Bucknell sweeps diving awards, Navy in first heading to final day of Open Championship
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The 2025 ECAC Open Championship continued on Saturday, with Navy turning in strong performances throughout the day. The Midshipmen added to their team total to end Day Two with 511.5 points, while the Navy women slid in front of Bucknell with 465 team points.
Saturday began with the women’s 200 medley relay, where the Rutgers team of Natalie Schick, Molly Urkiel, Ellie Schinsky and Brooke Thompson took first behind a time of 1:40.85. Columbia’s men followed with a championship time of 1:28.82, as Allen Cai, Michael Zhang, Brian Lee and Kevin Obochi gave the Lions their first event win of the day.
In the women’s 400 IM, Penn’s Katya Eruslanova ran away with the event title, as her finals time of 4:12.52 was nearly 15 full seconds ahead of second place. The men’s race saw Navy teammates Casey Aten (3:51.97) and Cedric Brooking (3:55.16) take the top two finishes.
The women’s 100 fly saw Schinsky take first in the tightest finish of the weekend, as her mark of 54.21 was just enough to hold off Bryant’s Amanda Witkus (54.60) and Penn’s Vanessa Chong (54.90). Columbia dominated in the men’s 100 fly, with Lee (47.98) and Lucas Zhang (48.13) taking the top spots to go with three other Lions in the top seven.
Bucknell turned in a 1-2-3 finish in the women’s 200 free, as Clara Renner (1:48.71), Rylie Giles (1:50.17) and Kyla Kelly (1:50.64) all finishing within two seconds of one another to lead the pack. The Navy men followed with a 1-2 finish of their own behind the performances of Evan McKelvey (1:36.48) and Conor Cranfield (1:36.82).
Harvard’s Aleksandra Denisenko (1:00.65) took the individual title in the women’s 100 breast in another contested ended, with Urkiel (1:00.74) and Loyola’s Lily Mead (1:00.85) finishing on her heels. Kohen Rankin of the U.S. Military Academy picked up 20 points with a first-place time of 51.26 in the men’s event.
Anya Mostek gave Harvard an event win in the women’s 100 back behind a finals time of 52.38. On the men’s side, Navy’s Tyler Kaminski (48.69) edged Zac Leith (48.80) of USMA, with Midshipmen teammate Aaron Mendoza (49:11) rounding out the top three.
Penn’s team of Maggie Straley, Eruslanova, Amelia Girotta and Emma Stolberg came away with the win in the women’s 800 free relay, doing so behind a time of 7:28.68. Navy’s men then earned themselves another first-place finish, as Austin Lockhart, James Lyon, Cohen Bruner and Cranfield teamed up for a time of 6:32.97, eight seconds ahead of second place.
Regina Frias of Bucknell was named the Women’s Diver of the Meet after taking first in the 3m (280.05) on Friday and third in the 1m (225.60) on Saturday. Fellow Bison Connor Thurston snagged Men’s Diver of the Meet honors behind a first-place finish in the 1m (286.96) and second in the 3m (256.40).
Prelims are set to begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, with finals to follow at 4:00 p.m.