Colorado College Makes History With Program's First Ever SCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Title

Colorado College Makes History With Program's First Ever SCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Title

GARLAND, Texas -- After taking the lead for the first time on Thursday, Colorado College cruised to the 2026 SCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Championship title which wrapped up Saturday evening at the Garland ISD Natatorium. Official Website | Saturday's Complete Results | Saturday's Diving Results | Complete Meet Results w/Team ScoresPhoto Gallery | Video Interviews Playlist | Diving Photos | All-SCAC Team

The conference championship, which was the first for the CC women's swimming program, was also historic in that it was by the largest margin in the 28-year history of the event. Colorado College finished with 1,032 points, out-distancing conference newcomer Asbury University who was second with 704 points. The 328-point margin was three points larger than the margin of victory achieved by the Trinity women at the 2023 championships. All told, CC swimmers and divers won 14 off the 15 individual events contested and four of the five relays.

The next three schools in the final team rankings achieved or equaled all-time best program finishes, led by University of the Ozarks, who posted its best-ever finish at third with 483 points. Austin College also achieved a program-best fourth place finish with 357 points, and Hendrix College, making its first SCAC appearance since the 2012 championships, equaled its best finish at fifth place and 284 points.

Rounding out the standings, Centenary College was sixth with 265 points, University of St. Thomas was seventh with 203 points and McMurry University finished eighth with 165 points.

Julia Cox of Colorado College was named the Swimmer-of-the-Meet as the sophomore earned individual titles in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free, and was also part of four of the Tigers' winning relay teams - the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays as well as the 400 medley relay. 

Diver-of-the-Meet honors went to junior Keller Pooley of Colorado College as she swept both the one and three-meter competitions, earning a NCAA 'B' cut on the low board.

The Colorado College coaching staff - led by head coach Jen Buffin along with assistant coaches Tarek Farouk, Adric Arndt, and Ellen Walker - earned SCAC Women's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors. The award marked the first time Buffin and her staff have been honored and the sixth time the program has been recognized on the women's side.

Pooley captured her second gold of the competition and her third career diving title at the conference meet, taking top honors on the 3-meter board on Saturday afternoon. She earned second in the event last year as a sophomore and third as a freshman. Pooley finished with a score of 405.85 and led wire-to-wire over Brianna Devlin of the University of the Ozarks, who earned silver with a score of 336.00. Hendrix College's EmJ Hubbard rounded out the top three with a mark of 323.85. 3-Meter Interview

In the evening session's first event, Colorado College freshman Annie Engstrom secured her second SCAC individual title of the meet, taking top honors in the 1650-yard freestyle in a time of 17:41.13 after taking first in the 500 free on Thursday. Engstrom's win marked the third victory for a CC swimmer in the 1,650 and the first since Emma Phillips won the second of her two titles in the event as a senior in 2024. She is the first CC woman to sweep the 500 and 1,650 at the same championship and the first woman in league history to do it since Trinity's Rebecca Andruzzi in 2015. Centenary College's Bailey Allemeier finished second with a time of 19:04.70 and Austin College's Joslyn Dimitri took third in 19:12.82. 1,650-Yard Freestyle Interview

CC's first-year Lucia Chapell picked up her second individual title in two days (she won the 100 back last evening) with her victory in the 200-yard backstroke, touching first in a time of 2:12.24. She is the ninth woman in SCAC championship history to sweep both the 100 and 200 back at the same meet and the second CC swimmer, joining former Tiger all-American Olivia Dilorati who accomplished the feat at the 2013 championship. Teammate and fellow freshman Lizzie McWilliams placed second in a time of 2:13.08 and University of the Ozarks' Jessie Wright was third in 2:15.67. 200-Yard Backstroke Interview

Julia Cox of Colorado College posted her third individual win of the championships with Saturday evening's win in the 100-yard freestyle. The victory completed her sweep of the 50 free, 100 free and the 200 free, making her just the fourth swimmer in SCAC history to sweep those three events, joining a trio of Trinity University standouts (Amy Benson - 2024 and 2025; Emma Hagen - 2023; and Lyida Jones - 2015). Cox touched first in a time of 51.75, and became just the third CC woman to win three events at the same meet (Kate Brush in 2023 and Ellen Silk in 2017). Teammates Sarah Buchman and Adeline Turner finished second and third, respectively, in times of 52.94 and 52.60. The all-conference sweep for the Tigers was just the fourth time teammates had finished 1-2-3 in the event and only the second time since 2001. 100-Yard Freestyle Interview

Colorado College's Isabella Cole earned her second individual title of the meet (she took the 100 breast last evening) with her victory in the 200-yard breaststroke. Touching first in a time of 2:26.91, Cole is just the third CC swimmer in program history to win the event and the first since Kate Guynn in 2017. Asbury's Addie Huebert placed second in a time of 2:30.94 and CC's Charlotte Flory finished third in a time of 2:31.32. 200-Yard Breaststroke Interview

Alyssa Tunggal made it clean sweep for Colorado College with first place finishes as the junior closed out the individual event portion of the meet with a victory in the 200-yard butterfly. Touching first in a time of 2:11.32, Tunggal picked up her first career victory after having finished second in the event last year and third as a freshman. She is the fourth different CC swimmer to earn gold in the 200 fly and the first since Kate Brush in 2023. Cece Werth of Hendrix finished second in 2:15.98, posting her third all-conference finish of the meet. Sophia Smith of Austin College took third in a time of 2:19.98. 200-Yard Butterfly Interview

The Colorado College quartet of Buchman, Megan Simonson, Turner and Cox ended the night with a runaway victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay as the Tigers touched in 3:29.34 - good for the eighth-fastest time in SCAC champoinship meet history and almost 10 seconds ahead of second place Asbury, who finished in 3:39.20. Austin College was third in 3:49.84. 

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