Courtesy of @connswimdive
In record-breaking fashion, Connecticut College men’s swim and dive swimmer Justin Finkel ‘25 completed his historic season at the NCAA DIII Swimming & Diving Championships this past weekend in Greensboro, NC. The Cheshire, Conn. native won national titles in the 500 freestyle and the 200 butterfly and finished fourth in the 200 freestyle.
Prior to the Championships, Finkel performed strongly at the NESCAC Conference Meet. At NESCACs, Finkel successfully defended all three of his titles from last year, winning the 500 freestyle, the 200 freestyle, and the 200 butterfly. In both the 500 free and the 200 fly, Finkel set meet and pool records. As a result of his impressive performances, Finkel was named NESCAC Swimmer of the Year for the second year in a row.
Finkel qualified for the NCAA Championships in three events by way of obtaining the necessary minimum times for the championship meet. Heading into the meet, Finkel held the nation’s fastest times in the 500 and 200 freestyle events and ranked second in the 200 butterfly.
At 10 a.m of Wednesday, March 20, Finkel began his championship meet by finishing with the top time in the prelims of the 500 freestyle. Having finished second in the event last year, Finkel qualified for the finals of the event this year by virtue of finishing in the top eight of the prelims. At 6 p.m. of the same day, Finkel bettered his prelim time by finishing in a school-record and meet-record time of 4:21.32 and finishing first. Featuring six of the same swimmers Finkel had competed against in the morning prelim, the Conn swimmer sat in fifth at the midway point and a sizable distance behind Brandeis swimmer Samuel Dienstag. However, Finkel slowly reeled Dienstag in and with 100 yards to go, Finkel sat in second place. In the race’s final lap, Finkel pulled even with Dienstag at the final turn and outkicked the Brandeis swimmer in the last 25 yards to win.
When asked about his race strategy by a reporter following the race, Finkel stated that it “was certainly to come back fast.” However, even Finkel himself could not imagine how fast he could come back. “ “I had a lot more in the last half than I thought I would initially have,” said Finkel. “I went out how I wanted to but I’m glad I had the kick at the end.” With the victory, Finkel became just the fifth Conn athlete to win an individual national championship.
At 10 a.m. of the next day, Finkel qualified for his second final of the meet by finishing with the second fastest time of his 200 freestyle heat and seventh fastest time of all the preliminary heats. While missing the championship final last year by .08 seconds, Finkel snuck into the final this year by .13 seconds. At 6 p.m. of the same day, Finkel improved on his prelim time by nearly a half second and finished in a time of 1:37.29. The Conn swimmer finished just under three seconds behind the winning time and won NCAA All-American honors for the second-straight night with his fourth place finish in the event.
At 10 a.m. of the following morning, Finkel won his 200 butterfly preliminary heat in a time of 1:46.81 and finished with the fourth fastest time of all preliminary heats. At 6 p.m. of the same day, Finkel completed the unthinkable, winning his second national title in three days. Once again behind from the start, Finkel was behind two-time defending 200 fly champion Frank Applebaum of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Jesse Ssengonzi of the University of Chicago. The three swimmers were close the entire race with Applebaum leading and Finkel in third through 150 yards. The Conn swimmer caught Ssengonzi at the final turn before going stroke for stroke to the finish with Applebaum, ultimately out-touching the defending champion to the wall by .18 seconds.
Finishing in a time of 1:43.21, Finkel broke the NCAA DIII national record previously held by Applebaum. Having finished second in this event last year, Finkel, in an interview with a reporter following the race, stated that he “had been working on [doing better in the event] for a while [having done] a lot of 200 fly pace [work].” Following his prelim heat, Finkel worked to correct a weakness of his before the final. “I worked on my turns a lot this morning, because that was something I fell short on.” The extra work paid off for Finkel, who became the first Conn athlete to win multiple national titles, and the first to do so in the same NCAA Championship meet.
Connecticut College finished 17th out of 44 scoring teams in the men’s field with Finkel scoring all of Conn’s 55 points. This marked the third-highest point total in the program’s 17 NCAA Championship appearances. As a result of his record-breaking performances, Finkel was named College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Swimmer of the Year. The Conn swimmer became the first NESCAC swimmer to win the honor since 2010 and the fourth overall. As a junior, Finkel still returns at least one more year of NCAA swimming eligibility and there is no doubt more history can be made.
