GARLAND, Texas – In the second closest conference meet in league history, Colorado College captured the program's first-ever SCAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championship Saturday night at the Garland ISD Natatorium. Official Website | Saturday's Complete Results | Saturday Diving Results | Complete Meet Results w/Team Scores | Photo Gallery | Diving Photos | Video Interviews Playlist

The Rocky Mountain Tigers finished with 1,042 points to narrowly defeat second-place Trinity University, the five-time defending champions, who ended this year's championship with 1,034 points. The eight-point margin of victory only trails the 2017 championship when Trinity nipped Southwestern by just 5.5 points (882.5 to 877). This year's meet also marked the first time two schools have scored over 1,000 points at a single championship.

Southwestern University was third with 435 points, followed by Centenary College with 292 points, McMurry University with 290 points, Austin College with 253 points, University of the Ozarks with 164 points, and University of St. Thomas was eighth with 156 points. 

Swimmer-of-the-Meet honors went to Trinity freshman Luke Fender, who won individual titles in the 500 free, 200 free and 1,650 free, breaking the championship meet record in each of his victorious swims. He was also a part of the Tigers' winning 400 and 800 freestyle relay teams. 

On the boards, Diver-of-the-Meet honors went to Wyatt Wellehan who won the SCAC title on the 3-meter board while finishing second in the 1-meter board.

The Colorado College staff - led by first-year head coach Jen Buffin, along with assistant coaches Ellen Walker, Max McHugh, Adric Arndt, and Misty Banta - earned SCAC Men's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors. Although the award is the first for Buffin as head coach, it is the fifth time CC has received COTY recognition on the men's side.

Colorado College's Wellehan won the 3-meter board earlier in the afternoon when he recorded a total score of 508.90 - the 10th-highest mark recorded in the history of the championship and an NCAA 'B' cut. The win marked his second career win at the conference meet (he won the 1-meter board in 2024) and his victory on the high board made him just the second CC diver to take top honors in the event (Austin Howlett won the 3-meter competition in 2012, 2013 and 2015). Trinity's Max Rolla-Mullis was second with a score of 391.80 and Aidan Richter of Colorado College, who had won the 1-meter competition the day before, was third with a total of 381.55. Men's 3-Meter Interview

Trinity's Fender nabbed his third individual gold medal of the championships with a victory in the 1650-yard freestyle. Just as he had done in his previous two victories, his time (15:37.60) established a new SCAC meet record, and the time also further dropped the conference open mark he had established back in November. His victory also made him just the second swimmer in league history to sweep the 200 free, 500 free and 1,650 free at the same championship meet (Dario Turjanski of Trinity in 2005). Colorado College's Edmund Davis, who had won the event the last two years, settled for second in a time of 16:12.00. Carter Hagenauer led a trio of CC swimmers who finished within a second of each other in the race for third and touched the wall in 16:44.85. 1,650-Yard Freestyle Interview  

Sam Allen of Colorado College won the 200-yard back as he clocked a time of 1:50.02 - the third-fastest time in SCAC championship history. By securing the first individual title of his career, Allen became the fourth different swimmer from Colorado College to win the event, which included his teammate and last year's winner Caleb Peimann who had to settle for second with a time of 1:50.87. A year after finishing second, Southwestern's Andrew Renninger settled for third after tallying a time of 1:54.28. 200-Yard Backstroke Interview

Trinity's Nate Perez picked up the victory in the 100 freestyle, the second career conference meet title in his brief career (he won the 500 free in 2024). Perez touched in 45.83 and became the program's sixth different swimmer to earn gold in the event. Colorado College swimmers occupied the second and third positions on the leaderboard as Dax Sherwood and Liam McCarthy rounded out the all-conference performances by posting finishing times of 45.98 and 46.11, respectively. 100-Yard Freestyle Interview

Colorado College's Collin Ralston posted his fifth career individual title, but his first in the 200-yard breaststroke after finishing runner-up in the event the previous three SCAC championships. Ralston, who reached the wall in 2:00.88 to post a NCAA 'B' cut time, became just the second CC swimmer in program history to win the event, joining former Tiger Tom Grossinger who earned gold in the 200 breast in 2008. Teammate Andrew Colgan finished the 1-2 finish for CC with a time of 2:01.95 and Trinity's John Key was third for the third straight year, this year finishing in 2:02.35. 200-Yard Breaststroke Interview 

Tomas Gonzalez kept the momentum going for Colorado College, recording this second consecutive victory in the 200-yard butterfly with a winning performance of 1:51.55. With the win, Gonzalez became just the seventh swimmer in SCAC history to earn back-to-back victories in the event. Trinity's Will Walker earned his third consecutive runner-up finish in the 200 fly, coming in with a time of 1:53.28 and teammate Nickolas Rotolo rounded out the all-conference podium with a third-place finish of 1:55.07. 200-Yard Butterfly Interview

Even though the team title was unlikely, Trinity closed out the championships with a strong finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay as the quartet of Perez, Walker, Trace Briones and Fender teamed up to earn the program it's fifth straight win in the event with a gold medal performance of 3:01.63 (the third-fastest in the history of the conference meet). Entering the 400 free relay just needing to stay within five places of Trinity, Colorado College safely navigated each start and cruised to a 3:04.18 finish, good for second place in the event and guaranteeing the CC Tigers their first-ever conference title. Southwestern closed out the meet with a third-place finish in 3:08.07. 400-Freestyle Relay Interview

Notes: A total of four SCAC men's championship meet records were broken including, 500 free, 1650 free, 200 free and 100 breast. In addition to the four league records, SCAC men's swimmers tallied six NCAA 'B' cut times.