Men's Swimming and Diving 2/23/2025 9:15:00 PM Ted Schultz

Pioneer men's swimming and diving team sails to Midwest Conference crown

Grinnell beats runner-up by nearly 350 points

Results

GRINNELL, Iowa - The string of dominance continues for the Grinnell College men's swimming and diving team.

The Pioneers won their ninth Midwest Conference title in a row, and 21st in the last 23 years, by rolling past the field
at Russell K. Osgood Pool. Grinnell finished the meet with 950.5 points, nearly 350 more than runner-up St. Norbert College.

Grinnell rang up five event victories Sunday, including two apiece from MWC Newcomer of the Year Evan Feilmeyer '28 and Rommin Adl '26. Both were in the final event of the night, the 400 freestyle relay, with teammates Aidan Donovan '28 and MWC Swimmer of the Year Kevin Fitzgerald '25. They became the first 400 free relay quartet in MWC history to break the three-minute mark, finishing in 2 minutes, 59.18 seconds. That not only beat the MWC, school and pool records of 3:02.64 set earlier this year, but the meet record of 3:02.78 by Grinnell in 2023. That time not only was an NCAA "B" cut, but qualified for the NCAA Championships last year.

The Pioneers had two other "B" cuts, those coming from Adl in the 100 freestyle and Feilmeyer in the 200 butterfly. Adl won the freestyle in 44.96, breaking the meet record of 45.22 by Jeremy Mueller of Beloit College in 2024, pool mark of 45.00 by Ike Eyman-Casey in 2018 and Fitzgerald's school record of 45.37 established earlier this year.

Feilmeyer won the 200 butterfly in 1:49.28, establishing a "B" cut and breaking the meet record of 1:50.83 by Sam Freedberg of Lake Forest College in 2015.

Other event victories came from Sam Larsen '25 in the 200 backstroke (1:51.00) and Keely Yeager '27 in the 200 breaststroke (2:04.11, second all-time at GC).

Pioneer runners-up were Noah Tsukuda '27 in the 1650 freestyle (16:23.59), Cadel Saszik '28 in the 200 backstroke (1:51.14), Fitzgerald in the 100 freestyle (45.31, second all-time), Benke Grobler '27 in the 200 breaststroke (2:06.07) and Antoni Staszkiewicz '27 in the 200 butterfly (1:54.89).

Donovan was third in the100 freestyle in 45.38, the third-best time in GC history, while fourth place went to Jacob Lester '25 in the 1650 freestyle (17:00.84) and Gavin Stiglitz '28 in the 200 backstroke (1:56.35, 14th all-time).

Cooper Malone '25 was fifth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:10.57, while Jack Cerone '28 and Chris Zhou '27 were seventh and eighth in 2:13.79 and 2:14.51, respectively. Also for Grinnell, John Kafumbe '28 swam 16:51.51 in the 1650 freestyle, 14th all-time at GC.

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Players Mentioned

Rommin Adl: Junior

Kevin Fitzgerald: Senior

Benke Grobler: Sophomore

Sam Larsen: Senior

Jacob Lester: Senior

Cooper Malone: Senior

Antoni Staszkiewicz: Sophomore

Noah Tsukuda: Sophomore

Keely Yeager: Sophomore

Jack Cerone: First-Year

Players Mentioned

Rommin Adl
: Junior

Kevin Fitzgerald
: Senior

Benke Grobler
: Sophomore

Sam Larsen
: Senior

Jacob Lester
: Senior

Cooper Malone
: Senior

Antoni Staszkiewicz
: Sophomore

Noah Tsukuda
: Sophomore

Keely Yeager
: Sophomore

Jack Cerone
: First-Year