CANTON, Ohio — The Davis & Elkins College men's and women's swimming teams closed out the 2026 Mountain East Conference/Great Midwest Athletic Conference Swimming Championships on Friday with strong finals performances, highlighted by multiple school records and a Mountain East Conference championship for the men's program.
During Friday morning preliminaries, Julianne Hobson qualified 12th in the women's 100-yard freestyle, while Savannah Foley placed 20th and Daphne McCann finished 25th.
In the men's 100-yard freestyle, Jan Spehar qualified fifth and Gustavo Queiroz advanced in 12th.
In the women's 200-yard backstroke, Lauren Lockwood placed 11th, McCann finished 19th, Emma Andrews placed 22nd, and Alyson Schaefer advanced in 24th.
On the men's side in the 200-yard backstroke, Payton Williamson qualified second, while Spencer Willey placed 18th.
Anikka Peterson qualified 23rd in the women's 200-yard breaststroke.
In the men's 200-yard breaststroke, Leonardo Oshiro placed second while breaking the school record, timing in at 2:03.21. Lasse Schrieken qualified fifth, Charlie Whitsed advanced in ninth, and Tommaso Tofani placed 10th.
In the evening finals, Grace Janas placed 17th in the women's 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 19:49.35, earning nine points. Foley finished 21st in 20:49.79 to score four points, while Riley McGaughan placed 23rd in 21:18.75 for two points and Caidence Reece added one point in 24th.
In the men's 1,650-yard freestyle, Leonardo Vallerini placed fifth in 17:04.10 to earn 25 points, while Gabriel Machala finished 20th in 19:16.58 for five points.
Hobson led the women in the 100-yard freestyle finals, placing 12th in 54.24 to earn 15 points, while Foley finished 20th in 55.31 for five points.
Spehar placed sixth in the men's 100-yard freestyle finals in 45.99 to earn 24 points. Queiroz followed in 11th in the B final with a time of 46.95 to score 16 points.
Lockwood paced the women in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing ninth in the B final in 2:13.52 to earn 20 points. McCann placed 17th in the C final in 2:16.08 for nine points, Andrews finished 22nd in 2:27.98 to score two points, and Schaefer placed 24th in 2:46.73 for one point.
Williamson highlighted the men's 200-yard backstroke by setting a new school record and placing second in 1:51.55 to earn 28 points. Willey finished 22nd in 2:07.74 for three points.
Peterson placed 20th in the women's 200-yard breaststroke in 2:38.63 to score five points, while Courtney Luikart finished 23rd in 2:41.97 to earn two points.
Oshiro led the men in the 200-yard breaststroke finals, placing third in 2:03.91 to earn 27 points. Schrieken followed in sixth in 2:08.50 for 24 points, Whitsed finished ninth in the B final in 2:07.15 to score 20 points, and Tofani placed 13th in 2:13.55 to add 14 points.
The championships concluded with relay events. The men's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Vallerini, Schrieken, Queiroz and Spehar placed third in 3:06.84, earning 54 points.
On the women's side, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Foley, Lockwood, Hobson and McCann set a new school record while placing seventh in 3:40.72 to score 46 points.
Following the final day of competition, the D&E women moved up to seventh place in the team standings with 412 points, finishing fourth among Mountain East Conference programs. The men placed third overall with 933.5 points and captured the Mountain East Conference championship, finishing ahead of all MEC institutions.
