KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Jan. 24, 2026) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy women's swimming & diving team won the 2026 Skyline Conference Championship this weekend at its home Sue Petersen Lubow Pool. The Mariners finished the meet with a total of 620 team points, well ahead of second place Sarah Lawrence (395 points) and third place Mount St. Mary (285).
 
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• Complete Results
• Post-Meet Ceremony Photo Gallery 

This was the Mariners 12th Skyline title in program history and ninth since re-joining the conference back in 2016-17. Additionally, one Skyline Conference record was broken over the two-day event, as freshman Natalie Scafetta (Menlo Park, Calif.) set a new conference-best time in the 400 individual medley by touching first in 4:46.41, which was a season-best for the rookie by two seconds.
 
USMMA took home three major awards, as Scafetta was named the Skyline Rookie and Swimmer of the Year and junior Victoria Crofford (Fairfax, Va.) won her second-straight Diver of the Year award.
 
Scafetta produced four first place finishes in individual events and two as part of relay teams. The plebe won the 500 freestyle (5:19.44, a season-best by four seconds), the 400 IM (4:46.41), the 1000 free (10:57.00, a season-best by 11 seconds) and the 200 backstroke (2:15.64, a season-best by one second) and was the third leg of the 200 free relay that touched first in 1:40.95, and the anchor of the 400 free relay that won in 3:46.67.
 
Crofford won both the one-meter diving event on Friday with a score of 255.15 and the three-meter discipline on Saturday with a 283.80.
 
The rest of the Mariners' first-place finishes are listed below.

• The 200 free relay team of senior Jessica Felske (East Troy, Wis.), freshman Kaitlyn Adams (King George, Va.), Scafetta and freshman Natalie Woodman (Langhorne, Pa.) in 1:40.95
• The 400 medley relay team of freshman Adams, Felske and juniors Catherine Kennedy (Columbus, Ga.) and Isabel Lunsford (Burnet, Texas) in 4:12.95
• Kennedy in the 100 butterfly in 1:01.14
• Felske in the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.28
• Adams in the 100 back in 1:03.67
• Kennedy in the 200 fly in 2:19.43 (a season-best by four seconds and a personal-best by one second)
• and the 400 free relay team of Lunsford, Woodman, freshman Bryony Shipe (Ford City, Pa.) and Scafetta in 3:46.67 

Below are the Mariners' second-place finishes over the two-day event.

• Freshman Berlin Sandberg (Golden, Colo.) in the one-meter dive with a score of 239.15
• Shipe in the 200 IM in 2:19.11 (a season-best by two seconds)
• Lunsford in the 50 free in 25.08
• Shipe in the 400 IM in 4:50.92 (a season-best by five seconds)
• Lunsford in the 100 fly in 1:01.43
• Shipe in the 200 free in 2:01.58 (a season-best by three seconds)
• Sandberg in the three-meter dive with a 231.60
• Shipe in the 1000 free in 11:04.27 (a season-best by 12 seconds)
• Adams in the 200 back in 2:21.10
• Lunsford in the 100 free in 54.30
• and Felske in the 200 breast in 2:33.23 (a season-best by two seconds) 

Woodman also had a personal-best time in the 200 free by two seconds (2:03.02), as did Kennedy in the 200 IM (2:19.30).

Up next, the Mariners will host the USMMA Memorial Invite on Saturday, Jan. 31, beginning at 11 a.m. Prior to the meet, the swim & dive program will pay tribute to its nine graduating seniors with a special Senior Day ceremony.
 
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