CASTINE--From facility records, to first-ever podium finishes at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships, to academic achievements, the Maine Maritime Academy men's and women's swimming & diving programs had a successful 2024-25 season by any measure. And upon further examination, one could also surmise it being a breakthrough year for the Mariners on multiple levels in this season review.

Historic Performances in the Pool
In its first season as an affiliate member of the more established Little East Conference in men's and women's swimming & diving, Maine Maritime shined at the LEC Championships held mid-February in Greater Boston. The Mariners were the men's runners-up with 764.50 points, while on the women's side MMA (305 points) climbed two spots to fifth to finish in the upper-echelon of the standings.

As a result, numerous MMA student-athletes earned All-LEC first-, second, or third-team recognition based on their performances. Senior Carson Trout and junior Oliver Cox headlined the honorees with major individual awards, as the former is the 2025 LEC Men's Swimmer of the Year and the latter is the 2025 LEC Men's Diver of the Year.

All-LEC winners included:

• Junior Rayelle Brewer: 200-Yard Freestyle (Second Team)
• Junior Aidan Burke: 50-Breaststroke (Third Team) 200-Breast (Third Team)
• Cox: 1-Meter Diving (First Team), 3-Meter Diving (First Team), 
• Sophomore John Driscoll: 50-Backstroke (First Team), 100-Back (Second Team)
• Freshman Nathaniel Gibbons: 500-Free (Third Team)
• Freshman Michael Ordonez: 1m Diving (Third Team)
• Trout: 100-Free (First Team), 50-Butterfly (First Team), 100-Fly (First Team)
• Junior Jay Creegan: 1000-Free (Third Team)
• Men's 200-Free Relay: Trout, senior Griffin Erb, junior Fox Fernald and Driscoll (Third Team)
• Men's 400-Free Relay: senior Aidan Walls, Driscoll, senior Ponce Saltysiak and Trout (Third Team)
• Men's 800-Free Relay: freshman Nathaniel Gibbons, Saltysiak, Creegan and Walls (Third Team)
• Men's 200-Medley Relay: Driscoll, Burke, senior Ryan Maher and Trout (Third Team)
• Men's 400-Medley Relay: Driscoll, Burke, Maher and Trout (Third Team)

The Mariners started the New Year after the holidays in style by setting facility records on the road. In a 168-80 victory at Plymouth State University on Jan. 9 in PSU Natatorium, the men set season highs for team points and margin of victory in a dual event. In the process, MMA captured 11 events including the 200-yard medley relay (Driscoll, Burke, Maher and Trout) in 1 minute and 43.96 and 100 butterfly (Maher) in 57.21 seconds for pool records. Then two days later at the University of New England, Trout established a facility benchmark in the 100-fly in 54.23 and the 200-free relay consisting Trout, Driscoll, Creegan and Maher had a top-ever Campus Center Pool time of 1: 33.15.

Trout, who ends his collegiate career with two Swimmer of the Year accolades in two different conferences and multiple school and pool records, said what made him the best version of himself is the joy he experiences every time he competes in the pool.

"One thing I found that helped me exceed was remembering why I swim. The 5 a.m. practices were not always easy to wake up for, but if I had a reason to go other than the coach telling me I needed it, that made it easier," he said. "Having a 'why' has been my biggest reason for improving, the team has always been there for support, and when I had forgotten my reason, they helped me remember and pushed me more than I could ever. Putting countless hours in and out of the pool training and pushing myself to be better is not something I could have done alone; the team is something that helps me build off to become better. Having a 'why' to be better and having people there to help means you can accomplish great things."

The schedule concluded with the ECAC Championships, where the men finished in 15th place (just one off last year's record tied for 14th out of 18 schools, with 20-points showing) with a program-record 63 points and the women were 21st. Senior Natasha Kopeck and Cox became the first Mariners to podium at this regional event.

Head coach Tony DeMuro stated: "The success of our divers this season has been a particular joy for me. The trio started with only remedial instruction from me, a swim coach by nature, and expanded into serious success in the pool. (Freshman) Michael Ordonez progressed every week of the year and has turned himself into a good college diver. Natasha is the reason we have a women's diving program, having had a background in gymnastics and an interest to try it. In only three seasons and with minimal coaching, she turned herself into one of the top competitors in the region, often beating more experienced divers and culminating in a medal at the ECAC Championships. In only two years of college diving, Oliver has gone from a raw talent with little experience to your Little East Diver of The Year, two-time conference champion and a podium finisher at the ECACs. To top it all off, all three swim as well to make their feats on the diving board even more impressive."

