Coming off an impressive showing last year, the Georgetown University swimming and diving team is gearing up for their first meet of the season, the Potomac Relays, this Friday, Sept. 27. The Hoyas are returning as three-time consecutive Big East champions on the men’s side and third-place Big East finishers on the women’s side. 

This year, the swimming and diving team is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the men’s program and the 50th anniversary of the women’s program. 

At last year’s Potomac Relays, both men’s and women’s diving Hoyas took first place, a result the teams hope to repeat. The diving portion of the meet is slated to take place at Georgetown University in the McCarthy Pool, while the swimming portion of the meet, being a relay-only format, will be held at nearby American University. 

Last season’s team saw 25 indiv

idual Hoyas earn all-Big East honors after placing in the top three in their respective events at the 2024 Big East championship. As a team, the Hoyas earned the most combined honors of any Big East program, with Georgetown athletes placing in the top three in 32 distinct events. 

Of last year’s 11 female honorees, seven return this year while 12 out of 14 male honorees return. Among those returning are sophomore diver Nico Santiago, who won the three-meter diving finals in 2024, senior swimmer Jack Januario, who placed first in both the 500-yard freestyle and 400 individual medley, senior swimmer John McEachern, who captured first place in the 100 backstroke and sophomore swimmer Madeline Malone, who was a part of the 400 freestyle relay that also captured gold at last season’s Big East championship.  

Along with these valuable veteran athletes, the Hoyas are welcoming 17 new members to the swimming and diving squad. These newcomers include 14 first-years, one transfer student and two graduate transfers. The first-year class boasts a wide range of state champions and qualifiers, sectional and conference champions, zone and junior nationals qualifiers and competitors, All-Americans, high school team captains and high school team record holders across both the swimming and diving disciplines. 

First-year Troy Keen joins the Hoyas as a three-time North Carolina state champion and North Carolina state record

 holder in the 50 butterfly leg of his high school’s 200 medley relay. Hailing from New York, first-year Bella Dimaculangan joins the Georgetown swimming and diving program. Dimaculangan is a county champion in the 200-yard IM and a state finalist in the 100 breaststroke.

First-year Pennsylvania diver Brendan Hodgens’s accolades include being named a four-time AAU diving all-American and a three-time USA diving zones qualifier. Another notable newcomer to the Hoyas is California’s Payton Smith, a two-time state qualifier in the 500 freestyle and a section qualifier and league champion.  

Experienced collegiate athlete additions to the Georgetown swimming and diving team consist of graduate transfers Ryan Mathis from Boston College and Tyler Knightly from Amherst. Sophomore transfer Ben Tunila is also set to join the Hoyas coming off a successful first collegiate season at Villanova where he placed third in the 400 IM at the Big East championship. Tunila will add to the strength of Georgetown’s long-distance individual medley swimmers, joining senior Jack Januario who took the gold in last season’s 400 IM final. 

Ben Tunila also joins his brother, first-year Wilson Tunila, on the team and his cousin, senior Jack Brearton, who has earned all-Big East honors and Big East Men’s athlete of the week accolades. In addition to the 17 student-athlete newcomers this season, the Hoyas are welcoming a new diving coach, Meg Tomayko, to the team. Tomayko was the head diving coach at The Catholic University of America from 2020 to 2022 and more recently a diving coach at West Virginia University from 2022 to 2024. 

Tomayko joins a coaching staff that last season was named men’s coaching staff of the year by the Big East. The swimming and diving program, led by Head Coach Jack Leavitt, was also recently named Georgetown coaching staff of the year.

With a host of talented returning swimmers and divers, notable newcomer student-athletes and an award-winning coaching staff, the Hoyas are set to begin their season this weekend. The Hoyas have meets throughout the fall leading into winter that will finish off with the Big East championship the last week of February taking place in Geneva, Ohio.