After the team collected 23 medals and posted impressive performances at the Ivy League Championships earlier this year, Millard, Nick Finch ’28, Lucius Brown ’26, Deniel Nankov ’27, Jake Wang ’28 and Charlie Egeland ’27 qualified to represent Yale at the NCAA tournament. 

Millard qualified for the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 1650 freestyle, while Finch raced in the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle. Brown, Nankov, Wang and Egeland qualified for the relays. 

Millard told the News he enjoyed competing in the season’s biggest tournament with his fellow Bulldogs by his side.

“It was amazing to have two individual point scorers but also to bring four swimmers for relays as well (six total) which is something we haven’t done for many years,” Millard wrote to the News. “My freshman year, I went to the competition by myself, but it was a much more enjoyable experience going with my teammates and having more of a presence on the pool deck, giving the Ivy League the respect it deserves.”

At the Ivy League Championships, Millard and Finch both took home gold and claimed championship titles in the 500 and 1650-yard freestyle events for Millard and the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly for Finch. 

Also at Ivies, the Bulldogs finished first in three key relays, which qualified them for the NCAA Championships. Brown, Finch and Nankov qualified in the 200-yard medley relay. Alexander Hazlett ’26 was also a part of the qualifying team; however, he did not attend the NCAA competition. Finch, Nankov, Brown and Millard also qualified in the 200-yard freestyle relay and Finch, Nankov, Wang and Millard in the 400-yard freestyle relay. 

The Elis were keyed to keep up the momentum as they faced the nation’s most talented swimmers at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in the NCAA Championships. 

In the individual events, Finch and Millard posted stellar times that earned them All-American honors.  

Finch finished the 50-yard freestyle preliminaries in 19:34. His time of 44.57 in the 100-yard butterfly consolation final put him in third place in the event, 11th overall. This impressive finish earned him Honorable Mention All-American honors, making him the first Yale freshman to achieve the honors since 2015.

Millard finished with a time of 1:32.21 in the 200-yard freestyle preliminaries. In the 500-yard freestyle consolation final, he took first in the event in 4:08.69. He was thus also awarded Honorable Mention All-American honors for his top-10 finish. Millard’s best race was in the timed final for the 1650-yard freestyle, where he came in fourth nationally. His time of 14:28.43 was an Ivy record, earning him First Team All-American honors.  

On the relay side, Wang, Millard, Egeland and Nankov’s time of 6:15.36 in the timed final for the 800-yard freestyle relay earned them a solid 23rd place finish. The team of Wang, Brown, Nankov and Finch took 2lst in the 200-yard freestyle relay with their time of 1:16.94. The relays continued to post strong times with Wang, Egeland, Finch and Nankov’s 3:05.73 time breaking a team record and putting them at 22nd in the 400 medley relay. The Bulldogs’ last relay quartet of Finch, Nankov, Wang and Millard finished in 2:50.14 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Overall, the team finished in 20th place and was the only mid-major school in the top 25. The last time the Bulldogs scored at the NCAA Championships was in 2017 with only one point.

Millard reflected on the program’s impressive results and looks forward to the team’s bright future. 

“This is a turning point for the Yale program as we’ve really been able to see some of the potential of this team in action, and we’re on the way up rapidly,” Millard wrote to the News. “While I only have one more year left, I cannot wait to see where this team is headed in the next three to five years.”

The Elis concluded the 2024-25 season with a near-perfect record, with a loss only to Princeton: the 2025 Ivy League Champions. 

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“This Yale team is moving in the right direction, and we can tell we’ve started something absolutely incredible,” Noah Millard ’26 wrote to the News, reflecting on the team’s performance. “This was the closest three-way team race I’ve seen at Ivy champs in a long time, so to be able to be in contention for a win against Harvard and Princeton showed just how much potential we have and was super motivating for us all.” 

Day One: Wednesday, Feb. 26

The Bulldogs kicked off the Championships on the right note, with the relay team of Lucius Brown ’26, Nick Finch ’28, Alexander Hazlett ’26 and Deniel Nankov ’27 taking the gold and breaking a team record in the 200-yard medley relay. Their time of 1:24.00 was the second fastest time in Ivy meet history. 

The Elis kept up the momentum with Jake Wang ’28, Nankov, Charlie Egeland ’27 and Millard earning silver in the 800-yard freestyle relay with their team record time of 6:13.98. This impressive finish was the second fastest time in meet history, after the winning Princeton team, and qualified them for the NCAA A 800-yard freestyle relay. 

With these two victories, the Elis led the competition with 120 points. Princeton and Harvard trailed behind with 112 and 108 points, respectively.

Day Two: Thursday, Feb. 27

Day two began with a strong swim by Hazlett in the prelims in the 200-yard individual medley. His team record-breaking time of 1:44.36 qualified him for the A final, in which he finished eighth in 1:44.76. 

First-year Wang’s team record time of 1:44.10 earned him the championship title in the 200-yard IM B final. 

Next, Millard dominated in the A final of the 500-yard freestyle, earning the Ivy title and gold medal with his time of 4:07.68. His time broke the pool and team records and was an NCAA A standard time. His finish is the second fastest 500-yard freestyle time in the United States this year, making him the ninth fastest in the event’s history. Arshak Hambardzumyan’s ’28 time of 4:19.39 in the 500-yard freestyle earned him a fourth-place finish in the A final. 

