DANVILLE, Ky. – Champions Hall is a fitting name for the home of Centre women's swimming & diving as the squad captured the programs second-ever Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Championship in that building on Saturday night. 
 
The Colonel women took the title with a tally of 1000 points. Rhodes finished second with 971.5 points and Sewanee finished third with 395 points. 

Centre's men's team earned a runner-up finish with a score of 952.5. Rhodes took the title with 1018 points and Berry rounded out the top three with 507.5. 

Senior Callie West earned the Women's High-Point Swimmer of the Meet while freshman Cate Coartney earned the Women's Newcomer of the Meet.  

West earned the 100th win of her collegiate career, a rare feat, in the 100 freestyle. Her winning time of 51.22 was a program record and an NCAA B cut. 

Coartney earned a win in the 200 butterfly to add to her major award. She touched the wall in 2:09.79. 

Olivia Headley picked up bronze in that race with a mark of 52.86. Claire Ackerman added a bronze of her own with a 2:26.97 time in the 200 breaststroke final. 

Sarah Feild picked up a silver in the 1650 freestyle thanks to her time of 18:01.03. Caroline Lee and Avery Gabbard nabbed medals in the 200 backstroke. Lee had a time of 2:07.12 which was good for second, while Gabbard's time of 2:08.64 placed her third. 

The final race of the night for the women was the 400 freestyle relay and the Colonels finished second. Katelynn Stanczyk, Lee, Headley, and West finished the relay in 3:32.31 to help secure the championship win. 

On the men's side, there were three major award winners. Avery Balch earned the Men's High-Point Diver honor, Brady Miller took home Men's Newcomer of the Year, and coach Woody Franklin was awarded Men's Dive Coach of the Year. 

Miller won the 1650 yard freestyle and his time of 15:39.90 set a school, conference, and meet record. That time was also good enough to earn an NCAA B cut. His time at the 1000 mark (9:24.45) was a new school record as well. 

Avery Balch earned the three-meter diving championship with a final tally of 528.50. The senior swept the diving events in his final SAA Championships appearance and first with Centre after spending the rest of his career with the Panthers of Birmingham-Southern. 

Tiernan Moore added to the records for the men with a record-breaking time of 2:00.00 in the 200 breaststroke. That time was also a NCAA B cut mark. 

Xavier Moore finished third in the 100 freestyle with a mark of 46.41 to earn himself some silver. 

The men finished the night with a third place showing in the 400 freestyle relay. Wyatt Fulton, Ben Webster, Dustin Niebauer, and Xavier Moore earned the silver with a time of 3:08.50. 

FRIDAY RECAP
Two titles and a host of school and meet records fell as Centre swimming & diving took on the third day of the 2025 Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Swimming & Diving Championships inside Champions Hall. 
 
The Colonel women moved into the lead after two days in second. Centre leads Rhodes 701 to 692.5 at the end of the penultimate day. The Colonels' men's contingent sits in second behind the Lynx of Rhodes. The Rhodes men have 681.5 points to the Centre men's 620.5. 

Senior Callie West continued to impress in her final SAA Championship. The Lexington, Ky. native won the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.36. That mark set a new meet record and program record. West also locked down an NCAA B cut. 

Freshman Cate Coartney earned a silver medal in the 400 IM with a time of 4:40.28 in the final. Two medals were earned in the 100 backstroke. Caroline Lee finished second with a time of 57.49 while Ava Fears followed behind in 58.98. 

The 400 medley relay secured another silver for the Gold & White. Avery Gabbard, Parker Reily, Claire Ackerman, and Katelynn Stanczyk teamed up for a time of 3:59.24.  

In the lone diving event of the day, Sara Jean Postle earned third. The freshman scored 326.00 points in the three-meter dive. 

Tiernan Moore, of the men's team, broke the program record for the 100 breaststroke twice. His preliminary time of 55.38 broke the record and then his winning finals time of 54.49 earned him a meet record and an NCAA B cut.  

Brady Miller earned another program record with the third place finish in the 200 freestyle. The freshman earned the honor with a time of 1:41.19.  

The final record-breaking performance for the men's squad was earned in the 400 medley relay. Dustin Niebauer, Tiernan Moore, Hunter Crain, and Wyatt Fulton notched a time of 3:23.43 in the consolation final. 

THURSDAY RECAP
Centre swimming & diving had three Colonels win championships during the second day of the 2025 Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Swimming & Diving Championships inside Champions Hall.

The Centre women remained in second after two full days of action with Rhodes leading the way with 361.50 points and the Colonels sitting at 344. The Centre men also sit in second with 357.50 points, behind Rhodes with 360.50, with two days remaining in the meet. 

Freshman Brady Miller won his first ever SAA Championship with a record-breaking 500 freestyle win. He touched the wall first in 4:29.87 to earn the gold medal and an NCAA B cut. 

Avery Balch won the other championship for the men. Avery Balch scored 468.45 in the one-meter dive to take the title. Centre rounded out the top four with Garret George in second (463.15), Justin Toth in third (463.05), and Brandon Anderson (452.50) in fourth. 

Tiernan Moore earned a silver medal in the 200 IM with a time of 1:53.58. The last top three finish for the Colonel men came in the 200 freestyle relay. Wyatt Fulton, Jackson Campbell, Dustin Niebauer, and Xavier Moore took third in 1:24.34. 

Callie West won a title for the Centre women in the 50 freestyle, an event she already held the meet record in, with a time of 23.57. The time earned her an NCAA B cut. 

Two Colonels followed West in that freestyle race as Olivia Headley touched the wall second (23.79) and Caroline Lee (23.86) came in third. 

Katelynn Stanczyk picked up a bronze medal in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:13.31. 

The women ended the night with a silver in the 200 freestyle relay. The squad of West, Lee, Caroline Short, and Headley notched a time of 1:35.59. 

WEDNESDAY RECAP
Centre swimming & diving had a solid day and saw a record fall to open the 2025 Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Swimming & Diving Championships, which are being hosted inside Champions Hall for the first time. 
 
The Colonel women trail leading Rhodes College by just four points after the first day of action while the Centre men trail the leading Lynx by 18 points.  

It was the women's side that saw a record fall. In the first A final of the night, the women's 200 medley relay, Avery Gabbard, Natalie Cox, Callie West, and Olivia Headley took second with a program record time of 1:45.33. The top two times in the race beat the previous meet record. 

The women tallied another second-place finish in the 800 freestyle relay. Katelynn Stanczyk, Headley, Gabbard, and Cate Coartney teamed up to touch the wall second in 7:43.89. 

Erin Dannemiller was the top Colonel in the women's one-meter dive with a score of 373.65 that placed her second. Sara Jean Postle rounded out the Centre contingent in the top five with a 315.40 to take fifth. 

The men opened the night with a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Dustin Niebauer, Tiernan Moore, Hunter Crain, and Jackson Campbell finished the event in 1:32.12. 

It was a third-place finish for the Centre men in the next relay. The squad of Brady Miller, Ben Webster, Jake Holmes, and Wyatt Fulton tallied a time of 6:52.95 in the 800 freestyle relay. 

UP NEXT  
The NCAA Swimming & Diving Championship are up next for the Colonels who qualified. That meet will be contested March 19-22 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C. Diving Midwest/South/West regionals will be hosted at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.