart Athletics

MARLBOROUGH, Conn. – The Sacred Heart University women’s swimming and diving team began its season on Sunday afternoon when the Pios swam in the 2025 Central Connecticut Open Water Festival.

It was a successful Sunday for the Pioneers as a team as they placed second out of five teams with a score of 56 and a total clock time of 4:49:23.8. Junior Sophia Velleco took home first place with a total time of 55:41:60 in the 5K.

Taking home eighth place was junior Maeve English with a time of 57:46:61. First-year Izzy Torello, in her first swim as a Pioneer, placed 12th in 58:00:51, while Charlotte Kaduson took 14th in 58:06:22.

Also placing was Daniella Palamaro in 22nd and Laura DeGennaro in 26th. Those six swimmers have qualified for the CSCAA National Open Water Championships in December.

Sacred Heart will next host their Annual Pioneer Pentathlon / Red & White Inter squad next Saturday at the McCann Natatorium in Milford, Connecticut, at 11:30am.

Courtesy: CCSU Athletics

The Central Connecticut State swim team opened its season on Sunday, hosting the CCSU Open Water Festival. The Blue Devils seven swimmers all posted qualifying times for the CSCAA Open Water National Championship in December.

CCSU RESULTS

Maggie Rutledge was the Blue Devils top finisher, placing 10^th, and stopped the clock at 57:50.9. Sophia Pincince was next across the line, finishing 11^th at 57:55.

Gabby Spaciano posted a time of 58:19.4, with Izzy Vega 16^th at 58:33.2 and Kyla Behrle was 23rd at 59:57.8.

MacKenzie Talbot placed 27^th overall with a swim of 1:00:40.8 and Hannah Kretkowski rounded out the team effort with a 30th-place finish at 1:01:14.3.

CCSU finished third as a team with 74 points.

The Blue Devils are back in action on Thursday when the swimmers travel to Army West Point and the divers are in action at UConn.