Fellow first-year Finch won gold, becoming the Ivy Champion in the 50-yard freestyle in 19.07, a pool record and the second-fastest time in meet history. Nankov took fourth in the A final of the same event in 19.49. 

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Brown, Finch, Nankov and Millard took home the gold with their time of 1:16.48, breaking pool, team and meet records and also qualifying for the NCAA tournament. 

On the diving side, Jackson Lipscomb ’28 came in sixth place in the 1-meter dive with his score of 312.45, and Nicholas Chau ’26 followed directly behind with 300.00 points.

With these top finishes, the Bulldogs advanced their first-place lead to 486.5 points, with Princeton in second with 407.5, and Harvard coming in third with 360.5. 

Day Three: Friday, Feb. 28

On the third day of competition, the Bulldogs secured seven medals. 

Finch kicked off the victories with a team and pool record in the 100-yard butterfly prelims in 45.36. His time of 44.57 in the A final won him the gold and Championship title, breaking not only meet, pool and team records but also the Ivy record. 

Distance swimmer Hambardzumyan triumphed over the competition with his final gold-medal finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 8:51.82. His time was the ninth fastest in meet history, and his title marked Yale’s fifth event win.  

“Competing in my first Ivy League Championship was an incredible experience … I’m really happy with my performance, and winning a title in my freshman year means a lot,” Hambardzumyan wrote to the News. 

In the 400-yard IM, Jed Jones ’25 took eighth in the A final with his time of 3:47.88. Millard took silver in the 200-yard freestyle with his team record time of 1:31.86. 

Egeland and Hazlett competed in the 100-yard breaststroke A final, finishing sixth and eighth, respectively, in 52.58 and 52.96. 

The divers posted impressive scores in the 3-meter dive B final, with Chau taking 10th with his score of 330.00, Brady Stanton ’28 in 11th with 314.90 and Lipscomb 12th with 303.00. 

In the 400-yard medley relay, the quartet of Finch, Egeland, Millard and Manoli Mountantonakis ’28 had a silver-medal finish with their team record time of 3:06.43 to bring day three to an end on a high note. 

Although Yale dropped to third at the end of day three with 836.5 points, with Princeton claiming first with 847.5 and Harvard advancing to second with 846.5, Head Coach Jim Henry was proud of the team’s performance.

“So many outstanding performances by the team. We are rewriting our record books. Proud of the way we are competing in an extremely fast meet,” Henry told Yale Athletics.

Day Four: Saturday, March 1

The team closed out the tournament with six more medals on day four. 

In the 1,650-yard freestyle — the mile — the Bulldogs swept first and second places. Millard’s gold finish in 14:34.72 earned him the Ivy Champion title and was an Ivy meet and pool record, earning him a spot in the NCAA tournament. Hambardzumyan finished closely behind to win silver in 14:56.65.

“On a personal level, I’m super proud with how this meet went. Being able to break my own school records in a few events and even a few Ivy / pool records along the way is great positive reinforcement of all the work I’ve been putting in the last few months,” Millard wrote to the News. “It’s a great stepping stone for NCAAs in a couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to delivering my best again.” 

The 100-yard freestyle also proved to be a strong event for the Elis with Nankov and Finch earning silver and bronze, respectively, with their times of 42.52 and 42.63. Egeland took eighth in the A final of the 200-yard breaststroke in 1:57.62.

The team finished the championship tournament with a big win in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Finch, Millard, Nankov and Wang earned the gold, breaking Ivy League, pool and team records, while also qualifying for NCAA A with their time of 2:48.74.

While Millard is very proud to represent the Elis individually at the NCAAs, he is more looking forward to swimming with his teammates in the relays.

“Qualifying a few relays for NCAAs is one of the absolute highlights of my career thus far. It’s a different feeling qualifying individually versus being able to go with a team,” Millard wrote to the News. “Being able to race on the highest possible stage and experience this top tier meet with my teammates is something I’ve been looking forward to for years, so I can’t wait to show the country the talent the Ivy League has.”    

At the end of the four days, the Bulldogs walked away with 23 medals and finished third.

Millard attributed his and the team’s successes to his supportive teammates. 

“The energy on deck and the amount of support for each other through the week was easy to see, and it made competing that much more fun to see your best friends going crazy on the sidelines, rooting for you all the way along,” Millard wrote to the News. 

He is proud to be an Eli and represent Yale.

“I think a championship team is so much more than just people scoring points in the pool, and the quality of people we have on this Yale team is some of the most amazing I’ve ever been a part of. You feel so proud stepping up on the blocks each day doing what you can for the team,” Millard wrote to the News.

Hambardzumyan is also incredibly proud of the team and is already looking forward to next season.

“The whole team performed amazingly, and the atmosphere was electric throughout all four days … I see so much potential for next year’s championship, and I’m excited for what’s to come!” Hambardzumyan wrote to the News.

The qualifying Bulldogs will head to the NCAA Championships at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington from Wednesday, March 26 through Saturday, March 29.

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Before the meet, team members underwent a taper, training less than their usual six-day and 15 to 20-hour weeks to allow their bodies to rest before the meet. Fully rested and with hundreds of hours of practice under their belts, the Bulldogs shattered several team and personal records once they arrived in New Jersey. 

