Season Preview: Chargers look to new stars to proceed current run

The 2025-26 season marks a altering of the guard for the Hillsdale College ladies’s swimming and diving staff, because the Chargers bid farewell to 2 of the best swimmers in program historical past.

All-American swimmers Megan Clifford and Elise Mason, mixed probably the most embellished rivals within the historical past of Hillsdale College ladies’s swimming and diving, each graduated within the spring of 2025, as did G-MAC/MEC Champion Joanna Burnham.

Replacing the contributions of these three is the problem dealing with the Chargers, who want to prolong a streak of eight straight high two finishes within the G-MAC/MEC Championships to 9 this February.

That means discovering new stars to develop into this system’s leaders. Thankfully for Hillsdale, the cabinet is much from naked even after shedding generational expertise.

It begins with an amazing sophomore class, headlined by Ella Schafer, who received the G-MAC/MEC title within the 200 freestyle and set a program file within the occasion as a freshman in 2024-25. Schafer needs to be a high contender in dash freestyle occasions for the Chargers, and Hillsdale additionally has a returning athlete who appears poised to proceed the Chargers’ distance freestyle dominance within the G-MAC/MEC in Matilyn Wilhelmsen. While accidents and sickness restricted her late within the season, Wilhelmsen put up occasions within the first half of the season that have been inside a number of seconds of Mason within the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 freestyle occasions, and was named the G-MAC’s co-Freshman of the Year. With Mason graduated, and certain higher well being in 2025-26, Wilhelmsen may very well be in line to convey residence a number of titles this spring.

Along with Wilhelmsen, Hillsdale has one other earlier Freshman of the Year winner who’s able to placing up huge factors within the distance races in Isabel Ondracek. Ondracek headlines a strong junior class that gives a lot of the scoring spine for the Chargers squad, with Irene Del Castro, Lauren Kamp, Alyson Early and Inez McNichols all holding high 10 occasions in Chargers historical past in not less than one occasion. Hillsdale is also hoping for giant issues from sophomore Ella Malone, who had a robust first season within the butterfly as properly.

To its nucleus, Hillsdale additionally provides one other sturdy freshman class that can assist the Chargers reload within the backstroke and breaststroke. All six ought to contribute this season, and large issues are anticipated particularly from Avery May, who swam occasions in highschool in distance freestyle races that might have made the NCAA DII nationwide meet final season. May ought to mix with Wilhelmsen and Ondracek to provide the Chargers an enormous point-scoring nucleus within the 500 freestyle and above occasions.

Hillsdale opens the season with its annual Blue/White Intrasquad meet on homecoming morning, Sept. 27. The Chargers’ first official competitors is the Oberlin Invite on Oct. 10-11 in Ohio, and Hillsdale will host residence meets on Nov. 7 towards Albion and Davenport and on Nov. 8 towards Aquinas and Indiana Wesleyan in Jack McAvoy Natatorium. Everything builds in the direction of the G-MAC/MEC Championship meet, scheduled for Feb. 10-13 on the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio, the place Hillsdale will attempt to unseat three-time defending champion Findlay. Hillsdale’s high swimmers additionally will look to earn All-American honors on the NCAA DII Championships, hosted in Evansville, Indiana on March 10-14. You can discover the total schedule right here.