Revolution and continuity at the NJACs

In D3's most important predominantly public-school conference, the Salisbury women up-end the established order, while the TCNJ men manufacture an unlikely repeat

• We give an overview of the NJAC championship, men first.

• We really lay it on thick re: Salisbury women’s first place finish.

• We feature more fantastic photography from Ella Ewing.

One odd fact about the New Jersey Athletic Conference is that nearly half its teams are not actually in New Jersey. Mary Washington is located in Fredericksburg, Virginia; Roger Williams (the only private institution in the conference) is in Rhode Island; the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy—a federally funded service academy—is in New York; and Salisbury is in Maryland. This year’s conference championships took place at the Hampton Virginia Aquaplex, a venue inconveniently distant for all teams involved.¹

Men’s events and TCNJ

TCNJ won the conference championship last year, but a repeat seemed unlikely after the loss of James McChesney. In college sports, athletes graduate—it’s inevitable. But not all graduations impact teams equally. In terms of a single athlete’s departure hurting a men’s team the most, only the loss of Derek Maas had a greater negative impact, followed by Garrett Clasen, then James McChesney.

James McChesney was a superstar. He set a new Division III record in the men’s 200 Free last season, and the SRS value of that swim was higher than that of any other athlete’s single swim in the 2023-24 season—except for Derek Maas. The sports cliché is that you can’t truly measure the value of an athlete like Mr. McChesney—but in swimming, you actually can. And that value was enormous.

Still, TCNJ had other nationals quality athletes when Mr. McChesney was there, and those athletes continued to improve and perform this season.²

Top Performers by SRS, TCNJ Men

TCNJ dominated this weekend. Based on NJAC Championship results:

• Steven Bendoraitis and Gavin Formon rank 6th and 7th in Division III in the 1650 Free.

• Ryan Higgins is 4th in the 200 Back, 5th in the 400 I.M.

• Ryan VanDeVeen is 5th in the 200 Breast.

TCNJ is a lock likely to send relays to nationals in 800 Free, 200 Medley, and 400 Medley Relays, with a solid shot at the 200 Free Relay as well.

Behind TCNJ were U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Salisbury. USMMA got great performances from Ryan Lester, Luke Dankert, Daniel Scherrer, and Teague Mayer.

Salisbury, true to form, delivered across the board, led by first-years Mason Potts, Ethan Lloyd, and Brody Hanlon, plus sophomores Owen Brewer, Shane Hall, Matt Merke, and Kyle Skelly, with many other valuable performers throughout the Sea Gulls’ roster. This team will be very good for a long while.

Rowan lacks depth but has national-level talent. Jack Watson, Tobias Cahnbley, and Alex Volin will be factors at nationals, and with Braden Sheehan, they’ll likely almost certainly send an 800 Free Relay. Expect to hear these names again.

Riley Williams (Roger Williams) had a stellar meet—2nd in the 200 I.M., 3rd in the 400 I.M. and 200 Breast. That’s an impressive weekend.

Women’s events and Salisbury

@ellaewingphotos

For the first time ever, the Salisbury Sea Gulls are your women’s NJAC Champions.

As is their way, Salisbury treated its conference clash with Mary Washington as a college swimming version of Armageddon—made even more poignant by what Salisbury perceived as Mary Washington’s gamesmanship around diving.³

It’s part of who they are. Salisbury carries real grievances over past unfair treatment and thrives on an underdog mentality. They didn’t get here by taking it easy or quietly enduring slights. Provocation seems to fuel the Sea Gulls.

@ellaewingphotos

This was a very close meet, with Salisbury prevailing over Mary Washington by a mere 24.5 points. The next closest team, Rowan, was more than 430 points behind.

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Rowan’s Ella Pennington

Quick note here. Rowan’s Ella Pennington won all three of her events, 100 Back, 200 Back, and 100 Fly. By SRS, Ella Pennington is ranked 16th in all of women’s Division III. Ella Pennington is an all-star and if you want to watch her swim, tune into nationals next month.

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The only other athlete to score as many points for her team as Ms. Pennington was Salisbury’s Sydney McCallie. Ms. McCallie played a key role in four highly successful relays and swept all three of her individual events—the 200 Breast, 200 I.M., and 400 I.M.

Next month, Ms. McCallie will represent Salisbury at Division III nationals. A three-time 400 I.M. finalist at nationals for Kenyon and a member of two national championship teams, she will now make history as the first Sea Gull to compete in women’s events at nationals.

This is an extraordinary level of success for any college swimmer.

@ellaewingphotos

By SRS, other standout performers included:

• Braelyn Wilson (Kean University)

• Kaitlyn Crouthamel (Rowan)

• Maddie Powell (Salisbury)

• Sadie Hebert (Salisbury)

• Rourke Peralta (Montclair State)

• Spera Moy-Jacobs (Mary Washington)

@ellaewingphotos

But, in the end, if you win by 24.5 points, every point counted. And Salisbury had 19 different athletes score points in women’s swimming events, a number greater than second place Mary Washington and an amount unsurpassed by any other team.

The Salisbury coaches will always insist that a championship is a team win. In this case, that’s quantifiable, and true.

@ellaewingphotos

1. Mary Washington would have had the shortest drive at just over two hours, followed by Salisbury at just under three hours. The cool thing about traveling from Salisbury is that the route takes you through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel—which is exactly what it sounds like. It starts as a highway on a bridge stretching across the Chesapeake Bay, then, about halfway across, it plunges into a tunnel that runs beneath the water for the rest of the crossing.

2. And yeah, James McChesney’s younger brother Joe is now at TCNJ.

3. It’s tempting to explain the history as one where Mary Washington always beat Salisbury at conference championships, but that’s misleading due to shifting conference names and team affiliations. Pre-COVID, Mary Washington competed in one conference, then another post-COVID, before joining the NJAC—and Salisbury was usually in the same conference but always far behind at championships.