Being the only meet in the year with eight participating schools and four days, the event was split into preliminary and final rounds, allowing swimmers and divers several chances to display their best performances. 

One of the most notable showings was Mabel Koff’s ’28 electrifying swims in the 200-yard backstroke. Koff first broke the team record in the preliminary swims with 1:54.93. Her A final time of 1:54.79 was enough to break the team record a second time and clinch third place. 

“Breaking the record was one of my goals going into the meet, so I was really excited. I knew I put in the work, so I felt like the time would come,” Koff told the News. 

The dynamic quartet of Quinn Murphy ’25, Jessey Li ’26, Alex Massey ’25 and Sara Plunkett ’27 also set a new team record. Their 200-yard medley time of 1:37.19 won third place overall and started the first day with a bang. 

Seniors, for whom it was their last meet, gave it their all, putting up several fast times. After being part of two A final bronze quartets, Murphy also made a new personal best in the 200 backstroke, her time of 1:56.28 earning fifth in the A final. 

“I was feeling very emotional after my 200 back on Saturday, my last race, but I guess it hasn’t completely set in yet,” Murphy told the News. “I’m just really grateful that I got to be a part of Yale swim and dive and got to finish off my last meet with best times.”

Hayden Henderson ’25, who topped several diving events in previous meets, continued her strong performance, placing third in the 1-meter dive with 284.35 and fourth in the 3-meter B final with 264.95. 

Massey also ended the season on a high note. Her dominant performances and several new personal bests earned her the prestigious Ivy League Career High Point Award, awarded to the senior across all the Ivies with the highest points scored over all four years. 

“I had a suspicion that I was in the running for the award based on my past performances, but it didn’t hit me how real it would be until my coach called me aside and told me after the 200 fly,” Massey told the News.  

A series of excellent dives on the second day of the championships sent three Bulldogs to the diving A finals. Henderson (284.35), Lily Horenkamp ’26 (283.35) and Paige Lai ’28 (280.35) all made the cut, placing third, fourth and sixth, respectively, in the 1-meter preliminary dive. 

Riding the momentum from their opening 200-yard medley, the swim team continued showing strength in relays, with Li, Éle Donegan ’25, Caroline McCurdy ’26 and Massey taking bronze in the 200 yd freestyle relay with 1:31.20. Koff, McCurdy, Devyn Sargent ’28 and Junseo Kim ’25 finished the 800-yard freestyle relay in 7:17.49, enough for fourth place. 

The third day saw several strong individual performances, including medal finishes from Massey and Li. Massey’s 52.82 in the 100-yard fly secured bronze in the A finals, while Li clinched silver in the 100-yard breaststroke A final with a 1:00.49. In the 400-yard individual medley, it was Eunice Lee ’28 who finished fifth in the A final with 4:13.84, while Caroline Riggs ’27 (4:18.58) and Kim (4:19.71) took fifth and sixth places in the B final, respectively. 

Even after three days of all-out racing and diving, the Bulldogs showed their resilience and strength on the last day, bringing out their absolute best in the finals. In the 3-meter diving B final, Mariana Huang ’28 (237.85) placed eighth place, Henderson (264.95) took fourth and Lai (304.70) broke the 300 mark to take silver in the event. 

In the swimming events, Massey (1:59.17) and Kim (1:59.86) both broke two minutes in the 200-yard fly to earn them fifth and sixth place in the A final, respectively, while Lilly Derivaux’s ’26 2:00.01 was enough for seventh place. 

The 400-meter freestyle relay of Li, Plunkett, McCurdy and Koff took fifth in the A final with 3:32.72, while Riggs (16:26.44), Derivaux (16:46.03) and Morgan Cady ’28 (16:47.02) all swam just over a mile in under 17 minutes to win fourth, eighth and ninth in the 1,650-yard freestyle, respectively. 

With the season concluding, the swimmers and divers will have two weeks of rest, with more time to pursue out-of-pool ventures. 

Although it’s the last ever meet for the seniors, their lasting impact and inspiration on the team will live way beyond graduation. 

“Coming back to a locker room where the seniors aren’t in their spots will definitely hit hard for me,” Li told the News. “I know those relationships will last when the seniors graduate, but it will definitely be difficult to not have so many daily moments together,” Li said. 

There are seven seniors on the 2024-25 Yale women’s swim and dive roster. 

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Over the weekend, the Bulldogs hosted both teams for the highly anticipated HYP tri-meet among the top three-ranked teams in the Ivy League. 

The Elis started off strong on Friday, breaking three pool records: Noah Millard ’26 in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Charlie Egeland ’27 in the 100-yard breaststroke and Nick Finch ’28 in the 50-yard freestyle, each claiming first in their respective events.

The record-breaking streak for these three Bulldogs continued on Saturday with Millard in the 500-yard freestyle, Egeland in the 200-yard breaststroke and Finch in the 100-yard butterfly.

Reflecting on his own broken records as well as the team’s successes, Millard was proud of the team’s ability to come together to take on their two biggest rivals. 

“Overall the meet was incredibly exciting from a number of different perspectives. Of course on a personal level being able to break some long standing pool records was a nice reward, but on a wider team level, we got to put our training to the test against what has traditionally been the Ivy League’s top two teams over the last decade,” Millard wrote to the News. 

