For the third-straight year, both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving won the Atlantic 10 Championship after a dominant performance at the Hampton Virginia Aquaplex this weekend.
The women scored 890 points, with the second-place team Richmond scoring just 470, while the men’s team dominated the competition with 844 points, while Massachusetts came in second with 455.5 points. The third-consecutive A-10 championship win makes the swimming and diving team the undisputed best athletics program at GW and places the men’s team 31st and women’s 32nd in the country.
The men have won seven of the last eight A-10 Championships and the women four of the last five. Combined, the teams set 17 new conference records over the four-day competition.
The Revolutionaries started off strong Wednesday, setting new A-10 records in the women’s 200-yard medley and both 800-meter freestyle relays. GW came in first in every relay in the competition.
The women swept the podium in the 500-yard freestyle, led by freshman Zoe Schneider who won the event in 4:44.37. Sophomores Ava Topolewski and Phoebe Wright completed the sweep. Topolewski also swam to victory in the 1,650-yard freestyle, setting a new conference record with a time of 16:08.48, and Wright won the 200-yard freestyle.
The A-10 named Schneider the Most Outstanding Rookie of the Year at the conclusion of the competition. On top of winning the 500-yard freestyle, she placed second in the 1,650-yard freestyle and the 400-yard individual medley.
Junior Connor Rodgers was named A-10 Co-Most Outstanding Men’s Performer of the Year, sharing the honor with Davidson Sophomore Dylan Felt.
Rodgers won the 200-yard butterfly in a conference record-setting 1:44:36. He won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:44.74, coming within two-hundredths of a second of the current league record, and took home the crown in the 400-yard individual medley.
Sophomore Toni Dragoja bested Felt in the 200-yard freestyle final, shaving over three seconds off his time in the preliminary round to set a conference record with a time of 1:33.25. He set another conference record in the 100-yard freestyle, beating the 43.01 record he set in the preliminaries with a 42.71 second swim in the finals.
Redshirt senior Djurdje Matic also set multiple individual conference records, winning the 100-yard butterfly in 45.14 seconds and the 50-yard freestyle final in 19.54 seconds after tying Fordham graduate student Grooper Guy in preliminaries. Matic represented Serbia at the World Aquatics Championships earlier this month, finishing 29th in the world in the 50-meter butterfly.
Junior Ava DeAngelis broke one minute in the women’s final of the 100-yard breaststroke, setting a new conference record of 59.75. She placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Freshman Ralf Roose won the men’s 200-yard breaststroke and came in second in the 100-yard breaststroke final.
The conference named Head Swim Coach Brian Thomas men’s and women’s swimming Coach of the Year. Head Diving Coach Christopher Lane received the Women’s Diving Coach of the Year honor.
Sophomore diver Olivia Paquette won the one-meter and three-meter boards, setting a new program record in the one-meter with a six-dive score of 287.40. She broke the previous record of 279.23 set by Jamie Doak in 2021. Juniors Veronica Fyfe and Dara Reyblat placed fourth and third, respectively, in this year’s one-meter final.
Freshman diver Ben Bradley placed second in the men’s three-meter dive final with a score of preliminary score of 323.30 and a final score of 362.40.
Both teams now look to the NCAA championships.
