Results
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WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The University of New England women's swimming team received three event victories from Mic Hujus and one by the 400-free relay squad, and garnered both the Rookie Swimmer of the Year and Coaching Staff of the Year awards, on the way to a 4th-place showing out of 11 institutions at the 2025 Little East Conference (LEC) Swimming & Diving Championships, which concluded day four of competition on Sunday (Feb. 16) at the Boston Sports Institute.

Keene State College returned to the top of the standings after a rare runner-up finish in 2024, registering 779 points. Bridgewater State College came next at 704, and last year's winner, Eastern Connecticut State University, took third at 685. The Nor'easters (651) gained significant ground on the leaderboard compared to 2024, reducing what was a 272-point gap down to 128, even without scoring opportunities in the diving portion. UNE wound up with more than double the points of fifth place (305).

Through a vote by the conference coaches following the meet, Payton Walmsley earned LEC Rookie Swimmer of the Year distinction for 2024-25, making it back-to-back years for the Nor'easters in that category, after Hujus last season. Head coach Rick Hayes led the Coaching Staff of the Year selection, as UNE amassed 16 total medals, including all five relays -- up from nine in 2024, and five in 2023.

Hujus authored another dominant performance for UNE to bring her career total of solo 1st-place swims to six, and led four relays to medals. Individually, she opened by staking claim to the fastest race of the weekend, the 50-free, which she won by a whopping 1.10 seconds (24.58). Hujus then secured the 50-fly (26.51) and the 100-free (54.99) -- her prelims time in the 100 was actually 54.65, but she was still 0.75 ahead of the field in the finals. The results in the 50-back and 100-free were repeat wins.

Hujus anchored the 1st-place 400-free relay triumph (3:46.77) that closed out the competition, as Eloise Ring, Walmsley, and Adria Horton positioned the Nor'easters with an edge of 0.24 and 0.32 over the next closest groups through 300 yards. Hujus brought things home with a 54.17 split to win by 0.96 seconds.

Walmsley's first go at the LEC Championships included 2nd place in the 100-breast (1:09.80) -- only 0.18 off the pace -- and 3rd place in the 50-breast (32.03). She was also 5th in the 200-breast (2:39.55), while factoring in two of the other medal relays, as well.

Horton was on the podium for all three distance events, with 2nd place in both the 500-free (5:30.11) and 1650-free (19:03.54), and 3rd place in the 1000-free (11:31.04). She had won each race in 2024.

Annika Doeppers was narrowly behind Horton in the same three categories, including a 3rd-place effort in the 500-free (5:34.15). Doeppers, who had won the LEC 500 as a sophomore, also came in 4th in the 1650 (19:51.02) and 6th in the 1000 (11:43.11).

Maeve McDermott put forth a strong weekend, notching 2nd place in the 200-IM (2:19.04), 3rd place in the 100-IM (1:03.05; -0.57), and 4th in the 200-breast (2:39.41). During the 200-IM prelims, she added a new school record by clocking 2:18.55, which was 0.19 better than the previous mark from 2013.

Another UNE record fell in the 200-medley relay (1:52.75), as Hujus, Walmsley, Horton, and Ring shaved 1.94 seconds off the previous standard from 2012. The 200-medley group narrowly took 2nd place (-0.93), as did Liv Roux, Walmsley, Horton, and Hujus in the 400-medley relay (4:08.56), and also Horton, Elli Donovan, Ring, and Doeppers in the 800-freestyle relay (8:26.30).

The 200-free relay of Ari Cioffi, Ring, McDermott, and Hujus posted 1:43.89 to end up in 3rd place.

LEC all-conference honors for the season are reflected in top three finishing in events -- 1st Team, 2nd Team, and 3rd Team, respectively.

Other individuals to qualify for event finals:

• Roux, 4th in the 50-back (29.50), 4th in the 100-back (1:03.90), 6th in the 200-back (2:17.04)
• Tess Zurawski, 5th in the 100-back (1:04.87), 5th in the 200-back (2:16.75)
• Meghan Cabral, 6th in the 100-IM (1:06.97), 7th in the 100-breast (1:14.15)
• Ring, 7th in the 1000-free (11:47.87)
• Peyton Dion, 7th in the 50-breast (33.86)
• Cioffi, 8th in the 200-free (2:10.56)