THE MEET FACTS
Meet: 2025 Malone Invitational – Saturday Session
Location: C.T. Branin Natatorium – Canton, Ohio
Date: November 22, 2025
Team Scores:
• Women: Gannon – 1,552 points (1st place)
• Men: Gannon – 1,929.5 points (1st place)
CANTON, OH - Gannon Swimming & Diving closed the final day of the 2025 Malone Invitational with another strong team showing, highlighted by top-three finishes across multiple events with several individual victories and another program record. The Golden Knights maintained control of the leaderboard throughout the meet, finishing first on both the men's and women's sides to secure a sweep of the Invitational.
THE KNIGHT CAP
Back at the Top - In the 200 yard backstroke, Juliana Romero (Bogotá, Columbia/Colegio pureza de Maria) Castro took home the gold with a time of 2:04.41. Her first split of 28.59 was the fastest in the field. Meanwhile, on the men's side, Marcos Rodriguez (Madrid, Spain/Santa María del Pilar) Fernandez also was first in the same event, going 1:50.96 and beating the rest of the field by nearly two seconds.
Breaking Her Own Mark - Freshman Mariia Melnyk (Kyiv, Ukraine/Education Center Optima) improved upon her own school record set this year in the 100 yard freestyle. Swimming 50.70, she broke the record by a tenth of a second and was almost a second ahead of the rest of the field.
100% Effort in the 100 - Nikita Poparcea and Bryce Buret went 1/2 in the men's 100 freestyle, with times of 45.34 and 45.52, respectively.
Additional Victories - Maria Valcheva (Sofia, Bulgaria/Sports School Vasil Levski) secured gold in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:24.89), and Aidar Sataev (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan/Forest Hill) won the men's race in the same event (2:00.99). Will Retsch (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) was the 200 butterfly champion (1:52.00), and the men's team of Nickolas Ambrosiani (Seward, Alaska/Seward), Bengimin Ambrosiani (Seward, Alaska/Seward), Buret and Poparcea swam the fastest time in the 400 yard free relay, clocking a 3:03.15.
Team Takeaway - With 3,481 combined points, Gannon comfortably claimed both the men's and women's team titles, winning by margins of 62 (women) and 726.5 (men).
THE NEXT MEET
Gannon returns to competition on January 17th for a home tri meet against Oberlin and Malone at 1:00 pm.