The Bulldogs showed some strong performances in the meet’s relays. In the 400-yard medley relay, Manoli Mountantonakis ’28, Egeland, Finch and Jake Wang ’28 finished second in 3:08.78. The quartet of Ben Meulemans ’25, Wang, Nareg Minassian ’26 and Mak Nurkic Kacapor ’27 came in third with a time of 1:18.43 in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Alexander Hazlett ’26, Lucius Brown ’26, Hammer Massey ’27 and Alex Deng ’25 took fifth in 1:21.26. 

In the 200-yard medley relay, the team of Brown, Egeland, Finch and Deniel Nankov ’27 finished second in 1:25.52, a mere one-hundredth of a second after the winning Princeton team. Mountantonakis, Hazlett, Elliot Lee ’28 and Meulemans came in fourth in 1:27.32. Nankov, Meulemans, Minassian and Millard finished second in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:53.56. 

Minassian was proud of the team’s efforts, notably defeating Harvard for the first time in 33 years. 

“HYP was a huge success for us. We haven’t beaten Harvard since 1992 and to do that yesterday was special,” Minassian wrote to the News on Sunday. 

The Bulldogs also dominated in the 1,000-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke, claiming the top two spots in each event. Millard finished first in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 8:54.17, followed closely by Arshak Hambardzumyan ’28  in second with a time of 8:56.88. Millard also took first in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:15.43 and Hambardzumyan second in 4:20.48. Egeland touched the wall first in the 100-yard breaststroke in 52.49, and Wang finished in 53.14.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Finch narrowly defeated Harvard’s Sonny Wang to take first place in 19.36. Meulemans and Nankov took fourth and fifth, respectively. Millard trailed Princeton’s Mitchell Schott in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing second in 1:34.95. 

Other notable performances included Egeland’s first-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke in 1:55.31 and Finch’s 100-yard butterfly time of 45.95, both of which broke pool records.

In the 200-yard individual medley, the Elis finished second, third and fourth. Wang in 1:45.99, Lee in 1:46.87 and Egeland in fourth in 1:47.32.

On the diving side, Jackson Lipscomb ’28 finished second in the three-meter dive with a score of 367.15. Nicholas Chau ’26, Ray Wipfli ’25 and Brady Stanton ’28, finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, with scores of 331.20, 312.20 and 290.10. 

As the Bulldogs finished their regular season, they now have their eyes on the Ivy League Championship and hope to defeat Princeton in a rematch.

“Everyone put their all into this meet, but now it’s time to focus on the end goal: Ivies. Being able to see all the hard work we have put in this season come to fruition is a huge confidence boost that will carry us through to Ivies,” Minassian wrote to the News. “Princeton is the team to beat, and I think it’s going to be a dog fight until the end. I’m excited.”

Millard echoed Minassian and looks forward to preparing for the Ivy League Championship.

“Being able to compete hard and race in front of the packed stands was really special, we had a ton of parents and friends come by to watch and having such a good outcome while sending off our seniors at their final home meet was a nice touch,” Millard wrote to the News. “We are super excited to get into the final stages of preparation for Ivy Champs and hopefully qualify some more people for NCAA Championships in March.” 

The Elis will travel to Providence, R.I. to compete in the Ivy League Championship on Wednesday, Feb. 19 through Saturday, Feb. 22. 

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Over the holiday weekend, the Bulldogs traveled to Ithaca, New York, to face off against the Big Red. In their sixth meet of the season and second of 2025, the Elis continued to dominate the competition, maintaining their first-place ranking in the Ivy League.

“The team has built a strong foundation with their focus and determination since the beginning of the school year,” Coach Jim Henry wrote to the News.

On Sunday, the divers took on the Big Red and won both the 1-meter dive and the 3-meter dive. Junior Nicholas Chau ’26 claimed first place with a score of 317.78 in the 1-meter dive, and first-year Jackson Lipscomb’s ’28 score of 328.58 in the 3-meter dive earned him first place. 

“The meet was a very exciting one with wins, new pool records, and contributions from both divers and swimmers,” Chau wrote to the News. “I feel like we’ve been building a lot of momentum being undefeated, which will help our confidence going into HYP.” 

The success continued for the Bulldogs on Monday with notable victories in the relays. Lucius Brown ’26, Charlie Egeland ’27, Nick Finch ’28 and Deniel Nankov ’27 clocked in first in the 200-yard medley with a time of 1:28.98. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Finch, Jake Wang ’28, Nareg Minassian ’26 and Noah Millard ’26 took first in 2:58.51.

Reflecting on the team’s performance, Minassian shared that it was a team effort, with each member playing an integral role in the Elis’ success.

“It was a great team effort win … and we had to fight for some wins,” Minassian wrote to the News. “We’re really happy with how the season has gone so far, staying undefeated … has us all excited going into HYP and Ivies.” 

In the individual events, sprinter Finch claimed first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 47.43. On the breaststroke side, Egeland won, touching the wall in 1:58.93. Nankov took first in the 100-yard freestyle in 44.84.

Millard and Arshak Hambardzumyan ’28 were strong performers on Monday, each claiming two individual first-place victories. Millard excelled in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:36.85 and the 200-yard backstroke in 1:44.24. Distance swimmer Hambardzumyan won the 1000-yard freestyle in 9:23.66 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:33.74.

Konstantinos Zachariadis ’27 is a proud member of this winning team.

