2026 Atlantic-10 Swimming & Diving Championships
- Dates: Wednesday, February 18–Saturday, February 21
- Location: Hampton Aquaplex, Hampton, VA
- Defending Champions: George Washington women (4x); George Washington men (5x)
- Teams: Davidson, Duquesne (women), Fordham, George Mason, George Washington, La Salle, Rhode Island (women), Richmond (women), St. Louis, St. Bonaventure
- Championship Central
- Live Results
- SwimSwam Fan Guide
- Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
We love a good team battle here at SwimSwam, and the Atlantic 10 Championships are shaping up for a barn burner for the team title on the women’s side.
The Richmond women carried a 22.5-point lead into the final day of competition, with Duquesne and La Salle nipping at their heals.
Team Standings After Day 3
- Richmond – 399
- George Washington – 376.5
- Duquesne – 355.5
- La Salle – 324
- St. Bonaventure – 237
- Fordham – 229
- Rhode Island – 163
- George Mason – 148
- Davidson -130
- Saint Louis U – 91
Richmond is looking to end GWU’s four year run at the top of the table – which would be especially impressive after Melissa Nwakalor transferred to Virginia.
With diving prelims going on, it appears that Richmond has done enough in the heats to secure the title – though it’s not out of reach by any measure.
Projected Scoring – Prelims – Day 4 (No Diving, no Relay, no 1650)
| Women |
|
1. Richmond: 121.5
|
|
2. Duquesne: 114.0
|
| 3. La Salle: 96.0 |
| 4. GW: 79.0 |
|
5. Fordham: 60.0
|
|
6. George Mason: 36.0
|
|
7. Rhode Island: 36.0
|
|
8. St Bonaventure: 32.0
|
|
9. Saint Louis: 27.5
|
|
10. Davidson: 18.0
|
Scoring – Actuals Through Day 3 + Day 4 Prelims Projection (No Diving, no Relay, no 1650)
| Women |
|
1. Richmond: 520.5
|
|
2. Duquesne: 469.5
|
| 3. GW: 455.5 |
|
4. La Salle: 420.0
|
|
5. Fordham: 289.0
|
|
6. St Bonaventure: 269.0
|
|
7. Rhode Island: 199.0
|
|
8. George Mason: 184.0
|
|
9. Davidson: 148.0
|
|
10. Saint Louis: 118.5
|
Up/Downs – Prelims – Day 4
| Total | 200 Back | 100 Free | 200 Breast | 200 Fly | |
| Richmond | 7/2 | 2/0 | 4/0 | 1/1 | 0/1 |
| Duquesne | 6/4 | 2/1 | 0/1 | 2/0 | 2/2 |
| La Salle | 6/2 | 0/0 | 1/1 | 3/0 | 2/1 |
| GW | 4/6 | 1/1 | 2/2 | 0/2 | 1/1 |
| Fordham | 3/2 | 0/0 | 1/0 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Saint Louis | 2/2 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 1/0 |
| Rhode Island | 2/1 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 1/0 | 1/0 |
| St Bonaventure | 1/5 | 1/2 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/1 |
| Davidson | 1/1 | 1/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/1 |
| George Mason | 0/7 | 0/3 | 0/2 | 0/2 | 0/0 |
There are two big feathers in here that keeps the meet in question, though: Duquesne and George Washington both have far better diving performances. On 1-meter, GWU scored 38 points, Duquesne scored 21 points, and Richmond scored only 3.
So if George Washington has a 65 point gap to make up, diving could do more-than-half of it. The other key is the 1650 free, where GWU has the top two seeds and Ava Topolewski chasing an NCAA Automatic Qualification – her seed time of 16:18.61 is clear of it by seven seconds.
They are seeded to outscore Richmond 37-13, which would make up most of the rest of the gap. Duquesne is seeded at 19 points in the mile, which gives them a shot too – though they would probably need some help.
La Salle doesn’t have any projected scorers in the 1650.
One big opportunity for the Colonials is in the 100 free. There, Richmond’s Presley Baber, Julia Krichev, Lena Amare, and Caitlyn Hughes hold the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and t-6th seeds, while GWU’s Mia Hren and Natalie Sens are the t-6th and 8th seeds. While Baber is way out in front, the rest of the field is really tightly bunched, and more drops from either Hren or Sens in the evening could score a lot of ‘double points’ for knocking down the Richmond crew.
For Richmond, the biggest opportunity is in the 50 free. Like the 200 IM, they have three swimmers in the A-Final, but unlike the 200 IM, Richmond has a lot of room to move up with the #3, #5, and #8 qualifiers.
In short, Saturday’s prelims session didn’t really resolve anything. Both Richmond and GWU had good sessions, and this will truly be a “who wants it most” in finals kind of situation.
Tune in at 6PM Eastern time to see what happens!
Great article!