NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy men's swim and dive team will jump into their 2025-26 season on Friday, October 31st, by competing in a four-team meet at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Coast Guard will take on the Engineers (2-0) alongside fellow New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) side Babson College (1-0) and non-conference Brandeis University (1-0). The Bears are starting the season at #24 in the Collegiate Swim & Dive Coaches Association of America's (CSCAA) national poll.

"The men are welcoming new blood into a strong, veteran-led team. The additions of first-year athletes will make the medley relays something to watch, and the increased depth in all of the strokes will supplement the roster as a whole," says head coach John Westkott. "Overall, the men hope to continue the successes of the 2024-25 team with the goal of having a strong presence at the NCAA Championships."

Last season's group went 9-1 and finished the season at #21 in the CSCAA poll. Their only loss of the season came at the hands of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who was ranked #7 at the time of the dual. Coast Guard eventually finished as runners-up to MIT in a historic NEWMAC Championship meet for the Bears, while a group of six later went to National Championships and finished tenth overall, the highest Nationals finish in program history.

This season's captains this season are seniors Victor Parks (Williamsburg, Va.) and Ryan Von Weihe (Raleigh, N.C.), and junior Jordan Jansen (Tampa, Fla.). Parks returns after making contributions to freestyle relays, while Jansen will be one to watch in the individual freestyle events. Another name to watch among the senior leaders is Charles Gaines (Macon, Ga.) who had a big hand in several freestyle and medley relay wins last season.

Noah Reice (Wilmington, Del.) headlines a powerful a junior class as the team's only returning individual All-American from last year's Nationals group, doing so in the 200 Fly. Reice was a NEWMAC Swimmer of the Year hopeful after a banner championship meet, in which he won the 50 Free, 100 Fly, and 200 Fly while smashing meet records in the latter two. He went on to add another All-American distinction in the 200 Free Relay and Honorable Mention nods in the 100 Fly and 300 Free Relay.

Breaststroke specialist Blaise Minckler (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) will be another name to watch, carrying over several wins in the 100 and 200 variants of the stroke and third place 200 finish at NEWMACs. He and Reice were part of the 400 Medley Eelay team which broke the Academy record with their performance at the conference meet. Eliot Maravich (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was also a third-place finisher at NEWMACs, doing so in the 1650 Free, while John Kaleta (Morrow, Ohio) will provide further contributions to the medley relays.

The other three cadet-athletes who joined Reice at Nationals can be found amongst the sophomores: Kacper Buniowski (Bridgewater, N.J.), Luke Giguere (Belchertown, Mass.), and Zach McGowen (Springfield, Va.). All three contributed to relay successes during the postseason, with Buniowski being part of the NEWMAC title-winning and All-America Honorable Mention 400 Free team and Giguere in the conference champion 800 Free group, alongside Reice, as well as the All-American 200 Free team.

McGowen established himself as a highly-promising backstroke specialist during his freshman year. In the regular season, McGowen recorded multiple wins in the 100 and 200 variants and was a big help in both medley and freestyle relays. This culminated in an exciting debut at NEWMAC Championships, where he was All-Conference with a runner-up finish in the 100 Back and was part of the champion 400 Free team, later earning an All-American Honorable Mention with the group. McGowen also broke the school record for the 100 Back with his leg during the 400 Medley Relay time trial.

Other meets to circle on the men's swim & dive calendar will be a two-day home tri-meet held the week of December 6th against #21 Connecticut College and #13 Amherst College. The team follow that up with another home meet, hosting #7 MIT on January 10th coming out of the program annual training trip to Florida. Just a week later, the Bears will head to Kings Point, New York, for their annual rivalry meeting with the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. This season's NEWMAC Championships are slated to commence on February 19th, hosted by MIT.