The 21st-ranked Middlebury women’s swimming and diving team commences its 2025-26 season on Saturday, November 15 at Connecticut College. The Panthers return a strong nucleus of swimmers and divers and welcome seven first-year competitors to the pool this winter.

Anna McGrew looks to build on a strong rookie campaign that featured 12 individual event wins, All-American praise and a pair of school records. She established the program-best clocking of 50.89 seconds in the 100 freestyle at the NESCAC Championship meet before toppling the 50 free mark of 23.08 in her first showing at the NCAA Division III Championships. She also produced the second-fastest time in the 50 free consolation final (23.19) on the national stage.

Hannah Baumgartner and Emma Hall combined for 19 top-three finishes individually last year. Baumgartner tallied three victories between the 200 and 500 free events. She swam the second leg of the 800 free relay at the NESCAC Championships, helping the quartet to a fourth-place finish and an NCAA ‘B’ cut effort of 7:30.31. Baumgartner also competed in a trio of relays at the NCAA event. After touching the wall first in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at Connecticut College, Hall earned sixth in the 200 on the final day of the conference championship after helping Middlebury take fourth and fifth in the 200 (1:44.04) and 400 (3:49.38) medley relays, respectively.

Lauren Jolley aided the 800 free and 200 medley relay efforts at the league meet, while claiming a seventh-place spot in the 50 butterfly and joining McGrew on a relay squad that finished fifth in the 400 free. Chloe Bautista logged three event wins a year ago, highlighted by top placements in the 100 and 200 fly against Connecticut College. She anchored a sixth-place finish in the 200 free at the NESCAC event before joining McGrew on the fifth-place 400 medley squad and competing in the consolation final of the 200 fly. The Panther pair combined for 12 top-three finishes last winter.

Pai Easterbrook returns to the diving boards for the Panthers after securing a 12th-place finish on the three-meter board at last winter’s league championships. She accumulated four victories across the one and three-meter events with six top-three placements throughout the winter.

Rueppel embarks on his 15th season at the program’s helm. He welcomes assistant coach Gunnar Teigen, while Bradley Schott trains the Panther divers for the 12th winter.