Over the course of four days this past week, the Case Western Reserve University swimming and diving teams competed in the 2025 NCAA Championships. The Championships, which occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina, from March 19-22, saw the Spartans achieve numerous accolades, including—but are not limited to—dozens of All-America honors and several podium finishes. The CWRU men’s team earned its best finish at the championships in 27 years, and the women’s team achieved its fifth-best all-time finish.
Undoubtedly one of the most successful Spartans at the meet was fourth-year diver Abigail Wilkov. She achieved the national runner-up position in the 1-meter and 3-meter dive contests, with scores of 470.75 and 501.65, respectively. With these finishes, Wilkov became only the second-ever member of the CWRU women’s swimming and diving team to record two top-two finishes within the span of not just a championship, but also their career. In addition, the 1-meter board finish marked the best national finish by a Spartan since Lauren Preyss finished in second place in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2007 championships.
“My events went better than I could have ever imagined,” Wilkov said. “I never thought I would be the DIII national runner-up on either board.”
With the addition of these two runner-up positions at this year’s championships, Wilkov finished her collegiate career with six All-America First Team selections, the third most in the history of the women’s swimming and diving program. In total, Wilkov achieved seven career All-America honors—tied for the ninth most in program history with fourth-year swimmer Gabriella Chambers.
In addition to Wilkov and Chambers, all six other Spartans on the women’s team who competed at the Championships achieved All-America honors. This group consists of fourth-years Angeli Paull, Kate Menzer and Simone Vale, third-years Claire Kozma and Eliza Dixon and second-year Maggie Rose Rook. Chambers, Paull, Menzer and Kozma all earned All-America Second Team honors with a 15th-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:25.75. Dixon and Vale earned their honors in the 200-yard freestyle relay with teammates Chambers and Kozma, finishing in 12th place with a time of 1:33.53. Rook swam in the timed finals of the 800-yard freestyle relay together with Kozma, Paull and Chambers; the quartet combined for a 7:32.06 time and 14th-place finish, in addition to an All-America Second Team honor.
Similar successes were seen on the men’s team, with numerous swimmers achieving various accolades. Perhaps the most notable of these swimmers is fourth-year Peter Meng: Over the duration of the championships (and his very last collegiate event), Meng totaled four All-America honors—the most by any Spartan on the men’s team at the championships since Jon Gellin achieved five in 2002—in addition to breaking numerous school records.
“Surprisingly, I felt very calm going into my events this year,” Meng said. “I originally thought I’d be more emotional or overwhelmed since it was my last collegiate competition, but at the end of the day, this is something I’ve done countless times before. I was just motivated to give it everything I had one last time and leave it all in the pool.”
On the first day of the championships, Meng placed 16th in the consolation final of the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:49.67; he broke his own school record in the event’s preliminary with a time of 1:48.71, breaking the time of 1:48.96 set at the 2024 UAA Championships. This finish was the best in the event for a Spartan since Guy Genin’s 16th-place finish in 1990—Meng was also the first Spartan to achieve an All-America honor in the event since Genin.
Subsequently, on day two, Meng would achieve a 15th-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley with a consolation final time of 3:57.45; after previously achieving an All-America honor in this event last year, Meng became the first Spartan to earn multiple such honors in the event, again joining the likes of Genin following his streak from 1989-1991. Come day three, Meng competed in the 800-yard freestyle relay with his teammates third-years John Drumm and Mason Bencurik and fellow fourth-year Griffin Gushman. The group finished 15th in the event (6:42.91), earning All-America honors for all four. Meng picked up his fifth career All-America honor, Drumm earned his third career All-America selection (and second of the championship), while Bencurik and Gushman achieved such honors for the first time in their collegiate careers.
On the final day, Meng recorded a ninth-place, 15:40.90 finish in the timed final of the 1650-yard freestyle. This finish gave him an All-America Second Team honor, his second consecutive one after a 14th-place finish last season. Yet again, Meng set school records, becoming the second-ever Spartan on the men’s team to earn multiple All-America honors in this event and achieving the best ever finish for CWRU in this event since Steve Pohnert’s seventh-place finish in 1992. With six All-America honors to his name by the end of the championships, Meng achieved the sixth most such honors in the history of the men’s swimming program.
With the championships marking the end of his collegiate career, Meng and Wilkov reflected on their journeys and the support that helped make them possible.
“It’s an honor to have been a part of this sport for so long, and it feels like an amazing way to cap off such a long journey,” Meng stated. “I couldn’t have come this far without the support of my family, friends, and the incredible coaches I’ve had throughout my career.”
Like Meng, Wilkov shared her success with her teammates and coaches.
“I am beyond grateful to my teammates, coaches and the CWRU Athletics community for my experiences over the past 4 years. None of my accomplishments could have been possible without them,” she said.