Eight Mid-Major Swimmers Scored At The 2025 Women’s NCAA DI Championships

The 2024-25 college season has ended as the women’s and men’s NCAA Division I Championships took place over the last two weekends. As such, we here at SwimSwam are in a retrospective mode. Before the NCAA Championships, we highlighted the mid-major swimmers who made the big dance in Federal Way, Wash. 

Now, we’re looking back at the mid-major swimmers who scored at the NCAA Championships. If you’re unfamiliar with the term ‘mid-major’, it refers to the Division I conferences that are not among the Power Four. The ongoing carousel of conference realignment has resulted in some schools becoming mid-major when they once were in a Power conference, like Washington State, or vice versa, like SMU. 

Even with all the conference shuffling, there was an uptick in mid-major scoring at the NCAA Championships, so much so that this needed to be split into two articles where it was one last year. Last year, 11 mid-major swimmers scored across both the women’s and men’s championships, an increase from the 10 in 2023. This year, that number is up to 15 individual swimmers and a relay. 

This article focuses on the scoring female mid-major swimmers. The men’s article is forthcoming. 

Eight female mid-major swimmers scored points at this year’s NCAA Championship, up from five a year ago. Only two women from last year’s list also scored this season. Still, none of this year’s point scorers were freshmen. 

Southern Illinois — 17 points (30th)

Celia Pulido, Senior — 15 points

For the second straight year, Celia Pulido wins the women’s mid-major high point award. Last year, she was Southern Illinois’ breakout backstroke star, following in the footsteps of her former teammate Ruard Van Renen. 

This year, Pulido continued to impress in the backstrokes. She qualified for the women’s 100 backstroke championship final in a loaded field, lowering her mid-major record to 49.84. This marked her second career NCAA Championship ‘A’ final, as she also made it in the 100 backstroke last season. She improved further in finals, bringing the mark down to 49.77 for a fourth-place finish. No other mid-major woman has broken 51 seconds in the event.

Last year, Pulido was a two-time finalist, adding a ‘B’ final appearance in the 200 backstroke. She missed a second swim in the 200 backstroke this year, but still swam a season-best by .85 seconds, clocking 1:52.82. 

Olivia Herron, Junior — 2 points 

Olivia Herron, Credit: Jason Wang / Peak Images

This year, SIU’s breakout performer was a breaststroker, not a backstroker. Olivia Herron lit up the Missouri Valley Conference all season, breaking conference records multiple times across multiple events, including the 100 breast, 200 breast, 200 IM, and 400 IM. 

She qualified for her first NCAA Championships in the 100 breast, 200 breast, and 200 IM. On the final day of the meet, Herron dropped .74 seconds from her lifetime best in the 200 breaststroke. She clocked 2:08.39 in prelims, vaulting from 32nd seed to 14th.

Herron added slightly in the final (2:08.77) but still added two points to SIU’s total, helping them score the most points of any mid-major program. 

Washington State — 14 points (33rd) 

Emily Lundgren, Junior — 14 points 

Emily Lundgren (photo: Jack Spitser)

Junior Emily Lundgren scored all of Washington State’s 14 points. She was just one point behind Pulido for the title of female mid-major high point scorer now that Washington State is a mid-major school. 

Lundgren is no stranger to the NCAA Championships but this was still a strong performance for her. She earned the first ‘A’ final appearance of her career, clocking 2:06.83 in the 200 breaststroke prelims to qualify third. The field caught up to her in the final, but Lundgren improved too, swimming 2:06.18 for sixth. 

It was her second final swim of the meet. The day before, she made the 100 breaststroke ‘B’ final, finishing 16th overall after swimming a lifetime best 58.83 in prelims. Lundgren was the only female mid-major swimmer to make two finals this year. 

Princeton — 6 points (T-38th)

Eleanor Sun, Sophomore — 5 points 

Eleanor Sun, Credit: Jason Wang / Peak Images

A pair of sophomore IMers led the way for Princeton at these championships. The Tigers have consistently brought one of the largest mid-major squads to the NCAA Championships the past couple of seasons, helped by being one of the few female mid-major teams to qualify relays. 

This year, Princeton got on the board as Eleanor Sun and Dakota Tucker made the 400 IM ‘B” final. Sun qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400 IM last year, swimming 4:06.01 at the Big Al Invitational. She didn’t get near that time at the 2024 NCAA Championships, swimming 4:10.45 for 25th.

This year, Sun knocked six-hundredths off her lifetime best in prelims, swimming 4:06.01 and qualifying 13th. She moved up a spot in the final, taking 12th after swimming another lifetime best. Sun broke 4:06 for the first time with a 4:05.73, moving to 6th in the all-time mid-major rankings. 

Dakota Tucker, Sophomore — 1 point 

Sun wasn’t the only Tiger in the 400 IM ‘B’ final. Tucker also made her first NCAA Championship final, moving up from 30th last season. Tucker’s 4:07.07 prelims swim was a lifetime best, bettering the 4:07.22 she swam at last year’s Big Al Invitational. It also moved her into the top 10 on the mid-major swimmer rankings, giving the Tigers three women in the 400 IM top 10. Alicia Aemisegger holds the mid-major record at 4:02.47. 

Tucker added in the final, placing 16th (4:08.96) but still added another point to the Tigers’ overall haul. 

Ohio University — 6 points (T-38th) 

Zita Szoke, Sophomore — 6 points 

Zita Szoke (photo: Jack Spitser)

Where Princeton had two swimmers earn their six points, all of Ohio’s came from sophomore Zita Szoke. She’s had a strong season but came alive in the postseason, qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 50/100/200 freestyle for the second straight year. 

Last year, her best finish was 26th in the 100 freestyle. She’d already improved on that by Day Three of the meet by placing 20th in the 200 freestyle (1:44.54) but Szoke wasn’t done yet. 

She saved her best for last, clocking 47.63 in the 100 freestyle prelims, touching 13th overall and qualifying for the ‘B’ final. She knocked a hundredth off the swim in that final, swimming a new lifetime best and moving up two spots to 11th overall. The swim also moved her up to fourth on the mid-major rankings. 

Akron — 2 points (T-41st) 

Abby Daniel, Senior — 2 points 

Abby Daniel (photo: Jack Spitser)

The 2025 Women’s NCAA Championships marked Abby Daniel’s third appearance at the big dance. She scored her first points last season, earning two points from 16th-place finishes in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. 

This year, she matched that total with a ‘B’ final appearance in the women’s 100 butterfly. Daniel qualified 14th, swimming a lifetime best 51.21, making her the third-fastest mid-major woman in history. It’s the fastest swim we’ve seen from a mid-major swimmer in ten seasons since Denver’s Samantha Correa set the mid-major record at 50.86. 

Daniel finished 15th in the final, swimming 51.35 to equal her 2024 points haul and bring her career total to four. 

Fresno State — 1 point (43rd) 

Aliz Kalmar, Junior — 1 point

Aliz Kalmar (photo: Jack Spitser)

Aliz Kalmar made Fresno State history on the final day of the 2025 Women’s NCAA Championships. In her first NCAA Championship appearance, she became the first swimmer in program history to earn a final swim at the NCAA Championships.

Kalmar tied for 12th in the 200 breaststroke prelims. She swam a lifetime best and program record of 2:08.20 to accomplish the feat. Further, she moved into the mid-major top 10 in the event—a first for her and Fresno State (since we’ve been tracking). 

Later, Kalmar earned the first HM All-American honors in program history, placing 16 (2:09.17).