“Another big win for the team … so happy to be part of it, and we are still undefeated this year. We are excited for HYP next week!” Zachariadis wrote to the News.

Captain Alex Deng ’25 echoed Zachariadis’ sentiment, expressing that he is pleased with the team’s performance thus far and eagerly anticipates the upcoming meets and the Ivy Championship. 

“The team is looking great coming off of the training trip. We are super excited for what is to come,” Deng wrote to the News. “We want to move up, and I think we have really made a name for ourselves this year.” 

As the team gears up for the highly anticipated HYP meet this weekend, Coach Henry says that they will continue training hard, hoping to secure two more victories. 

“Carrying the momentum created early into the HYP and Ivies meets will be crucial,” Henry wrote to the News. “We are confident their positivity and drive seen throughout the year will help tremendously as we look to move up at the upcoming championship season.” 

The Bulldogs will return to the Kiphuth Exhibition Pool on Friday, Jan. 31, and Saturday, Feb. 1, to honor the seniors before facing Harvard and Princeton in a tri-meet. 

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The Ohio State Invitational took place from Nov. 21 through Nov. 23, and the Buckeyes welcomed the Elis and eight other teams to compete: Cincinnati, Indiana, Louisville, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Penn State, Rutgers and the UCLA women’s team. 

The Bulldogs can use their successes in Columbus as momentum for the remainder of the season.

“Ohio was a great opportunity to see where we are as individuals, what we need to improve to help the team as much as possible in the second half of the season,” Konstantinos Zachariadis ’27 wrote to the News.

Day One: Thursday, Nov. 21

The highlight of the opening day was Jake Wang ’28, who broke a team record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:45.34. 

Alexander Hazlett ’26 came in 19th, followed by Charlie Egeland ’27 at 1:47.05 and 1:47.69, respectively. 

Noah Millard ’26 excelled in the 500-yard freestyle, placing first and clocking in at 4:11.29. Arshak Hambardzumyan ’28 finished 13th in 4:19.77. 

The Bulldogs also placed well in the relay race. Wang, Nick Finch ’28, Nareg Minassian ’26 and Deniel Nankov ’27 finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:17.55. The team of Mak Nurkic Kacapor ’27, Lucius Brown ’26, Alex Deng ’25 and Hazlett came in eighth, clocking in at 1:19.12. In the 400-yard medley relay, the squad of Millard, Egeland, Finch and Nankov finished in 3:07.53, putting them in fifth place. 

In the 50-yard freestyle, Finch placed tenth in 19.82, Nenkov came in 15th with a time of 19.68 and Minassian finished 18th in 19.87. 

On the diving side, Brady Stanton ’28 led the Bulldogs, placing 15th in the 1-meter board competition with his score of 275.3. Fellow first year Jackson Lipscomb ’28 scored 266.6 points, which put him in 18th place. Nicholas Chau ’26 followed closely, finishing two places behind, with a score of 258.6, and Ray Wipfli ’25 came in 28th with 197 points.  

Ending the day with a team total of 377.50 points, the Bulldogs were in fourth, with Penn State, Cincinnati, Northwestern and Notre Dame trailing behind. 

Day Two: Friday, Nov. 22

The highlights of the second day of competition included three broken team records. Egeland, Brown, Nankov and Finch broke the record in the men’s 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:24.98, putting them sixth overall. With a time of 45.50, Finch broke the record in the 100-yard butterfly. In the 200-yard freestyle, Millard’s time of 1:32.42 broke his own record and secured him third. 

Considering his own and the team’s record breaking achievements, Millard was proud of the team’s performance in Columbus. 

“The OSU meet was a great way for everyone on the team to give themselves a benchmark at the halfway point of the season, seeing the successes from their training thus far. It’s also a great opportunity to be compared against other high quality competitors and then to see how we can fine tune our skills in the next 12 weeks before Ivy Champs,” Millard wrote to the News. 

In addition to Millard’s record-breaking finish in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:32.85, Jose Cano ’26 came in 18th in 1:38.38, Nankov in 20th in 1:39.30 and Finn Henry ’26 came in 23rd in the C final. The Bulldogs performed well in the 400-yard individual medley. Jed Jones ’25 came in 16th in 3:50.93, Elliot Lee ’28 in 24th with 3:53.71 and Zachariadis in 30th in 4:02.07. 

Other impressive scores came from Egeland’s ninth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in 52.54, Wang in 11th with a score of 52.75 and Deng at his heels in 52.97, followed by Hazlett in 15th in 53.24, Minassian in 18th in 54.02 and Alex Brehm ’25 in 29th with a time of 54.82. In the 100-yard backstroke, first-year Manoli Mountantonakis ’28 came in 25th, touching the wall in 48.17; Kacapor’s time of 48.48 placed him 29th. The team of Millard, Jones, Wang and Egeland finished sixth in the 800-yard freestyle relay in 6:26.71. 

The Elis ended a long and successful day of swimming, maintaining their fourth-place spot. 

Day Three: Saturday, Nov. 23

The Bulldogs broke two more records on the final day of competition: Egeland in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:54.82 and Millard in the 1650-yard freestyle in 14:33.47. 

Millard’s record-breaking time and a first-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle was an NCAA “A” cut mark. Hambardzumyan placed seventh in 15:08.36, Cano in 18th in 15:30.26, Zachariadis in 22nd in 15:35.52 and Henry in 24th in 15:48.62. 

