COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Ave Maria Swimming and Diving team competed in the Small College Championships November 20-22 and broke 14 school records. The best swim of the weekend was Samuel Pilkington receiving the very first A-cut in program history and earning an automatic invite to the NAIA National Championships in March.
Pilkington's qualifying swim was in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing with a time of 54.23. Pilkington broke his own school record by over a second and half and got the silver medal in pool of 24 swimmers, falling only to a swimmer from NCAA Division II Rollins. It is also currently the third-fastest time in the 100-yard breaststroke in the NAIA.
The Gyrene men got one more podium finish with the 200-yard free relay team placing third with a time of 1:22.72. The team consisted of Pilkington in the leadoff position followed by Scott Anderson, Pete Anderson and anchored by Eduardo Martiniano. That time was also a school record, beating the previous mark set at the 2024 NAIA National Championships by nearly two seconds.
Nine other school records for the men were broken at the Championships. The relay team also set the new high mark in the 400-yard free relay, 200-yard medley relay, and the 400-yard medley relay. Eli Soderberg broke the record in the 1650-yard freestyle. Elijah Brown set the new records in the 200- and 400-yard medley and the 200-yard backstroke. Pilkington added the new school record in the 200-yard breaststroke to his other accomplishments over the weekend. Finally at the diving board, Nathaniel Ramirez took the first ever three meter dive in program history, setting an initial school record.
The Gyrene men logged 29 personal bests over the three days of competition.
The Women's team did not win any medals in the championships but put together some strong swims and broke three school records.
Delaney Weisbruch set the new high mark in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:12.04. Weisbruch set the previous record at the Small College Championships in 2024 and broke her own time by a tenth of a second.
Mimi Estrada set the second record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.30. Estrada set the record herself earlier this season in the Gyrene Showdown and beat her own time by over a second.
The final school record was in the 200-yard breaststroke, with Anna Szucs setting the new mark with a time of 2:31.61. The previous record had stood since the Sun Conference Championships in 2024, and Szucs beat that time by almost a second.
Outside of the three school records, 21 new personal records were set.
For the whole weekend, the men finished in sixth place of 10 teams and the women finished in seventh place of 10 teams. As a school, Ave Maria recorded 56 NAIA B-cut performances and had five NAIA relay cut performances. Along with 14 new school records, 34 other performances finished in the top 10 in school history.
The Gyrenes are back in the pool December 18 and 19 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the Nova Southeastern Shark Invite.
