Richmond Finishes Second at Atlantic 10 Championship on Record-Breaking Day

Wednesday, February 19

Hampton, Va.

10:00 a.m (P)/ 6:00 p.m. (F)

University of Richmond

Atlantic 10 Championships

Richmond Finishes Second at Atlantic 10 Championship on Record-Breaking Day

02/23/2025 | Women's Swimming & Diving

HAMPTON, Va. – The University of Richmond's women's swimming and diving team concluded the Atlantic 10 Championships finishing with 571 points to finish second. The historic day included four broken records, four podium finishes and a major award. The Spiders were close to taking the lead when Richmond and George Washington were separated by just half a point.

"Every year when we come to this meet, we know that we are writing a story," said head coach Matt Barany.

"We wanted this story to be a good one. We talked all year that good things can happen to us. The idea that we could cut a big lead down to half a point is because we didn't obsess about winning. We just obsessed about being a really good team and treating each other well and getting in the water and doing what we know we can do."

The Spiders earned two bronze medals in the 1650 free and the 200 back, a silver medal in the 100 free and a gold medal finish in the 400 free relay. Head Coach Matt Barany who led Richmond to its second-place finishes was named the Women's Swimming Coach of the Year for the 10th time in his coaching career at Richmond.

The day started off with 10 swimmers advancing to the finals, including six Spiders who advanced to the Championship finals.

The distance group took the stage to kick off finals in the 1650 free. Freshman Carys Edgar finished with a personal best time of 16:38.36 making a NIC B cut. Edgar's swim led her to a bronze medal finish and was the fastest time out of all the freshmen in the mile. Junior Natalie Stuart also swam a personal best with a time of 16:53.18 to finish fifth. Sophomore Kaitlyn Bauer also finished with a personal best time of 17:00.83 to finish ninth. All three Spiders finished over a minute faster than their seeded times.

In the 200 back, freshman Hannah Wieczorek broke a freshman record and finished with a personal best time and a NIC B cut at 1:56.12 to capture bronze. Senior Carstyn Klosterman finished fourth with a personal best time of 1:57.44. In the B finals, junior Caroline Weldon finished 10th with a time of 2:00.44.

In the preliminaries for the 100 free, sophomore Melissa Nwakalor broke the school record with a time of 49.45 that was set by Lauren Medlin back in 2021. In the finals, Nwakalor broke the record again with a time of 48.78, making a NIC B cut and finished with a silver medal. Freshman Lena Amare finished fourth with a personal best time of 50.11. Sophomore Presley Baber finished seventh with a personal best time of 50.52. In the B final, junior Julia Krichev finished 16th with a time of 51.59.

Freshman Gabbie Primiano advanced to the championship finals in the 200 breast. With a fifth-place finish, Primiano finished with a time of 2:15.83.

In the B final for the 200 fly, junior Katie Chignell finished 13th with a personal best time of 2:03.89. Sophomore Kaitlyn Bauer followed behind with a personal best time of 2:04.53 to finish 14^th.

Richmond finished with a gold medal in the 400 free relay. Coming together was Amare (50.40), Baber (49.99), Chignell (50.48) and Nwakalor (48.45) with a time of 3:19.32, breaking the school record that was set back in 2022. Dropping nearly five second from their seeded time, these Spiders made an NIC B cut.

Over the course of four days, the Richmond swimming and diving program had 38 Spiders advance to the finals, medaled in eight events, and broke five school records.

Head diving coach Andrew Goe also shared his thoughts about this years championships. "The divers made great strides in their diving lists and scoring this year. Tess and Sally Harrington both scored points at the A-10 Championships. Tess Weatherhead made a zone cut and her scores rank her in the top nine in both the 1-meter and 3-meter for Richmond. Rachel Vandersea and Allie Brennan both put together good lists and will look to be in scoring positions for next year along with having Addie Grainger back in the diving rotation. We are excited for the future of the team as we move to the postseason and into preparing for next year."

Richmond 2025 Atlantic 10 Medals: