Jacob Nacional swimming in IWU Halloween Invite 2024

Kodiak Creative

Swim and Dive Begins Season with IWU Halloween Invite

Marks first competition under head coach Dan Lloyd

10/23/2025 2:00:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's and women's swimming and diving team will begin the 2025-26 season by hosting the IWU Halloween Invite Saturday afternoon, Oct. 25. Action is set to begin at 1 p.m. inside the Fort Natatorium.

The Green and White will welcome Anderson University, Augustana College, and Millikin University for both men's and women's, while Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will bring its women's team.

The first meet of the season will mark IWU's first under the direction of Dan Lloyd. Lloyd, alongside assistant coach Brooke Walker, will make their debuts coaching the Green and White. After a successful 11-year run at Augustana College, Lloyd returned to his hometown to become the head coach of Illinois Wesleyan in May 2025, bringing Walker with him. Walker recently finished a successful career swimming for Lloyd at Augustana in 2025, where she earned All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin honors all four seasons for the Vikings, as the duo won three CCIW team championships together.

In total, IWU returns 13 swimmers from a season ago, while three Titans will make their collegiate debuts this weekend. Freshmen Libby Hamer (Macomb, Ill.-Macomb), Ellen Hoover (Naperville, Ill.-Naperville Central), and Abby Schnittker (Lombard, Ill.-Willowbrook) will don the Green and White for the first time.

The Titans also bring back three all-conference performers from a year ago. Senior Natalie Porter (Danville, Ill.-Danville) returns as the two-time defending CCIW Champion in the 1650-yard freestyle, winning the event at the 2024 and 2025 championships. The Danville, Ill. native also earned all-conference honors in the 500-free in 2025. Sophomore Isabella Cano (River Grove, Ill.-Leyden) made quick work in her first appearance at the CCIW Championship, as she finished third in the 100-yard butterfly to earn All-CCIW honors. Senior Kayleigh Kuschewski (Batavia, Ill.-Batavia) brings in four all-conference honors to her last collegiate season. Kuschewski finished second in the 100-yard backstroke the last three seasons, and was a part of the 200 Medley Relay in 2024 that finished first in the CCIW.

At last year's Halloween Invite, which is known for featuring a few non-traditional events, IWU grabbed second-place finishes on the women's side in the 500-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay, and the 200-yard freestyle relay. Kuschewski, then-junior Julianna Boyle (Carol Stream, Ill.-Glenbard North), and Porter teamed up with then-senior Alexa Starkey in the 500 free relay, finishing second. Kuschewski and Starkey later joined forces with then-freshman Isabella Cano (River Grove, Ill.-East Leyden) and then-senior Emily Marks in the 200-yard medley relay for a runner-up placement. The final top-two relay finish by the women came in the 200-yard freestyle relay, where Kuschewski, Marks, Cano, and then-freshman Julia Jozwiak (McHenry, Ill.-Wauconda) touched in at 1:48.18, narrowly defeating Rose-Hulman.

Individually, Jozwiak, Kuschewski, and Porter tallied top-five finishes. Porter was the highest finisher on the women's side, nabbing fourth in the 500 freestyle. Jozwiak's fifth-place performance came in the 100 freestyle, while Kuschewski garnered fifth in the 200-yard backstroke.

On the men's side, then-freshmen Tate Thomas (Joliet, Ill.-Joliet West) and Jacob Nacional (Bolingbrook, Ill.-Bolingbrook), then-junior Jay Jenkins (Aurora, Ill.-West Aurora), and then-senior Carter Dilger took second in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The group touched in with a time of 1:33.00, just on the heels of Augustana.

Nacional also added a third-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, while Thomas and then-senior Colin McKibben (Green Oak, Ill.-Libertyville) notched fifth-place finishes in the 200 free and 200 back, respectively.

The meet will be live streamed, which can be found by clicking here. Results will be posted on iwusports.com upon the completion of the contest.

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