Many Elis posted impressive times in the 200-yard backstroke. Mountantonakis finished 14th in 1:44.56, Lee in 17th with a score of 1:45.93, Kacapor in twenty-fourth in 1:47.24, Jones in 26th in 1:48.40 and Lee rounding out the team in 29th in 1:50.97.  

In the 100-yard freestyle, Nankov’s time of 43.29 put him in eighth. Finch’s time of 43.33, only 0.04 seconds behind Nankov, helped him claim ninth, followed by Minassian in 15th with his time of 43.50, Brown in 25th in 44.44 and Kacapor in 29th, clocking in at 44.84. 

The 200-yard breaststroke put many Elis on the scoreboard. Egeland finished eighth in 1:55.09, Deng in 15th with a time of 1:57.36, Wang in 22nd in 1:57.74 and Brehm in 23rd in 1:59.04. In the 200-yard butterfly, Lee placed 17th in 1:48.40 and Hazlett in 21st in 1:46.66. Millard, Finch, Minassian and Nankov’s time of 2.51.65 in the 400-yard freestyle relay earned them fifth place. 

With a final team score of 1292.5, the Bulldogs ended the Invitational in fourth place.

Reflecting on the team’s wins over the three days, Zachariadis was proud of the team’s performance and looks forward to keeping up the momentum throughout the season. 

“This team can achieve great things and it is a pleasure to be part of it! There were some great swims and we are all excited for what is next!” Zachariadis wrote to the News. 

Millard echoed Zachariadis’ sentiment, expressing that he, too, anticipates the team’s upcoming meets as they continue to build on past successes.

“I’m super motivated after seeing how the team raced,” Millard wrote to the News. “We have a lot of exciting things developing and I can’t wait to see what will happen come our championship meet.”

The Elis will host Southern Connecticut on Wednesday, Dec. 4, and Thursday, Dec. 5, at Payne Whitney Gymnasium’s Kiphuth Exhibition Pool and head to Greensboro, North Carolina, for the U.S. Open from Wednesday, Dec. 4, through Saturday, Dec. 7. 

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“The team has done a great job staying together and being prepared to compete,” team coach Jim Henry told the News. “The team is resilient and ready to race at all times, and it shows.”

In preparation for the meeting, team members adopted various warm-up strategies. Some adjusted their bodies to swimming mode with a casual 500-1000-yard swim. Some, like backstroke swimmer Mabel Koff ’28, used music to “get into the zone.” 

Starting strong, the relay quartet of Devyn Sargent ’28, Jessey Li ’26, Alex Massey ’25 and Sara Plunkett ’27 took the first swim event of the meet by finishing the 200 medley relay with 1:41.40, their third win in the 200 medley this season. 

In diving, it was Hayden Henderson ’25 who prevailed in both the 1m and 3m events, with a double 300+ performance (301.95, 302.10). In the 1m dive, Lily Horenkamp ’26 (291.45) finished second, ahead of third place by over 30 points. The Bulldogs also swept the 3m dive, with Henderson, Grace Wu ’28 (289.95) and Horenkamp (261.83) taking the top 3 spots. 

Henderson emphasized the importance of “being in the moment,” with the mental aspect being a significant part of diving. 

“Before each dive, before I get on the board, … I’m focusing on that one dive and not on how others are doing, along with forgetting the dives I did before; those are in the past, I can’t do anything about them now,” Henderson said. 

Competing at an away meet didn’t stop the team from creating vivacious energy by cheering each other on and shouting signature chants. Koff told the news that she was impressed with the team, and she thought the Bulldogs “did a really great job with the energy.” 

“Bulldog Backstroke,” one of many famous hype chants of the swim team, delivered an enchanting performance, with Sargent, Quinn Murphy ’25 and Plunkett sweeping the top three spots of the 100 backstroke. In the 200 backstroke, it was Koff who touched the wall first with 1:59.14, taking her third win in the 200 back this season. 

“Everyone was super tough during the races. We got a lot of good hustle points, and seeing everyone work together at our first scored away meet was fun,” team captain Murphy said. 

Though the Lions took the 100 and 200 freestyle events, long distance was all Bulldogs, with Lilly Derivaux ’26 taking both the 500 and 1000 freestyle swims, edging out second place by just over half a second with 10:14.75 in the 1000 and finishing with exactly 5:00.00 in the 500. Yale also dominated in the 400 IM event, with Eunice Lee ’28 and Junseo Kim ’25 finishing within a second of each other (4:24.91, 4:25.89) to take the top two spots in that event. 

Several members of the winning 200 medley relay team also demonstrated a commanding performance in the individual events. Massey took both the 100 and 200 butterfly swim for the Bulldogs, finishing in 56.00 flat in the 100 and 2:02.76 in the 200. After swimming the breaststroke leg of the relay, Li also clinched the 100 breaststroke with 1:01.83. Both Massey’s 200 butterfly and Li’s 100 breaststroke times were more than two seconds faster than the runner-up. 

For their next meet, the swimmers will “suit up” for the first time this season by wearing a special swimsuit that will help reduce resistance in the pool. 

“I’m excited to see what we can do as a team and individually. Suited up and tapered, I think it’s going to be a great meet, and we’ll put up some great times,” Koff said. 

The Bulldogs will return to the pool for the Ohio Invitational from Nov. 21 to 23. 

