Men's Swimming & Diving 1/17/2026 9:07:00 PM

Kowal Sets Career Wins Record, Swimming & Diving Teams Sweep Assumption

Kowal - photo: Jim Laskarzewski '86 / graphic: Jenna Devens '25

WORCESTER, Mass. - Saint Michael's College men's swimming & diving senior Rafael Kowal (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh/Alfred State) broke the school record for career individual wins while helping the men set a mark for season dual victories as the Purple Knight men and women swept Assumption University on Saturday at the Plourde Recreation Center. The men won 202-45, while the women earned a 163-93 triumph.

In just his third season as a Purple Knight, Kowal finished the day with 63 career individual wins after entering the meet tied with Connor Hopkins '20 for the record. The men's team won their school-record eighth dual meet of the season, eclipsing a mark previously set by the 2023-24 and 2024-25 squads.

MEN'S MEET
NOTES

Saint Michael's (8-2), Assumption (1-5)
Had set a school record with seven wins each of the past two seasons

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

Kowal, 4 wins
- 1st place: 200 medley relay (1:43.35), 100 backstroke (57.58), 200 backstroke (2:09.14), 200 individual medley (2:08.75)
- With career-high 22 individual wins, one short of Pierce Farrington's '15 11-year-old school record (23)
Sophomore Lucas Haynes (Holliston, Mass./Holliston), 4 wins
- 1st place: 200 freestyle (1:52.72), 100 freestyle (50.82), 100 butterfly (56.48), 200 freestyle relay (1:33.08)
Junior JJ Kane (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional), 2 wins
- 1st place: 200 medley relay (1:43.35), 200 freestyle relay (1:33.08)
First-year Robert Riccobon (West Hartford, Conn./Avon Old Farms School), 2 wins
- 1st place: 200 butterfly (2:04.16), 500 freestyle (5:14.16)
- 2nd place: 200 medley relay
Senior Ryan McCaffrey (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/George Washington), 1 win
- 1st place: 200 medley relay (1:43.35)
Senior Alex Meek (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex), 1 win
- 1st place: 200 freestyle relay (1:33.08)
- 2nd place: 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke
Senior Connor Quirbach (Lowell, Mass./Chelmsford), 1 win
- 1st place: 200 freestyle relay (1:33.08)
- 2nd place: 200 medley relay, 1,000 freestyle, 100 freestyle
Junior Cal Baird (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs), 1 win
- 1st place: 1,000 freestyle (10:51.58)
- 2nd place: 500 freestyle
Junior Hunter Daily (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan), 1 win
- 1st place: 200 medley relay (1:43.35)
- 2nd place: 200 freestyle, 200 breaststroke
Sophomore Dylan Reichl (Loudonville, N.Y./Shaker), 1 win
- 1st place: 100 breaststroke (1:05.29)
- 2nd place: 200 medley relay, 200 individual medley
Senior Ben Insley (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh)
- 2nd place: 200 medley relay, 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly
Junior Liam Jordan (Mendon, Mass./Wellesley)
- 2nd place: 100 breaststroke

WOMEN'S MEET
NOTES

Saint Michael's (8-2), Assumption (1-5)
Improved to 2-2 in the all-time series, defeating the Greyhounds for the first time since Jan. 31, 2009
Eighth win matches the 2017-18 team for the most since 1995-96

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

Junior Hannah Steen (Portsmouth, R.I./Portsmouth), 3 wins
- 1st place: 100 freestyle (57.72), 100 butterfly (1:05.08), 200 freestyle relay (1:47.19)
- 2nd place: 50 freestyle (trailed winner by 0.10 seconds)
- Recorded 38th career relay win, one short of Patty Kohn's '19 school record
Junior Ashley Meade (Belle Harbor, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy), 2 wins
- 1st place: 200 breaststroke (2:45.49), 200 freestyle relay (1:47.19)
- 2nd place: 100 breaststroke
Junior Madeline Waldt (Abingdon, Md./The Catholic High School of Baltimore), 2 wins
- 1st place: 1,000 freestyle (11:28.65), 500 freestyle (5:37.50)
- Tied Katie Mazurek '05 for 10th in program history in total career wins (68)
- Became seventh Purple Knight with 50 career individual wins (50)
- Tied for eighth in program history in total season wins (25)
Sophomore Mary Mongelli (Rockville, Md./Academy of the Holy Cross), 2 wins
- 1st place: 200 butterfly (2:28.20), 200 freestyle relay (1:47.19)
- 2nd place: 100 butterfly
First-year Olivia Larsen (Riverview, New Brunswick/Riverview), 2 wins
- 1st place: 100 backstroke (1:05.00), 200 backstroke (2:21.08)
Junior Ayden Walsh (Tallahassee, Fla./Creekside), 1 win
- 1st place: 200 freestyle (2:05.53)
- 2nd place: 200 individual medley, 100 freestyle
Sophomore Sydney McSweeney (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley), 1 win
- 1st place: 200 freestyle relay (1:47.19)
- 2nd place: 200 freestyle
- 15 relay wins this season tie Meade's two-year-old school record
Sophomore Shay Callanan (Shaftsbury, Vt./Mount Anthony Union)
- 2nd place: 1,000 freestyle
First-year Adriana Richardson (Ellsworth, Maine/Ellsworth)
- 2nd place: 200 breaststroke