WORCESTER, Mass. - The final day of the 2025 NEWMAC Championships saw the Coast Guard men's swimming & diving team win four more events en route to a second-place overall finish.
The night started with senior captain
Sean Lyman (Pennsburg, Pa.) winning his third individual championship of the weekend with his successful run in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Lyman posted the top time of 15:30.07 for an NCAA B-cut time and a new NEWMAC meet record while becoming back-to-back champion in the event.
The win also solidified his chances of being crowned NEWMAC Men's Swimmer of the Year award, breaking a four-year streak of MIT swimmers taking home the top prize. Lyman is now the fourth Bears swimmer selected for the honor, and the first since the 2014-15 season when Christian Brindamour '15 shared the trophy with MIT's Dougie Kogut.
Joining Lyman on the podium was
Eliot Maravich (Pittsburgh, Pa.), who placed third swimming 16:14.27;
Grant Hudson (Peachtree City, Ga.) placed tenth swimming 16:45.92. The next event of the night was the 200-yard backstroke, which saw
Luke Giguere (Belchertown, Mass.) earn the best time among cadets in the event swimming 1:51.59 for sixth;
Zachary McGowen (Springfield, Va.) was right behind him in seventh swimming 1:51.82, while
Michael Carden (Kennesaw, Ga.) rounded out the finishers in tenth swimming 1:56.39.
Next was the 100-yard freestyle, which delivered the Bears' second NEWMAC champion of the night in the form of
Colin Twiss (Mahwah, N.J.). The senior captain swam 44.29 for a B-cut time, while
Kacper Buniowski (Bridgewater, N.J.) placed eighth swimming 46.08.
Blaise Minckler (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) followed-up his teammates' performances with a third-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke after swimming 2:01.74;
Matthew Carper (Pittsburgh, Pa.) took fourth at 2:03.45, while
John Kaleta (Morrow, Ohio) was tenth with his time of 2:11.02.
Coast Guard would top the podium once again thanks to
Noah Reice's (Wilmington, Del.) 200-yard butterfly time of 1:46.89. The sophomore's second NEWMAC championship win was a B-cut time and another meet record set by a Bears swimmer; Maravich's also competed in the final heat and finished tenth at 2:01.37 during his second time in the pool.
The night ended with a thrilling 400-yard freestyle relay in which the team of Reice, Buniowski, McGowen and Twiss fell behind MIT's team after the third leg. That's when Twiss, acting as the team's anchor, set it to maximum overdrive and overtook MIT just before the final lap. The Bears held on for an electric championship win and a B-cut time of 2:58.52. The victory inspired a raucous "USA!" chant from the crew's teammates on the other end of the pool.
Coast Guard once again finished as runners-up to MIT, who claimed their 16th-straight NEWMAC title at the end of the night. Final standings below:
1. MIT - 1,334
2. Coast Guard - 1,079
3. Springfield - 717.5
4. Babson - 704
5. Wheaton (Mass.) - 601
6. WPI - 596.5
7. Clark (Mass.) - 220
