BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo welcomes seven teams to its Alumni Arena Natatorium & Dorsi Raynolds Pool for the four-day 2025 MAC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. Competition will begin Wednesday, Feb. 28 evening and run until Saturday, March 1.

All information, including live video streams, schedule of events, championship merchandise, and more, is available on the MAC Championship Central page, here.

For an all-session ticket, the price for an adult is $45, while single all-session passes are $16. For more ticket information and pricing, follow this link.

Below are the team’s previews based in the order of the 2025 Preseason Coaches Poll.
 

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Previews are courtesy of the Athletic Communications Departments.
 
Akron Zips
The Akron Swimming and Diving team will look to claim its 11th MAC title in the past 12 years and fourth consecutive.
The 2025 MAC Championships will be held at Alumni Arena Natatorium & Dorsi Raynolds Pool at Buffalo.

Action in the four-day meet begins Wednesday (Feb. 26) at 6 p.m. with a pair of relay swims. Individual action gets underway Thursday (Feb. 27) and will run through Saturday (March 1).

The Zips took the top spot in the 2024 Mid-American Conference Swimming and Diving Championships on the campus of Ohio University with 812.5 points.

Brian Peresie was named the conference's Swimming Coach of the Year last season while Abigail Daniel was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer.

Daniel, Rebecca Reid, Madelyn Gatrall, Rachel Sabotin, Weronika Gorecka, and Astrid Halvorsen were named to the All-MAC First Team while Madeline Dyer, Kaja Reinhardt, Aislinn Holder, Giovanna Cappabianca, Sara Bozso and Laurel Smith were named to the All-MAC Second Team.

The Zips went 4-2 in head-to-head competition while taking first at the Zips Classic, The Magnus Cup and the Zippy Invitational.

Gatrall and Daniel were both named MAC Swimmers of the Week multiple times this season while Elizabeth Noble and Smith were named MAC Diver of the Week.

 
Ohio Bobcats
The Ohio swimming and diving team heads to Buffalo, N.Y. Feb. 26-March 1 for the 2025 Mid-American Conference Championship. This year's event is hosted by Buffalo inside the Alumni Arena Natatorium. 

The event begins on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. ET with the 200-yard medley relay and the 800 free relay. Thursday through Saturday's sessions will begin at 10 a.m. ET with preliminary races and conclude at 6 p.m. ET each night with the day's finals. The full event will be steamed on YouTube.

The Bobcats found success in their home pool at the MAC Championships last season. Their plethora of podium finishers, including Freshman of the Year Zita Szoke , helped the Bobcats to a third-place team finish. Szoke won the 200-yard freestyle and Casadie DiBetta took home the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke titles. It was the Bobcats' highest finish since 2013. Szoke, DiBetta and Gabrielle McKee were named First Team All-MAC last season, while Julia Strine earned All-MAC Second Team honors.

Following the 2025 MAC Championships, the Bobcats will head to Ocala, Fla. for the 2025 CSCAA National Invitational Championship March 12-15. Those who qualify will head to NCAA Zone C Diving Championships March 13-15, and the NCAA Championships March 19-22 in Federal Way, Wash. 

 
Miami RedHawks
Preview coming soon...


Buffalo Bulls
The University at Buffalo swimming and diving team is set to host Mid-American Conference Championships in the Alumni Arena Natatorium this Wednesday, February 26th through Saturday, March 1st.

The four-day meet will feature eight programs competing to be crowned conference champions on Saturday night. The Ball State Cardinals, Bowling Green Falcons, Eastern Michigan Eagles, Miami RedHawks, Ohio Bobcats and Toledo Rockets all travel to Buffalo looking to defeat the reigning MAC Champion Akron Zips.

The Bulls finished fourth of the eight teams last season at Ohio. The program has earned seven podium finishes in the last eight seasons, including its MAC title in 2021.

The Bulls' last competition before MAC Championships was a tri-meet at Toledo and Bowling Green. Buffalo defeated both programs, picking up a pair of conference wins. The Bulls also set three pool records at Toledo.
 

