West Chester University’s Swimming and Diving program capped another leading performance at the 2026 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Swimming Championships, with both the men’s and women’s teams claiming conference titles inside the York YMCA Graham Pool.
The Golden Rams men’s team won their fifth consecutive PSAC title and 27th straight championship in which they participated, claiming the program’s 38th overall conference title, which is the most of any school in PSAC history. The women’s team extended their own remarkable run, winning their fifth consecutive PSAC title and 19th straight championship in which they have competed, claiming the program’s 23rd title overall, second-most in conference history. Both teams led their respective leaderboards from start to finish over the four-day event.
“Winning conference championships with both programs year after year is a testament to the philosophy that coach Mazurek has developed,” Director of Athletics Terry Beattie said. “He focuses on cultivating leadership and character to produce a culture of which others want to be a part. He spends a lot of time on dry land workouts and talking as a team. He credits these values, along with a steadfast devotion to training the right way, as ingredients to winning titles. That is what you witness at the conference meet each season.”
Head Coach Steve Mazurek credits the teams’ success with their physical and emotional training regimen.
“We spend a lot of time working on the dry side of things,” Mazurek said. “Our belief is that we want to go into that championship with a deeper understanding of ourselves. We do communication drills and something called the Circle of Trust, where we talk about team values, and each person gets a chance to share their story with the team. We start with statements of gratitude and respect. No one swims alone. That’s a win for us.”
Senior international business major Kolos Nagy of Szazhalombatta, Hungary, capped an extraordinary collegiate career at the PSAC Championships, winning four individual titles and earning Swimmer of the Meet honors. Nagy won the 200 Backstroke in 1:46.74, setting a new meet record and the second meet record he broke during the championship. His 11th career individual conference crown cements his legacy at WCU.
For Nagy, the bonds he’s forged at West Chester have meant everything to him.
“What makes West Chester stand out is mostly the team culture,” he said. “We spend so much time with each other that it becomes like a brotherhood. We enjoy spending time with each other outside of the pool, too. We’re always hanging out, and that’s a big part of why we all love it.”
As he prepares to graduate this spring, Nagy hopes to one day cheer on WCU just as many former WCU swimmers do.
“A lot of alumni were at the meet this week,” he said. “Getting to meet all of them was great, and hopefully I can come back for some meets in the future.”
On the women’s side, freshman pre-occupational therapy major Greta Saville of Mordialloc, Australia, won three individual titles at the championship meet, including a first-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle in 17 minutes, 0.37 seconds to open the final night of competition. Saville also anchored the 400 freestyle relay alongside Michalina Jasinska, Sam Heiland, and Lava Piuva, helping the foursome to a third-place finish.
Far from home and family, Saville said the team has given her something irreplaceable.
“Swimming definitely helps because we’re all so close as a team,” Saville said. “I find that I really rely on them for day-to-day life. We see each other twice a day and go through hard sets together, and we also all eat together. We’re so close as a team it makes me feel like I have a family over here. They basically are my second family. I’m so grateful to have such a great team.”
Mazurek traces the team’s deep culture to a decision made during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the program used the time away from competition to invest in its people.
“We put together a leadership curriculum during that time,” he said. “Because we didn’t compete that year, we decided to invest in team culture, and every year that we’ve come back, we’ve refined it and added to it.”
Mazurek said the program’s culture never stops at the pool deck. Instead, it will now prepare the team for what’s ahead. Both programs will now await the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships, with Saville and WCU swimmers Lenya Ryan, Paul Demsey, and Marti Rosell Diez earning bids to the national meet scheduled for Mar. 11 in Evansville, Ind. Nagy is an alternate for the competition.
Learn more at West Chester University (WCU), the largest member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, which is comprised of 10 state-owned universities within the Commonwealth of PA. Founded in 1871, West Chester University is a comprehensive public institution offering more than 180 academic opportunities in 40 fields of study at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. In addition to the main campus in West Chester, the University offers programs through its graduate center, the location in Philadelphia, and online. Six colleges and two schools comprise the University: University College, Colleges of Arts and Humanities, Business and Public Management, Education and Social Work, Health Sciences, and the Sciences and Mathematics, as well as the Wells School of Music, and the Graduate School. The University is classified as an R2 (“Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity”) by Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education; R2 universities have “high research activity” in academic settings where teaching is the priority.
