Klimaszewski Smashing 15-Year-Old BIG EAST Record Highlights Penultimate Night of BIG EAST Champs

GENEVA, Oh. – After even more broken records, the Seton Hall men's swimming and diving team wrapped up the third day of competition at the 2025 BIG EAST Championships on Wednesday night at Spire Academy.

Diving
After a tightly contested preliminary session, Nick Graham, Trevor Post and Quinn Murtha found themselves in a battle for the BIG EAST one-meter board crown. Graham and Murtha came out and applied early pressure on the field, but Post slowly began assembling a collection of dives that would push himself up the leaderboard.

The storms outside Spire couldn't quell the one that raged inside ⛈️#HALLin🔵⚪️ │ #BIGEAST pic.twitter.com/atz1dfF1B4
— Seton Hall Swimming & Diving (@SHUSwimDive) February 27, 2025

As it poured outside, mother nature's level of aggression bled into the tightly-contested final. Despite complicating circumstances, Graham nearly pulled off the overall victory. He fell just short however, having to settle for second place with a score of 329.85. Post and Murtha secured third and fifth place with scores of 326.80 & 317.30, respectively.

Swimming
Finals began in explosive fashion for the Pirates as Michael Klimaszewski readied himself to defend his back-to-back 100 butterfly titles. The London, England, native dove into the pool and immediately nudged ahead thanks to strong underwaters. With a two-tenth lead at the halfway point and superior turns, Kilmaszewski brought home the title with a time of 46.15. That time was not only a Seton Hall school record, but also broke the 15-year-old BIG EAST record set by Cincinnati's Josh Schneider in 2010.

The King Remains on the Throne 👑👑👑#HALLin🔵⚪️ │ #BIGEAST pic.twitter.com/bxkHHYGsoU
— Seton Hall Swimming & Diving (@SHUSwimDive) February 27, 2025

With four Pirates in the 200 Freestyle final, statistically the odds were in the Pirates favor to win the heat based on purely numbers. Purely numbers, however, did not account for Kevin Cary, Toma Adam, Jaden Bunt and Clil Halevi. After the first 50 yards, Adam paced the field and appeared ready to stick with the swimmers in the center of the pool. Slowly, however, the race quickly centered around Cary. After finding extra speed in the back half of the race, the junior opened up a half second gap to secure the Pirates' second BIG EAST title of the night. With his time of 1:36.04, Cary broke the school record in the event by just under two-tenths.

Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat 🥲#HALLin🔵⚪️ │ #BIGEAST pic.twitter.com/3ClbUrR7nd
— Seton Hall Swimming & Diving (@SHUSwimDive) February 27, 2025

As the lone man in the 100 breaststroke final for the Pirates, an ascendant Evan Wilson appeared poised for another strong result in his breakthrough BIG EAST campaign. After fighting with the leader at the halfway point, however, the pure breaststrokers proved to be too much for the freshman. Wilson touched the wall with time of 54.89

In the final individual event of the night, the 100 backstroke, the Pirates secured three spots in the A final in addition to two in the B final. Balint Marosi, Chris Jackson and Ethan Shonk jumped in the water in search of key points in the evolving BIG EAST title battle. Despite falling behind in the opening 50 yards, Marosi clawed himself into a position to win the event at the wall. He fell just short, however, finishing second with a time of 54.81.

With the night ending on the 400 medley relay, the Pirates once again had another chance to claim a relay win and break a school record. Marosi, Wilson Klimaszewski and Cary tried to do both, but ended up unsuccessful. The Pirates came in second place behind Xavier with a time of 3:13.60, half-a-second of the current record.

Heading into the final day of competition, the Pirates find themselves in second place with 527 points overall.

Georgetown – 594 points
Seton Hall – 527
Xavier – 465
Villanova – 391
Providence – 179

What's Next
The Pirates return to action on Thursday for Day Four of the BIG EAST Championships. Events include the 1650 Free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, and 400 freestyle relay.