WORCESTER, Mass. —
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy men's swimming & diving team started their 2025-26 campaign on the right foot, winning all three of their dual match-ups at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's quad meet on Friday.
The Bears scored wins against two of their fellow New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference teams and one non-conference opponent. They defeated the hosting Engineers, 178-117; Babson College, 161-129; and Brandeis College, 212-70.
Coast Guard starts the season at 3-0; WPI moves to 3-2 after losing to Babson but defeating Brandeis; Babson moves to 3-1 with a wins against the Engineers and Judges; and Brandeis moves to 1-3 losing all three duals.
In regards to each team's next round of action, the Engineers will host the Worcester City Championships on November 8th; the Beavers heads to Clark University (0-0) on Saturday; and Brandeis will take on Bentley University (1-0) on November 7th.
Noah Reice (Wilmington, Del.) and
Blaise Minckler (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) both notched pairs of first-place wins in the evening. Reice won the 100 Fly and 200 Fly with respective times of 50.46 and 1:55.26, while Minckler continued his breaststroke dominance with wins in the 100 and 200 at 58.77 and 2:06.77.
Zach McGowen (Springfield, Va.) was the other Bear to win in individual action, completing the 50 Free in 21.83 to outpace all of the competition. The sophomore was also runner-up in the 100 Free at 48.05.
Eliot Maravich (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was another runner-up for Coast Guard in the 500 Free with a time of 4:59.72.
Coast Guard saw great debuts from a trio of freshmen.
Baylor Weiler (Lexington, Ky.) had the best go out of all of them, taking second place in both the 100 and 200 backstroke races with times of 53.91 and 1:58.92.
Jay Pawloski (St. Leonard, Md.) showed his prowess as a distance swimmer by taking third place in the 500 Free at 5:00.21 and the 1000 Free at 10:21.04, and
Leon Zhang (Cary, N.C.) showed his versatility by placing third in the 200 Fly at 1:59.44 and the 200 Breast at 2:14.84.
In diving,
Colbrin Blanchette (Edwardsville, Ill.) took third on both boards, scoring 179.85 at one meter and 164.50 at three. Relays saw the 200 Medley B-team of Weiler,
John Kaleta (Morrow, Ohio),
Charles Gaines (Macon, Ga.), and
Kacper Buniowski (Bridgewater, N.J.) clutch up for a second-place finish at 1:36.70 after the Bears' A-team was DQ'd. The 200 Free relay was won by the team of McGowen, freshman
Andrew Carlson (Spring, Tex.),
Victor Parks (Williamsburg, Va.), and Reice with a time of 1:25.85
Bears men's swim & dive will return to action on November 8th when they travel to Springfield College for a NEWMAC dual meet with the Pride and Wheaton College.