Ball State Cardinals
After months of preparation, the Ball State women's swimming & diving program will put all its hard work to the test this week at Buffalo University's Alumni Arena Natatorium & Dorsi Raynolds Pool for the 2025 Mid-American Conference Swimming & Diving Championships.

Action in the four-day meet begins Wednesday (Feb. 26) at 6 p.m. with a pair of relay swims. Individual action gets underway Thursday (Feb. 27) and will run through Saturday (March 1).

AT THE 2024 MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Cardinals captured four medals, including one gold, one silver and two bronze at last year's MAC Championships, earning the women a fifth-place finish with 330 total points. Ball State also walked away from the four-day event with two program records and 11 top 10 times set.

IN THE MAC RANKINGS  
In the latest NCAA Division I Top Time Rankings as compiled by CollegeSwimming.com, the Cardinals have nine student-athletes ranked in scoring position in their respective events heading into the MAC Championships.

FROM THE DIVING BOARDS
Graduate Grace Walker currently leads the Cardinals on both the 1M (293.10) and 3M (276.68) boards, with her 1M score being an NCAA Zone Diving Qualifying mark and the fourth-best individual score for six dives in program history.  

EVENT WINNERS
As a squad, the Cardinals have chalked up 50 individual event wins and seven relay victories so far this season.     


Eastern Michigan Eagles
The Eastern Michigan University swim & dive team will compete for its third Mid-American Conference title at the MAC Swimming & Diving Championships, hosted by the University at Buffalo, Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 26-March 1. Wednesday will include one finals session starting at 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday's action will start with 10 a.m. prelims followed by 6 p.m. finals. Saturday's competition will begin with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals starting at 3:40 p.m.

A live stream of each session each day can be accessed on the swim & dive schedule page here. There, fans can access a full schedule of events and the MAC Championships Central Page. Also, stay posted to EMUEagles.com for a post-meet recap and the team's social media accounts on Instagram, X, and Facebook for EMU swim & dive content.
 
EMU AT MACS
Eastern has captured two MAC crowns in its history, coming in consecutive seasons in 2006 and 2007, under former head coach Peter Linn.

The Eagles took home the 2006 MAC title, its first MAC Championship, besting second-place finisher, the University of Miami, by 11 points. Eastern ended the meet scoring 637.5 points with seven All-MAC honorees (two first team selections and five second team nods). Linn was named the MAC Swimming Coach of the Year while former diving coach Buck Smith was named Diving Coach of the Year. One of the most decorated swimmers in Eagles' history, Madeline Pilchard was tabbed Swimmer of the Year by the conference.

Pilchard raked in three individual MAC titles in the meet, winning the 100y freestyle (50.48), 200y freestyle (1:48.74), and 500y freestyle (4:51.99). She also swam the anchor leg of EMU's first-place 400y freestyle team, a race the Eagles swam in 3:24.97.

The Eagles repeated as champs in the 2007 season, scoring 665 points to edge second-place Ohio University (618 points) by a margin of 47 points inside Eastern's Jones Natatorium.

Pilchard won swimmer of the year for the second consecutive season and Sarah Chrzanowski earned the Diver of the Year Award with her first-place finish in the 1m dive (293.60 points). Eastern saw nine individuals named to All-MAC teams (four to first team and five to second team), while claiming gold in eight events throughout the meet.

LAST TIME AT MACS
The Eagles scored 273 points for a sixth-place finish. Their performances were highlighted by Rebekah Knapp, who placed second in the 3m dive, scoring 317.25 points. Nina Larosa and Kiersten Russell each swam one program top 10 mark as Larosa finished ninth in the 100y breaststroke in 1:03.00, the seventh-best time in program history while Russell placed ninth in the 100y backstroke 54.33, the fifth-best time in program annals.  
 

Toledo Rockets
The Toledo women's swimming and diving team is set to compete in the 2025 Mid-American Conference Championship on Wednesday, Feb. 26-Saturday, March 1 in Buffalo, N.Y. The event will kick off on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. with the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay finals.

This will be the MAC Championship debut for first-year Head Coach Jacy Dyer, who was a 10-time MAC Champion as a Rocket from 2007-11.

