FEB 27, 2025 | SPORTS | By Lilly Asano (Co-Editor-In-Chief)
The Colorado College Tigers swimming and diving teams dominated the 2025 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championship in Garland, Texas, from Feb. 12 through 15. The Tigers swept across the board, bringing home multiple conference titles and personal achievement recognitions, including breaking an 11-year old school record.
The men’s team clinched their first SCAC championship since joining the conference in 2006 on Sunday, Feb. 15. The Tigers ended rival Trinity University’s five-year title reign, defeating them by eight points. The women’s program finished second for the third year in a row behind Trinity.
With four days of competition, head coach Jen Buffin prioritized the groups’ ability to set goals. While swimmers and divers compete individually, their points are added to the team’s total and ultimately contribute to a team’s success.
“Some [swimmers] are going to get all of their goal times, and some may fall short, and how we respond to that is really important over a long period,” said Buffin. “We have to manage our energy, and we have to manage maybe not hitting [our] goals individually.”
Instead, Buffin asks her swimmers and divers to celebrate each other’s accomplishments and “show up for each other.”
Buffin led the Tigers to victory in her first season as head coach following two seasons as assistant coach to Anne Goodman James. In early September, she brought on former NCAA DI national champion Max McHugh as her full-time assistant coach.
Buffin, McHugh and coaching staff were recognized as this year’s SCAC Coaching Staff of the Year following the meet. This is the third consecutive year CC has won the title.
Andrew Colgan ‘28 helped secure the Tigers’ lead, winning his first conference championships in the 200 individual medley (IM) and 100 breaststroke. Colgan also swam in the 400 medley relay, claiming another victory with teammates Caleb Peimann ‘25, Tomas Gonzalez ‘27 and Liam McCarthy ‘28.
One of McHugh’s and Buffin’s favorite moments came after Colgan posted the SCAC’s second-fastest record in the 100 breaststroke, falling just .06 of a second to his previous record set in the preliminaries of 54.71. With his second championship win in a day, he embraced teammate Collin Ralston ‘25.
Ralston won the event the past two years and came in second to Colgan.
“Collin had a huge role in terms of Andrew’s success and vice versa,” Buffin said. “They competed against each other, they trained hard together, and you can see it.”
McCarthy won the 50 freestyle championship. McCarthy, Peimann, Step Flanagan ‘25 and Jack Hussin ‘25 claimed the 200 freestyle relay. Gonzalez, Ralston and Sam Allen ‘28 also won individual titles throughout the weekend. Malia Hewitt ‘26 won the 100 breaststroke individual championship.
In the Tigers’ closing event of the meet, Megan Simonson ‘26, Sarah Buchman ‘26, Adeline Turner ‘27 and Julia Cox ‘28 shattered an eleven-year-old school record in the 400 freestyle relay, boasting a new time of 3:30.22.
“We actually didn’t realize we had broken it until we saw our teammates and coaches yelling at us from the side of the pool,” Simonson said in a text to The Catalyst. “My relay team went into this race with a competitive mindset, but for the four of us it was also about having fun and celebrating our last race of the season.”
Brenna Day ‘14, Olivia Dilorati ‘16, Erin Holmes ‘16 and Annalise Grigereit ‘16 set the previous record on Feb. 15, 2014, at the SCAC Championships. Buffin viewed Simonson, Buchman, Turner and Cox’s accomplishments as a testimony to what her team achieved this year.
“For them to have the energy and the focus in the last event of a long meet shows us where we are as a program and what our focus was,” she said. “It just tells you how tough and resilient they are.”
The diving team swept all four events. Emma Krasemann ‘25 won the 3-meter dive on Friday, Feb. 14, while Keller Pooley ‘27 won the 1-meter dive the following day.
Aidan Richter claimed the men’s 1-meter dive on Friday, Feb. 14, and Wyatt Wellehan earned the 3-meter dive title on Saturday, Feb. 15. Nico Rimer ‘27 was fourth in both. Wellehan was recognized as the men’s diver of the meet, and Krasemann earned the women’s accolade.
“We were favorites going in,” said Ellen Walker, diving coach. “We were able to step up and, as a team, be successful.”
Walker emphasized the importance of not letting previous dives or mistakes interfere with her team. She praised a “championship mindset,” trusting that her divers were confident in their preparation.
In addition to the Tigers’ athletic success, SCAC recognized Wellehan and Simonson as Elite 19 recipients. Two awards are handed out yearly, one to a male swimmer or diver and one to a female swimmer or diver. According to SCAC, the Elite 19 award is meant to “recognize the best of the best within each conference sponsored-sport as it relates to both academic and athletic achievement.”
Walker believes the award speaks to the broader athletic culture at Colorado College.
“That’s why we’re here at CC,” Walker said. “It’s really neat that the SCAC acknowledges that accomplishment and that academic success is important because that’s why we’re here.”
With conference championships still scheduled for the remaining U.S., swimmers must wait to see if they qualified for the NCAA Division III national championship. Krasemann, Pooley, Richter and Wellehan are currently preparing for the NCAA Division III Diving Regionals in Grinnell, Iowa, on Feb. 28 and March 1.