Kopeck added: "Starting (to dive) was the hardest part for me, but was also what ultimately brought me to where I am. There was no diving program before I began here at Maine Maritime, as making this a new sport to both me and the school a terrifying thought. Taking the first step forward and trying diving my sophomore year is ultimately what led me to an ECAC podium finish this winter. This year, I had the help and encouragement of my teammate Oliver, who graciously calculated what scores I would need to get from my dive list, brainstormed the more difficult dives I would need to perform, and encouraged me to strive for the seemingly unattainable goal of ECACs. Without that I would not have gotten to where I did. My first two years of diving, I spent building my foundation working on my hurdle, technique and other basics. This year, I particularly focused on pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying new skills to add difficulty to my foundation to bring my diving to a new level, allowing me to qualify and podium finish at ECACs."

Hitting the Books
Academically, Maine Maritime led the Little East with eight representatives on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® Women's and Men's Swimming & Diving Teams: Rayelle Brewer, Nicholas Been, Sage Dentremont, John Driscoll, Natasha Kopeck, Thomas Murray, Ponce Saltysiak and Liza Zhukov. Driscoll, Kopeck and Saltysiak were chosen by a special committee to advance to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot--giving MMA the only two men's nominees and the most national nominees (3) overall from the conference.

Twelve student athletes made the Little East Conference Winter 2024-25 All-Academic Team. This is in addition to the LEC Academic Honor Roll that was released at the end of January in which 22 Mariners were named after obtaining a fall semester 3.00 grade-point average or better.

In addition, the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association anointed the programs to its Scholar All-America team awards.

Building a Legacy
The 2025 men's and women's senior class of Been, Sawyer Carson, Dentremont, Erb, Kopeck, Maher, Saltysiak, Eva Schulz, Trout, Walls and Zhukov has combined for 17 first-team all-conference citations, scores of academic all-conference monikers and 24 school records during their Mariner careers.

"Our 11 seniors have been instrumental in the growth of our swimming and diving program. Each year has set a new standard for the year to come and they can all leave MMA knowing they were part of shaping a culture and a future of a team that they can all proud of," reflected DeMuro, who has been named a conference coach of the year five times, coached over 50 all-conference honorees including five "athletes of the year", and led the men's team to three North Atlantic Conference championships since he arrived in Castine for the 2019-20 season.

For Zhukov, she's proud of her fellow seniors helping set the tone for future classes to build on this season.

"The women arguably had one of our best seasons since the start of the program several years ago. The 13 of us may be small in numbers, but are big in competitiveness and hard work," she said. "With more meets scheduled this year and required doubles practices, the girls showed no weaknesses and persevered through all of the tough competition, sore muscles and exhaustion. Our successes were shown in the pool nearly every meet, with the girls cheering each other on and motivating one another from a mere dual meet to our championship in Boston. Each and every girl wore the anchor on the swimsuit proudly, making our presence and reputation well known. The program has grown in heart and speed since my freshman year, with the girls becoming closer with each other and the relays getting tougher and tougher for Coach Tony to decide on."

"Carson has been the model of what every coach wants in a college athlete. He is dedicated, tough, hard working, respectful, and most of all he is nice," DeMuro said about the pacesetter in the men's program. "His dedication to this program from Day 1 set the tone for everyone else and his results in the pool made other teams take notice. His culminated with Little East Swimmer of the Year, 12 MMA records, four Bok Pool records, four pool standards at other Institutions, and one Little East record."

"The most important thing that I will take away from my experience at MMA to my professional life is the importance of surrounding myself with people who will support me and help me to be the best parts of myself," added Kopeck.

DeMuro knows his seniors will be sorely missed but he also recognizes the program is set up for sustained success in the years to come.

"Between the men's and women's teams this year we set 17 team records, five pool Bok Pool records, three pool records at away meets and three Little East championship meet records. I'm incredibly proud of the success and growth of this team and I owe the 11 outgoing seniors a debt of gratitude for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to the program over the last four years," he concluded.

"This program is going to look very different next year and the void we will see in the pool will be matched in our loss of leadership. But this veteran group has shown the younger team members how to lead, how to work, and how to carry yourself, and the next group of leaders will be better off having worked with them."