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GREENSBORO, N.C. – It was a night to remember for the Connecticut College men’s swimming and diving team on Wednesday at the 2025 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Justin Finkel (Cheshire, Conn.) successfully defended his national title in the 500 freestyle, touching the wall with a winning time of 4:22.43. Later in the evening, he joined Matthew Morris (Alexandria, Va.), Carrick Shea (Grafton, Mass.) and Nicholas Holovacs (Hingham, Mass.) to finish eighth in the 400 medley relay. Both performances were worthy of All-America First Team honors.
Conn ended the night with 42 points and sits in eighth place. Denison University leads the men’s overall standings with 115 points.
In the first men’s championship final of the night, the field for the 500 free was tightly bunched through the first 400 yards. Swimming alongside Coast Guard’s Sean Lyman—who turned in the morning’s fastest time in prelims—Finkel flipped a switch after the turn and moved from third to first over the next 50 yards. He had plenty left in the tank for the final 50, increasing his lead to more than a body length over runner-up Ryan Nunez from Williams.
The national title was the third of Finkel’s career, tying him with distance runner Michael LeDuc ’14 for the most individual national titles in school history. His 10 All-America honors are also second-most by a men’s swimmer in Conn’s history.
Earlier in the day, the Camels broke the school record in the 400 medley relay to earn a spot in the championship final. It marked just the third time a Conn relay team qualified for a championship final at nationals, as well as the first time in the 400 medley relay.
The Camels weren’t quite as fast in the evening session, clocking in at 3:16.38 to finish eighth overall. The result was Conn’s best in a relay at nationals since 2014, and Morris, Shea and Holovacs earned All-America honors for the first time in their careers.
Two other Camels competed in preliminaries earlier in the day. Evan Lyons (Longmeadow, Mass.) made his NCAA debut in the 500 free and recorded a season-best time of 4:34.05 to finish fourth in his heat and 26th overall. Cam Bizjak (Willoughby, Ohio) finished 24th in the 3M dive with a score of 384.95, the first Camel to dive at nationals since 2003.
Day two of the NCAA Championships begins Thursday with morning prelims at 10:00 a.m. Lyons will take part in the 400 IM while Finkel returns to the pool for the 100 butterfly. The Camels will also compete in the 200 free relay.