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The Elis welcomed the Bears to Payne Whitney Gymnasium’s Kiphuth Exhibition Pool. As the first regular season meet for both teams, Yale and Brown sought to start their seasons on the right note and secure a win in the Ivy League conference.

The Bulldogs dominated throughout the meet, winning 14 of the 16 events for a total of 207 points.

After taking a year off from Yale for training and reclassing, Noah Millard ’26 was instrumental in the team’s success. He placed first in the 200 freestyle and helped his team defeat Brown in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. Millard’s greatest accomplishment of the day, though, was setting a new pool record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:44.88, which the team’s coach, Jim Henry, believes to be one of the major highlights of the day. 

“The Brown meet was an outstanding team performance top to bottom. …We showed grit & hustle from the beginning to the end of the meet,” Henry wrote to the News. “It is a great starting point for the team. A good foundation to build from as we head into next week.”

First-year swimmers put up impressive performances. Arshak Hambardzumyan ’28 placed first in the 1000 freestyle and 500 freestyle, clocking in at 9:19.34 and 4:30.79. Nick Finch ’28 carried the Bulldogs to victory in the 50 freestyle with a quick time of 19.14 and the 100 butterfly in 47.96. Jake Wang ’28 crushed the Bears in the 100 backstroke in 48.76. Elliot Lee ’28 secured the win in the 200 butterfly in 1:50.58. Manoli Mountantonakis ’28 placed third in the 100 and 200 backstroke contests.

Charlie Egeland ’27 and Deniel Nankov ’27 put the Elis on the scoreboard. Egeland placed first in 100 breaststroke in 54.08 and 200 breaststroke in 1:57.69, and Nankov won the 100 freestyle in 44.63.

The team kept up the momentum in the relays. Millard, team captain Alex Deng ’25, Finch and Nankov secured the victory in the 200 medley relay in 1:28.04. Wang, Egeland, Alex Hazlett ’26 and Ben Meulemans ’25 followed closely, finishing second in 1:28.87. The Bulldogs continued to rack up points, with Millard, Finch, Meulemans and Nankov winning the 400 freestyle relay in 2:57.60.

The Elis left fans cheering when they swept first, second and third places in the 200-yard butterfly; Lee came in first, clocking in at 1:50.58, followed by Konstantinos Zachariadis ’27 in 1:51.17 and Hazlett in 1:52.08; they also took the top three places in the 500 freestyle with Hambardzumyan finishing in 4:30.79, Jose Cano Figueroa ’26 in second with a time of 4:31.74 and Jed Jones ’25 third in 4:35.12.

On the diving side, Nicholas Chau ’26 placed first in the three-meter board competition with a score of 353.25; first years Brady Stanton ’28 and Jackson Lipscomb ’28 finished third and fifth, respectively, with scores of 317.25 and 283.88. Although the Bulldogs fell to Brown’s Rowland Lawver in the one-meter springboard, Chau claimed second place with a score of 327.53.

Team captain Deng is excited to keep up the momentum.

“Moving up in the Ivy League is the ultimate goal; for the last two years, we have gotten third, so seeing a second-place finish this year would be great,” Deng wrote to the News.

Deng was particularly impressed with the team’s performance in the Brown meet, noting that it is a meet the team always awaits with anticipation. In the last years, the meet went back and forth between the two teams.

Distance and flier swimmer Zachariadis, who is particularly excited about the Ivy League Championships, was also pleased with the team’s major victory over Brown in its first meet of the season. He added that the team “saw some standout performances that set the tone for what’s ahead.” 

As the season continues, Zachariadis looks forward to focusing “on fully enjoying the journey, embracing the challenges, and continually improving.” He thanked Yale fans and hopes they will come out to the Elis as they seek to accomplish their goals. 

According to Henry, the team looks to build on the success of the Brown meet as they prepare to face Columbia this Saturday. His primary goals for the season are to qualify more students for the NCAA Championships, improve the overall record and move up in the Ivy League Championship standings, as well as to grow together as a team.

As Deng kicks off his final season at Yale, he most looks forward to beating Columbia, as in his years at Yale, Columbia was the only team to beat the Bulldogs.

The team will face the Lions on Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Kiphuth Exhibition Pool at 1 p.m. 

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“We’re putting in lots of work, seldom resting prior to this meet,” distance swimmer Konstantinos Zachariadis ’27 told the News. “Even on the last day before the meet, on Friday, we still had an intense practice.” 

This year, the meet was held at Delaware, which meant the Bulldogs had to wake up early and commute to the event site. However, even after a five-hour journey, the Bulldogs still rose to the occasion. 

Alex Massey ’25 delivered an outstanding performance for the women’s swim team, being part of both the winning 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays. She also clinched first in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly events with times of 56.72 and 2:03.07, respectively.  

On the men’s swim side, it was the first year from London, Nicholas Finch ’28, who dominated the sprints, touching the wall first in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly events. 

Being a scrimmage, the meet was a non-team scored event, but nevertheless, with the same format as an official race, team members felt that the same spirited and enthusiastic atmosphere of a formal meet. 

“Everyone was really amped up to compete,” breaststroke and sprint freestyle swimmer Charlize Escasa ’27 told the News. “It was a combined meet, and we always love having the men’s team around; they bring this great aura of fierce competition and sportsmanship.”