LAST TIME OUT
Toledo claimed a win over Bowling Green, 196-157, and fell to Buffalo, 206-174 in a tri-meet on Jan. 31-Feb. 1. The Rockets won seven individual titles during the tri-meet with junior Janne Slegers taking first in the 50 freestyle (24.08) and 100 freestyle (51.45) while helping grab first-place finishes in the 400 freestyle relay (3:28.46) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:34.65). Freshman Rosie Richards won the 1000 freestyle (10:20.63) and was a member of the 400 and 200 freestyle relay teams. Mackenzie Bushey grabbed first in the 200 breaststroke (2:21.81) while Leah Evans took second in the 100 backstroke (55.26) and 100 butterfly (55.78).

At the 2024 MAC Championships, the Rockets placed seventh overall with 230 total points while Lauren Kilgore earned Second-Team All-MAC honors.

 
Bowling Green Falcons
Tanner Barton was excited, yet nervous.

It was the final night of the 2014 MAC Championships at Buffalo's Alumni Arena Natatorium, and the then freshman swimmer for Ball State had accomplished something he was not expecting.

In that morning preliminary 200 butterfly – which was Barton's best event as a Cardinal – he shaved over four seconds off his previous personal best, an eternity in swimming.

His mark of 1:50.90 put him in the B final of the event that evening, a feat not necessarily common for a freshman.

The joy and thrill of taking part in the swim and representing his team at a young age on such a big stage made Barton elated.

At the same time, he felt a wave of anxiousness wash over him like the cool water in UB's 700,000-gallon pool he was about to jump in on the starting block of Lane 6.

He needed a calming influence before the biggest moment in his young collegiate career.

Barton looked no further than the foundations in his life – his parents, Tim and Andrea, sitting in the blue and white bleachers three rows from the top above the pool deck catty-corner from his block.

Father and son locked eyes, as Tanner held up his hand pinching his thumb and index finger together while his other three fingers fanned out and moved twice – the Ball State signal for its Cardinal mascot accompanied by a "Chirp Chirp" uttering. Tim did the same. Barton then proceeded to take fourth in the B final and swim a few milliseconds better than his prelim time.

It is the memory that Barton calls his greatest as a collegiate swimmer.

Eleven years later, as Barton embarks on his first MAC Championships as a head coach at the same pool where enjoying the big moment and having fun was evoked in his mind.

It is a lesson that he has preached to his Falcon team all season long leading up to the most important meet of the season.

Ava Vial will be one swimmer who most surely take advantage of her opportunities. The focused and determined graduate student finished in fifth at last year's MAC Championships in the 400 IM and has earned top 15 times in the conference this season in the same event as well as the 200 butterfly and the 200 breaststroke.

Junior Emily McNicol is looking to break through and qualify for her first career A final (top 8 off prelim times) in the backstroke events. She is currently 13^th in the MAC in the 100 backstroke and 23^rd in the 200 backstroke after finishing 11^th and 16^th, respectively, in the events at last year's MAC Championships.

In freestyle events and relays, Barton is looking to get contributions from freshman Samia Becdach, who is ranked in the top 25 in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle swims in the MAC.

Returning for the first time since November's Magnus Cup Invitational is Karina Solera. The freshman represented her native country of Costa Rica at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Hungary in December and broke the nation's 200m butterfly short course meter record. She will be looking to contribute in the 100 and 200 butterfly events.

The diving unit remains deep, as two-time MAC Diver of the Week Natalia Mayorga leads the squad. The sophomore has the third-best 1-meter and 3-meter scores in the MAC this season. Additionally, she has earned NCAA Zone Diving cuts in both events as well as platform, which is not contested at the MAC Championships.

Elise Snyder is ranked in the top 10 in the MAC in the 1 and 3-meter events this season, while Evie Long is looking to improve upon her 10^th-best ranking in the 1-meter dive.

Barton knows it is an uphill battle, as the Falcons have finished in last at the MAC Championships in three of the last four years. However, with a mostly new coaching staff and different training methods than in the past, he remains confident in his team and what they have built – always coupled with the constant reminder to have fun on deck.