ELKHART, Ind. — The Ave Maria Swimming and Diving team concluded the season with their best ever finish at the NAIA National Championships in program history. The men's team finished in 12^th place and the women finished in 26^th. The two teams combined for a 15^th place finish as a program.

The highlight of the weekend was Sam Pilkington qualifying for the A Final in the 100-yard breaststroke, the first ever A-Final in program history. In the preliminaries, Pilkington logged the fourth fastest time with a personal best of 54.03 seconds. In the final, the redshirt senior placed sixth with a time of 54.17 seconds, the highest individual finish in school history. Pilkington was also named an All-American for qualifying for the A-final, becoming the first ever Gyrene to do so as well.

The men's 200 freestyle relay also earned All-American recognitions by placing eighth with a time of 1:23.81. The team consisted of Pilkington, Michael Blawas, Elijah Brown and Eli Soderberg. The Gyrenes beat out ninth place Morningside by three tenths of a second to earn All-American status.

The Gyrenes had three more finishes in the B Finals throughout the weekend. Blawas finished 12^th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:50.05. The sophomore rose three spots and improved his time by 0.22 seconds.

Brown and Soderberg both qualified for the B Final in the 400-yard individual medley. Soderberg finished 12^th with a time of 4:02.54 while Brown rounded out the group with a time of 4:08.64.

Pilkington's, Blawas', Soderberg's and the relay team's time were all new school records set in Indiana. The Gyrenes broke three more records in the championships. Matt Ondracek set the new record for the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:52.28, Pilkington broke the record for the 50-yard freestyle in his opening swim during the relay race with a time of 21.22 seconds and Lucas Thomaz set the new low time for the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.90 seconds.

The women's team faced a tougher meet in the Hoosier State but still had some strong swims. Gabby Darakcheiva had the best individual finish placing 21^st in the 100-yard backstroke. Delaney Weisbruch placed 24^th in the 200-yard individual medley, the 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard individual medley. The 200 IM was a season best for her. Mimi Estrada was the final swimmer for the Gyrenes with a 28^th finish in both the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly.

With the conclusion of the National Championships, the Gyrenes close the book one of the most successful seasons in the program's young history.