Caroline Bryant
The Southern Editor
The Mocs competed at the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships March 12-16 in Geneva, Ohio at SPIRE Institute Aquatics Center to complete the competition season.
Amidst his sixth year, Head Coach Andy Robins shared his excitement leading up to the meet, especially for new qualifiers.
“It’s fun watching those swimmers that will be ‘first-timers’ and see how they handle the atmosphere of the competition,” Robins said. “This meet always brings out the best in our swimmers and I’m sure we will see some great results again this year.”
His confidence was reflected in the team’s final results. The men placed No. 13 overall with 117 points, two pegs down from the 2023 championships. However, the women’s team progressed, finishing No. 29 with 18.5 points, compared to No. 32 last year.
Senior Kyle Micallef heavily contributed to the total, winning the national championship title for the 50 freestyle. He dropped 0.29 seconds from his swim in the preliminaries, finishing the race with a personal best of 19.28. He surpassed the second-place swimmer from Henderson State University by 0.05 seconds.
To him, that 0.05 seconds wasn’t the luck of the draw. It was all due to the dedication he has put into the sport.
“When I started my morning routine that morning like every day with my 5 a.m. cold shower, meditation and journaling, it all felt right,” Micallef said. “I knew I was destined to become National Champion. Nothing comes as a surprise when you work as hard as I work.”
Micallef’s win follows 13 other NCAA National Championship titles won by the program, also earning Robins three during his coaching career.
Three school and one SSC records were made during the meet. Two of the three program records were accomplished by the women’s team.
Junior Alizee Pelletier swam a 1:02.29 100 breast during the preliminaries, a time breaking her own school record. Despite the achievement, Pelletier saw the time in a negative light.
“This record was a little different because I had another goal in mind,” Pelletier said. “At the moment I didn’t really understand that I broke it and that I did my best time. I was pretty upset because I missed the A final by 0.2…so I was not really happy.”
Yet, after reflection, she was proud that she gave it her all.
“I thought about it and understood that I still did my best and that I still broke the school record. I still did something for the school and it was still my best time.”
Pelletier later placed No. 16 in the finals. She also swam the breaststroke leg of the 400 medley relay, assisting seniors Teagen Michalek, Allie Brinton and Jazzy Hoffman in setting an FSC record of 3:43.93.
The men’s 200 medley relay set an SSC and FSC record of 1:25.73 for the event. Micallef swam the last leg of the race alongside junior Brandon Wilson, senior Ludwig Mueller and sophomore Nino Viallon.
In addition, the Mocs earned several top-16 individual finishes. Micallef performed a 44.10 100 free to earn the No. 16 spot. No. 15 finishes were made by junior Olivia Miles in the 400 IM and senior Allie Brinton in the 200 fly. Wilson earned two ninth place finishes for the 100 back and 50 free. He was just shy of Micallef’s 50 free time by 0.35 seconds.
Two other relays swam by the men’s team also resulted in top-12 finishes. The 400 medley relay, composed of Wilson, Mueller, senior Cameron Lai-Harris and Micallef placed No. 12. Fellow SSC team from the University of Tampa finished sixth.
The 400 free relay including Micallef, Viallon, Wilson and junior John Zeiger swam a 2:55.46, finishing No. 11.
With several top performances and many personal bests, Robins was delighted with the team’s results.
“I was pleased with the results overall,” Robins said. “In particular, each of our qualified swimmers was able to achieve a personal best time in at least one of their events. We always feel that each swimmer is prepared to perform at their best in “big moments” and the NCAA Championships is the biggest of moments. That said, there were definitely races where I expected us to be better, but as I mentioned we were pleased with the results overall.”
While competition season has come to a close, the Mocs will continue to put in the work in the pool to prepare for the fall.