Jake Wang ’28 touched the wall first in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2:02.83 mark. The Bulldogs racked up even more titles in the long-distance events. Yale swept the men’s 500-yard freestyle, with Arshak Hambardzumyan ’28, Charlie Egeland ’27 and Zachariadis finishing first, second and third, respectively. In the men’s 400-yard individual medley, the Elis were also dominant, with Elliot Lee ’28 and Jed Jones ’25 taking the top two spots. 

While the Bulldogs thrived in their specialized strokes, the meet was a great opportunity for athletes to try out new strokes and distances, as well. Zachariadis is primarily a long-distance freestyle swimmer, but he took home the first event win for the men’s team in the 200-yard butterfly event. 

The diving team displayed a dominating performance at the meet, winning three of the four events. On the women’s team, Lily Horenkamp ’26 prevailed in 3m diving and Hayden Henderson ’25 emerged victorious in the 1m. Men’s 3m diving was a sweep for Yale, with the Elis taking all of the top three spots. Jackson Lipscomb ’28, Brady Stanton ’28 and Ray Wipfli ’25 all put up scores of over 300 to finish in first, second and third place, respectively. 

In women’s swim, the Elis were superior in the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays, and several members of the winning relay quartets went on to prevail in their individual events. Jessey Li ’26, although primarily a breaststroke/IM swimmer, clinched two short-mid distance freestyle events for the Bulldogs, winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle swims. 

Devyn Sargent ’28 was on both winning relay teams, and her individual time of 1:59.56 was enough for first place in the 200-yard backstroke. 

The long-distance swims also went well for the Elis, with Eunice Lee ’28 taking the 400-yard individual medley swim and Caroline Riggs ’27 prevailing in the 1000-yard freestyle. Lilly Derivaux, who was also a part of the 400-yard freestyle relay group, won the 500-yard freestyle. 

“I’m just excited to have fun and make the most of these last meets with my teammates/team as well as see how all our hard work pays off,” said Junseo Kim ’25, a mid-long distance swimmer who has been on the swim team for all four years at Yale.

The women’s swimming and diving team will have their next meet on Nov. 1 against the University of Miami, and the men’s swimming and diving team will have their next meet on Nov. 8 against Brown.

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At the race, varsity swimmers and divers will split into two teams and compete in a variety of strokes, distances, and dives in a format similar to intercollegiate matches. In addition to determining which of Yale’s colors are superior, the Blue vs. White race is also a great opportunity to showcase the new recruits and highlight the current team’s strengths and weaknesses. 

“The kickoff is such a great event for team culture,” distance swimmer Konstantinos Zachariadis ’27 said. “I’m looking forward to seeing our current level, seeing where we can improve, and preparing for the season.” 

With diverse talents in all strokes and dives, as well as an impressive collection of titles, the Bulldogs start the season strong. 

Zachariadis hails from Greece, and his 53:28 time for the 5k qualified him to represent the country in international competitions. 

Although the Swim and Dive team had no official fall season meets before October, the Elis couldn’t wait to get in the pool. Seniors and team captains took the initiative and arranged practices for the rest of the group. The swim team has practiced up to three to four hours a day for six days a week for the past month. 

“Our coach said we had 92 percent attendance at captains’ practices, so I think we’ve been preparing really well,” recalled freestyle swimmer Morgan Cady ’28. 

Cady began competitive swimming at 13 and broke her high school’s 500m freestyle record, which had stood for almost 20 years, at the Colorado state meet last year.  

Butterfly and IM swimmer Junseo Kim ’25 recounted that she started to swim at 7 “to learn how to float in case of emergencies,” and is now both a four-time U.S. Nationals qualifier and a 2016 Olympic Trials qualifier. 

Though in her senior year, Kim still remembers the thrill she felt during her first Blue vs. White race at Yale. 

“There was so much new to me, but it was so much fun and there was lots of cheering,” Kim told the News. 

While practices and competitions can be physically taxing, multiple team members have attested to the necessity of mental fortitude. Divers are in the air for no more than a couple of seconds during their flips, which makes staying calm and composed all the more critical.

Nicholas Chau ’26 first discovered his love for diving during swimming practice, and years later, he finished in the top 10 in the USA diving nationals for juniors. 

He mentioned the “mental block” that divers often encounter when trying to learn a new dive, where their body is physically ready for the movement but their mind is still doubting. 

“It can be difficult to chuck yourself off a 10-feet high board and execute several flips with the risk of hitting the board or belly-flopping on the water,” said Chau. 

On the other end of the spectrum, long-distance swimmers may remain in the water for up to a mile or more, and the race can sometimes be, as Zachariadis puts it, “tough and lonely.” 

Though many of their competitions involve swimming or diving alone, when asked about their favorite aspect of the sport, many members pointed to the supportive and loving nature of the team. Even though swimming and diving are completely different in nature, the shared element of water ensures the harmony of the combined team.  

“We’re two different sports, but we’re one team, and we’re very good at meshing with each other,” said Chau.  

From cheering each other on during races and having each other’s backs when balancing training with academics, the Bulldogs have formed numerous tight-knit bonds. Several team members told the News that the Swim and Dive team was like “a second family to them.” 

Following the Blue vs White exhibition race, the Swim and Dive team will have their first collegiate meet of the season against the University of Massachusetts on Oct. 19. 

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