The Georgetown University men’s swimming and diving team captured their fifth consecutive Big East championship Feb. 21, taking home men’s most outstanding swimmer of the year, co-men’s coaching staff of the year and men’s diving coach of the year alongside the title. The Hoya men won by their largest margin yet, while the women recorded their highest points total to push past Xavier University into third place.
With their victory, the Georgetown men became the first team since 2004 to garner five consecutive Big East titles. Adding to the history books, sophomore freestyle and butterfly sprint specialist Owen Watkins became the first Hoya in program history to qualify for the NCAA championships, which will take place March 25-28 at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
Unlike a lot of other sports, in swimming — as is the case in track and field — an athlete must achieve a qualifying time to compete
at the NCAA championships. This season, the NCAA introduced a new policy for qualification in which an athlete must achieve a qualifying time and win their event at their conference championships to compete in the NCAA championships. After that, swimmers with the fastest times in the nation are invited to compete until a 322-athlete cap is reached across both swimming and diving.
Watkins was the only swimmer in the Big East to automatically qualify for the 2026 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, posting a time of 19.21 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle and a new program record, well below the 19.43-second qualifying standard.
Watkins competed in the maximum allowed seven events — three individual and four relays — and recorded first-place finishes in six of them, including his three individual events, and a second place finish in the seventh. He came out on top in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 back, while helping the team conquer the 200 medley (4 swimmers complete a 50 back, 50 fly, 50 breast and 50 free in that order), 200 free and 400 free relays and place second in the 400 medley relay.
The team came out hot on the first day of competition, as the joint relay effort of first-year Isaac Holtham, senior Bailey De Luise, junior Henry Haupt and Watkins captured the 200 medley, setting a new program record. The 800 free relay team of senior Conor Jellig, first-year Tre Cottrell, Holtham and junior Gabriel Gonda took first, setting the second program record of the day.
Senior diver Lizzy Durgin took home silver in the 3M dive, while the women’s 800 free relay team of senior Sophia Ribeiro, sophomore Kaitlin Lee, first-year Lila Connor and graduate Camille Weiss placed third to round out day one.
Day two saw junior Ronan Krauss and junior Taplin Seelback capture bronze in the men’s 500 free and women’s 50 free respectively, before Watkins put down his record-breaking performance. Junior Nico Santiago added the fourth medal of the day, bronze in the men’s 1M dive, before both the women’s and men’s 200 free relays set program records taking home the silver and gold respectively. Senior Hriday Parekh added another medal for diving with a bronze in the 3M.
Watkins started out day three strong, with a win and program record of 46.44 seconds in the 100 fly. First-year Heidi Wu added the second of nine medals for the day with a third-place finish in the 400 Individual Medley (100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast and 100 free). Cottrell captured second in the 200 free, before Georgetown swept the podium in the men’s 200 breast. Senior Nick Pezzella captured his second consecutive Big East gold in the event, while De Luise took silver and junior Michael Mostofi placed third to round out the podium.
First-year Daren Chen added another silver to the day in the 100 backstroke, before the Hoyas took home two more medals in the 400 medley relay. Wu, senior Angelica Reali, sophomore Bella Dimaculangan and junior Madeline Malone took home bronze in a new program record, while Holtham, Pezzella, Watkins and Cottrell captured silver.
Watkins set another program record, this time with a time of 42.61 seconds in the 100 free, to start day four with a gold. Wu took home another medal, finishing third in the 200 backstroke. In the men’s equivalent, Jellig captured bronze. Acting as the 400 free relay team, Holtham, Pezzella, Watkins and Chen took home gold with a time of 2:55.38 to round out the competition.
Georgetown Head Coach John Carroll (no relation to Georgetown’s founder) said he was thrilled with his team’s performance throughout the four-day event in his first year with the program.
“I am so impressed by our team’s grit and fire this week,” Carroll told Georgetown Athletics. “We battled every event, every race and showed the conference what Hoya Swimming & Diving is about.”
“Today was the fifth Big East title in a row for our men,” Carroll added. “Our women’s team scored its highest total in program history. The future for this program is extremely bright.”While last week’s event marks what has traditionally been the end of the Georgetown swimming and diving season, the season will carry on a few weeks longer for one individual. Watkins will represent the Hoyas in the NCAA championships for the first time ever, a historic feat no matter how he places.
Correction: This article was updated on March 12 to correct the number of events in which Owen Watkins competed, from six to seven.
