NEW LONDON, Conn. –
Coast Guard ended their regular season with a home win to improve to 9-4 on the 2025-26 campaign. They defeated Montclair State 173-107 and Roger Williams 180-88.
The day started on a high note for the Bears on the diving boards with
Colbrin Blanchette(Edwardsville, IL) and
Rafael Davila(Carolina, Puerto Rico) taking first and second in the one meter dive with scores of 177.07 and 133.72.
After the strong start on the boards, CGA honored their seven seniors:
AJ Buzzelli(Acworth, GA),
Charles Gaines(Macon, GA),
Logan Kwon(University Place, WA),
Gabriel McCallen(Niceville, FL),
Mike Orsulak(Berwyn, PA),
Victor Parks(Williamsburg, VA), and
Ryan Von Weihe(Raleigh, NC).
Senior
Logan Kwon had a strong day in his final race in the home Coast Guard pool, finishing fourth in 200 and 100 backstroke.
The first swimming event of the day went smoothly for the Bears, taking both of the top spots in the 200 yard medley relay. The first place team with a time of 1:34.68 was
Zach McGowen(Springfield, VA),
Blaise Minckler(Hilton Head Island, SC),
Charles Gaines, and
Noah Reice(Wilmington, DE) with
Baylor Weiler(Lexington, KY),
John Kaleta(Morrow, OH),
Jinnosuke Suzuki(Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands), and
Kacper Buniowski(Bridgewater, NJ) taking second at 1:37.81.
The lead leg swimmer of that second place squad;
Baylor Weiler, proceeded to finish first in both the 100 and 200 yard backstroke with times of 52.83 and 1:56.02. Weiler had company atop the podium in the 100 yard back, with
Andrew Carlson(Spring, TX) behind him by just a hair at a photo finishing time of 52.84, just 0.01 second behind Weiler. Carlson took second in the 100 yard freestyle as well, with a time of 48.94. He was sandwiched on the podium by
Kacper Buniowski in first(48.55) and
Jinnosuke Suzuki in third(49.26).
Much like the 100 yard, the 200 yard freestyle race saw three Bears at the top as well. This time it was
Patrick Young(Lucinda, PA) in first at 1:46.88,
Jay Pawloski(St. Leonard, MD) in second(1:47.05), and
Grant Hudson(Peachtree City, GA) in third(1:47.22). Young took first in the 200 breaststroke later on with
Matt Carper(Pittsburgh, PA) in second, less than a second behind. In the 100 yard breaststroke,
Blaise Minckler continued what has been a banner junior season with a sub 60 second victory.
Distance specialist and team tri-captain
Jordan Jansen(Tampa, FL) was the only swimmer under five minutes in the 500 yard freestyle and he cleared comfortably with a time of 4:57.84.
Star junior
Noah Reice won both the 100 and 200 Butterfly races comfortably, finishing seconds ahead of the next closest swimmer. In the 200, CGA swimmers filled out three of the top four spots with
Leon Zhang(Cary, NC) and
Jason Manzo(Helotes, TX) taking third and fourth.
Both Roger Williams and Montclair State will be back in action for the NJAC Championships, hosted at the Hampton Aquaplex in Hampton, Virginia from February 12-15th. Coast Guard will compete in the NEWMAC Championships hosted by MIT starting on February 19th and running through February 22nd.
