Justin Finkel ’25 named NESCAC Swimmer of the Year for third consecutive year

Justin Finkel ’25 turned in a dominant performance at the 2025 NESCAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, winning two individual events and placing third in another, setting five school records, leading the Camels to a fourth-place overall finish and earning NESCAC Swimmer of the Year honors for the third consecutive year. Finkel becomes just the third swimmer in league history to earn the distinction three times.  

Finkel made it three straight titles in the 200 fly with a dazzling race in the final NESCAC solo swim of his career during the last day of competition on Feb. 23. He finished more than three seconds ahead of his closest competitor, clocking in at 1:44.76 and breaking the pool record he set earlier in the day in prelims. Finkel is the reigning NCAA DIII champion in the same event. 

Earlier in the weekend, Finkel won the 100 fly with an NCAA ‘A’ cut time of 46.49, which broke NESCAC, meet, pool and school records. He placed third in the 500 free with a time of 4:26.44, and also earned All-NESCAC honors with a third-place finish in the 800 freestyle relay with teammates Aiden Miller ’27, Jack Mattison-Gulotta ’28 and Ian Sullivan ’27. Their time of 6:38.48 broke the Conn record by nearly a second.

Finkel also set school records in the 50 free, the 200 free, the 50 fly and the 400 medley relay with teammates Matthew Morris ’26, Carrick Shea ’28 and Nicholas Holovacs ’28. And his wins in the 100 fly and 200 fly moved him into some elite company—he’s one of only nine swimmers in NESCAC history to win eight or more individual conference titles.

The Camels finished fourth overall at the championship meet. In addition to Finkel, Miller, Mattison-Gulotta and Sullivan, two other Camels earned All-NESCAC honors—Cam Bizjak ’27 with third-place finishes in both the 1M dive and the 3M dive and Evan Lyons ’27 with a third-place finish in the 1,000 free and a second-place finish in the 1,650 free.

Finkel, Lyons, Morris, Shea, Bizjak and Holovacs will next compete at the 2025 NCAA Division III Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships March 19-22 in Greensboro, North Carolina.