Women’s Swimming & Diving Season Recap

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina women's swimming and diving team wrapped up another successful season in the pool and diving wells after posting an 11-1 dual meet record and finishing fourth in the 2025 American Athletic Conference Championships. In all, the Pirates established 49 lifetime best and 107 season best times while posting 18 all-time Top 10 times/scores during the 2024-25 campaign.

"Our girls have had a fantastic season," ECU Head Coach Matthew Jabs said. "We swam very well overall at the 2025 AAC Conference Championships. Each setback we faced, we fought back and put our best foot forward. The team place does not reflect how well we swam/dove, and how much improvement was made this season. This championship meet was a complete team effort.

"The divers were great as well, highlighted by Frida Zuniga Guzman. She is amazing and set another conference record by dominating the platform event. Frida now holds two conference records. We have a special group and will only get better from here. A special thank you to our seniors who have been part of a significant transformation of the program starting in 2021. We are very proud of them and all their accomplishments.

"We are looking forward to competing at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships, and NCAA Zone Diving Meet in the coming weeks. We will also be waiting to see if we get any NCAA Championship invitations."

Three Records Set
During the regular season, ECU's 400 medley relay team that consisted of Carlie Clements, Kaylee Hamblin, Sara Kalawska and Heidi Bruining set the Minges pool record with a time of 3:47.24 against Liberty. The Pirates also set a pair or pool records at the Georgia Southern Tri-Meet with Bruining winning the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:52.02, while the 400 freestyle relay team (Clements, Mikayla Durkin, Laura Kellberg, Bruining) posted a time of 3:29.62.

NCAA Qualifiers
ECU had four members of its squad that were NCAA Qualifiers: Kaylee Hamblin in the 100 and 200 breaststroke ("B" Cut), Elena Dinehart in 200 backstroke ("B" Cut), Guzman in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform dives (Diving Zone Cuts) and Olivia Templeton in the 1-meter dive (Diving Zone Cuts).

AAC Championship Highlights
ECU tallied 1,177 points during the 2025 AAC Championships which were the most ever by the Pirates since joining the league in 2014-15. Guzman dominated on the platform dive establishing an AAC Championship and ECU record with 310.80 points and claiming top honors in the event. She was also a medalist in the 3-meter (second place/332.70) and 1-meter (third/285.60) dives, while Kaylee Hamblin earned a pair of second place finishes in the 100 (1:00.41) and 200 breaststrokes (2:11.72).

The Pirates 200 freestyle relay team (Clements, Durkin, Kellberg, Bruining) posted a time of 1:31.37 for a third-place finish. The 400 free relay squad (Durkin, Laura Lopez, Bruining, Clements) finished third with a time of 3:20.98, while the 800 free relay team (Emilee Hamblin, Sadie Covington, Clements, Bruining) also placed third with a time of 7:17.06.

All-Conference Performances/Championship Finalists
ECU had 15 all-conference performances during championship week with Bruining (200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays), Clements (200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays) and Guzman (1-meter, 3-meter, platform) leading the way with three each. Others on the week were Durkin (200 and 400 freestyle relays), Kaylee Hamblin (100 and 200 breaststrokes), Kellberg (200 freestyle relay) and Laura Lopez (400 freestyle relay). The Pirates had a combined 55 total finalists during the week, which were eight more than a year ago. In all, they had 14 A Finalists, 28 B Finalists and 13 C Finalists.

CSCAA National Invitational Championships Qualifiers
This year, Kaylee Hamblin qualified for the National Invitational Championships in three events participating in the 50, 100 and 200 backstrokes – all in the "A" Cuts. Others that qualified for the "B" Cuts are Meghan Armstrong (50 backstroke), Bruining (100 and 200 IM, 200 freestyle, 200 breaststroke), Alyana Carlson (100 and 200 backstroke), Clements (50 and 100 freestyle, 50 and 100 backstroke), Dinehart (100 and 200 IM, 100 and 200 backstroke), Durkin (50 and 100 freestyle), Emilee Hamblin (200 and 500 freestyle), Alyssa Heffelfinger (200 backstroke, 1650 freestyle), Ava Iannetta (100 and 200 butterfly), Kalawska (50, 100 and 200 butterfly) Sophie Knepper (200 backstroke), Laura Lopez (50, 100 and 200 backstroke) and Abbey Pickel (400 IM, 200 butterfly).

ECU All-Time Top 10 Performances From 2024-25 Season
Alayna Carlson: 200 Backstroke (third/1:59.09); 100 Backstroke (fourth/54.72)
Carlie Clements: 100 Backstroke (first/54.31); 50 Freestyle (t6th/22.97)
Elena Dinehart: 200 Backstroke (third/1:58/91)
Mikayla Durkin: 50 Freestyle (fifth/22.93); 100 Freestyle (eighth/50.45)
Frida Zuniga Guzman: Platform (first/310.80)
Emilee Hamblin: 200 Freestyle (fourth/1:47.91)
Kaylee Hamblin: 100 Breaststroke (first/59.70; 200 Breaststroke (second/2:11.72)
Alyssa Hefflefinger: 200 Backstroke (10th/2:00.42)
Ava Iannetta: 100 Butterfly (10th/54.93)
Sara Kalawska: 100 Butterfly (third/54.48); 200 Butterfly (seventh/2:00.37)
Sophie Knepper: 200 Backstroke (ninth/2:00.36)
Abbey Pickel: 400 IM (seventh/4:23.15)
Olivia Templeton: 1-Meter Dive (fifth/277.40)

Up Next For ECU
Guzman and Templeton will participate in the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in Auburn, Ala. which will be held from March 7-12, while swimmers Dinehart and Kaylee Hamblin are NCAA qualifiers and waiting to see if they are granted an invitation to the NCAA Championships (March 19-22) in Federal Way, Wash. Eight of the 14 Pirates (Bruining, Clements, Dinehart, Durkin, E. Hamblin, K. Hamblin, Kalawska and Lopez) will participate in the CSCAA National Invitational Championship in Ocala, Fla. (March 7-12).

Players Mentioned

Meghan Armstrong

Heidi Bruining

Alayna Carlson

Carlie Clements

Sadie Covington

Elena Dinehart

Mikayla Durkin

Emilee Hamblin

Kaylee Hamblin

Alyssa Heffelfinger

Ava Iannetta

Sara Kalawska

Laura Kellberg

Sophie Knepper

Laura Lopez

Abbey Pickel

Olivia Templeton

Frida Zuniga

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