By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
January always seems like it lasts forever but it’s finally February, and the NCAA postseason is on the horizon. Some conference meets are only days away now. This past weekend, many teams closed the books on the regular season and that meant many teams faced off against their long-standing rival schools. Across the country, teams renewed these heated rivalries, giving us some thrilling action as we gear up for the most exciting part of the college season.
This week, we’re diving deep on how the action unfolded at these rivalry meets.
HYP
Women:
Princeton, 160.5 def. Harvard, 139.5 Princeton, 209 def. Yale, 91 Harvard, 307 def. Yale, 93Men:
Princeton, 193 def. Harvard, 159 Princeton, 201.5 def. Yale, 151.5 Harvard, def. Yale 172The 2025-26 Ivy League dual meet titles were up for grabs at the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton tri-meet this weekend in Cambridge. The Harvard and Princeton women were both undefeated in Ivy League duals heading into the weekend, as were all three teams on the men’s side. At the end of the meet, Princeton was crowned both the women’s and men’s Ivy League Dual Meet Champions for the season.
The women’s meet came down to the final relay. The Crimson started the two-day meet strong, winning the first three events–and four of the first five. Nina Janmyr (3-meter), Alexandra Bastone (1000 free, 9:38.94), and Anya Mostek (100 back, 52.34) earned individual wins to give the home team a hot start, plus the 200 medley relay team’s victory in 1:37.77.
Credit: Jason Wang / Peak Images
Princeton really started to get rolling to close out the first day, with Eleanor Sun (1:55.66) winning the 200 butterfly and Sabrina Johnston (22.42) and Sophia Sunwoo (22.72) going 1-3 in the 50 freestyle. The trio led a full scale attack on Day 2, helping the Tigers close a 12-point gap as Sun picked up two more event wins while Johnston and Sunwoo went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle. The lead changed hands several times throughout the day but with only the 400 freestyle relay left, Harvard needed to finish first and third in order to eke out a 1-point victory. But Sunwoo, Johnston, and Sun combined with Simecek to touch first (3:16.04) and secure the overall win.
Princeton’s divers went 1-2-3-6-7 in the opening men’s 1-meter event, giving the Tigers a 16-point advantage before the first swimming event. Harvard collected early wins in the 200 freestyle relay and 1000 freestyle, with Crimson freshman William Mulgrew breaking the pool record in the latter (8:48.72). Princeton struck back with Mitchell Schott winning the 200 free (1:33.38) and 200 fly (1:42.40) backed by strong performances from his teammates in each event. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs were keeping themselves in the mix wins wins in the 100 back (Jake Wang, 46.85), 100 breaststroke (Charlie Egeland, 53.02), and 400 IM (Kavin Li, 3:49.11).
The Tigers led both teams after Day 1, holding a five point advantage over Harvard and an 18-point one over Yale, while the Crimson led the Bulldogs by 30 points.
Diving was huge for the Tigers on Day 2 again, helping Princeton extend their lead and leave Harvard and Yale to focus on their head-to-head battle. Princeton picked up more wins from Schott, Nicholas Finch, and their 200 medley/400 freestyle relay teams. Harvard’s three event wins in a row in the middle of the session from Adriano Arioti (200 back, 1:41.46), Joshua Chen (200 breast, 1:56.16), and another pool record from Mulgrew (500 free, 4:14.25) gave the team enough of a cushion to beat Yale by nine points as the Tigers swept the meet.
Cal vs. Stanford
Women: #2 Stanford, 154 def. #6 Cal, 145 Men: #8 Stanford, 118 def. #7 California, 119The Stanford and Cal men historically approach the NCAA season very differently–with the Golden Bears ultra-focused on the NCAA Championships–but both teams suited up to take on their Bay Area rivals.
Cal’s quartet of Evan Petty, Yamato Okadome, Samuel Quarles, and Lucca Battaglini won the 200 medley relay to open the day but the momentum quickly swung in favor of Stanford as the Cardinal won 11 of the 12 individual events. Rafael Gu (50 free, 100 fly), Henry McFadden (100/200 free), and Ethan Ekk (500/1000 free) each won two individual events for Stanford. Okadome earned Cal’s only individual event win of the day, edging ahead of Stanford’s Zhier Fan, 51.34 to 51.57. Daniel Li prevented Okadome from completing the breaststroke sweep, beating him with a lifetime best 1:50.79 to Okadome’s 1:51.11.
Lucy Bell (photo: Jack Spitser)
The women’s meet was also suited and was a much closer affair, with the Cardinal women grabbing a nine-point victory over the Golden Bears. Stanford senior Lucy Bell was the star of the meet, sweeping the breaststrokes and winning the 200 IM. Her best performance of the day came in the 200 breaststroke, where she swam a 2:03.72. The time undercut the 2:04.28 lifetime best she swam to win her first individual NCAA title last March and made her the 8th fastest performer in event history. Earlier in the meet, Bell swam a 57.60 for the 100 breaststroke win ahead of Cal freshman Siljie Slyngstadli’s Golden Bear record of 58.21. Bell closed her day with a win in the 200 IM (1:52.50), missing her lifetime best by three-hundreths.
Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske swept the sprint freestyles (21.76/46.62), while Gigi Johnston won the 100 butterfly (50.76). Cal matched Stanford with six individual event wins but where it was Stanford’s seniors picking up event wins, Cal’s day was highlighted by its freshmen. While Slyngstadli earned a program record, fellow freshmen Claire Weinstein and Teagan O’Dell each won a pair of events. Weinstein won the 200/500 free double (1:42.13/4:38.65), hitting a new season-best in the former and O’Dell swept the backstrokes (50.51/1:51.13). O’Dell’s 100 back time is a new lifetime best, breaking the 50.76 she swam at the 2024 Winter Junior Championships. Cal’s final freshman to win an individual event was Camille Henveaux (1000 free, 9:41.54). Breakout sophomore Mia West kept her momentum going with a 200 fly win over Caroline Bricker, swimming a lifetime best 1:53.32 to edge out Bricker’s 1:53.35 swim.
With the team’s splitting the individual event wins, Stanford’s relay wins in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay proved to be the difference makers in Berkeley.
Texas vs. Texas A&M
Women: Texas, 207 def. Texas A&M, 92 Men: Texas, 230 def. Texas A&M, 70The Longhorns easily defeated their cross-state rivals the Aggies in College Station, Texas this weekend. Distance swimmers Rex Maurer and Jillian Cox highlighted the day for the Longhorns.
Rex Maurer (photo: Jack Spitser)
A two-time NCAA champion, Maurer has been having a strong follow-up season to his explosive breakout in 2024-25, though it’s been a quieter season compared to some of the headlines that his teammates have generated. He made headlines with a 8:37.19 1000 freestyle on Friday, putting together the seventh-fastest performance all-time. Maurer negative split the race, going out in 4:20.72 and coming home in 4:16.47 to take about four seconds off his previous lifetime best (8:41.23).
Cox, also a two-time NCAA champion after sweeping the distance freestyle events at last year’s NCAA Championships, fired off a 1000 freestyle school record on the women’s side of the meet. Cox swam a 9:23.84, breaking the school record of 9:24.83 she swam last season during a dual meet against LSU.
Rafael Fente-Damers and Campbell Stoll were also key parts of Texas’ victories. Fente-Damers contributed to four event wins (two individual, two relay), placing first in the 100/200 free (43.10/1:33.66) and contributing to the winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. On the women’s side, Stoll grabbed wins in the 200 IM (1:57.26), 200 butterfly (1:54.02), and as part of the 200 medley relay (1:35.84).
Auburn vs. Alabama
Women: Alabama, 180.5 def. Auburn, 119.5 Men: Alabama, 151 def. Auburn 149Tommy Hagar (photo: Jack Spitser)
Alabama swept the swimming edition of the Iron Bowl but it was a near thing, as it came down to the 400 freestyle relay to decide the men’s meet. Auburn won the relay but needed to place first and second to secure the win; Alabama earned a 2-3 finish and eked out the overall win by two points, 151 to 149.
Leo Alacantara was one of multiple double event winners for the Crimson Tide. He broke his own 1000 freestyle school record early in the meet, swimming an 8:50.19 to lower his mark by over a second. He followed that up with a 500 freestyle in 4:15.65. Tommy Hagar swept the backstrokes for Alabama (45.91/1:39.29), narrowly missing his 1:39.03 season-best. Sean Niewold, a spring semester addition, also picked up two individual wins, touching first in the 50 free (19.23) and 100 fly (45.90).
The Alabama women earned the win more easily, pulling away and beating Auburn 180.5 to 119.5. The usual suspects of Emily Jones, Cadence Vincent, Jada Scott, and Gaby Van Brunt were key to the team’s win as was new addition Tessa Giele. Jones swept the backstroke events (51.17/1:53.58) while Vincent took care of business in the sprint freestyles (21.92/47.70).
More Notable Results
A year after Florida lost to Florida State in a neutral site dual meet, the Gators struck back with a commanding sweep of the Seminoles. The Florida women earned the win 186 to 110, while the men won 202 to 93. USC was missing Minna Abraham, but big performances from Justina Kozan, Ashley McMillian, and Nicole Maier helped the Women of Troy win their fifth-straight dual meet against cross-town rivals UCLA. USC won 174 to 126 – a sign of improvement for the Bruins as USC won every event last year. Though UCLA lost to USC, they did grab a decisive win over Nevada (163-80) this weekend. For Nevada, the highlight of the meet was Scarlett Ferris’ 50.78 100 backstroke program and Mountain West conference record. The time improves on her former records of 51.16 by .38 seconds and also improves her standing as the second-fastest mid-major swimmer in event history behind Celia Pulido (49.77). Indiana swept Louisville at home this weekend. The Hoosier men won easily but the women’s meet was a much closer affair. The #5 Indiana women came from behind to beat #7 Louisville 161-138. They stamped their overall victory with a school record in the 400 freestyle relay as Liberty Clark, Grace Hoeper, Alex Shackell, and Kristina Paegle swam 3:08.07, breaking their former program mark (set earlier this season) by over a second.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2025-26 NCAA Digest: It’s Rivalry Week In College Swimming
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