Ella Dyson, a senior at Rice University not only handily won the 2025 MPSF Open Water Swimming Championships in Long Beach, California (see here), but she is also the defending champion at the upcoming 2025 College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) National Collegiate 5K Open Water Swimming Championship in Sarasota, Florida.

From West Coast to East Coach, the British swimmer from Marlow, England (born in Melbourne, Australia) has dominated the collegiate open water scene. In Long Beach, she won by nearly a minute over Rice teammate Ava Portello, and by over 3 minutes over second place Miriam Frass (@miriam.frass) of Youngstown State University in Florida last year.

Dyson ultimately hopes to return to Southern California for the LA28 Olympic open water swim. But she has a lot of racing to do before then, including the 2025 CSCAA Open Water Championship that will take place on December 13th at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. USA Swimming has designated the event as an approved qualifying event for its national championship. The top five finishers for each gender earn invitations to the USA Swimming 5K Open Water Championships.

Rice coach Seth Huston is known for his passion for open water swimming and has attracted some of the finest women open water swimming in the collegiate ranks, leading the Rice women to the 2022 and 2024 CSCAA Open Water Swimming National Championship titles – hoping for a third title this year. Huston said, “Ella and Ava and their teammates push each other every day in practice.”

For more information on next week’s collegiate championship, visit here.

2024 Women’s Team Title Results

1. Rice University 3:17:44 with lla Dyson (1:03:32) + Ava Hamblett (1:07:05) + Amelia Kane (1:07:07)
2. University of South Carolina 3:22:16 with Nora Fluck (1:06:42) + Sianna Savarda (1:07:15) + Emma Reiser (1:07:32)
3. Purdue University: 3:23:38 with Adele Sands (1:07:20) + Reagan Mattice (1:07:22) + Caitlin M Hurley (1:07:34)

2024 5 km Women’s Top 20 Results

1. Ella Dyson of Rice University 1:03:31.40
2. Miriam Frass of Youngstown State University 1:06:40.41
3. Marlene Blanke of Villanova University 1:06:41.78
4. Nora Fluck of University of South Carolina 1:06:41.80
5. Ava S Hamblett of Rice University 1:07:04.17
6. Amelia L Kane of Rice University 1:07:06.71
7. Ava C Portello of Rice University 1:07:08.73
8. Peri Gaguzis of Villanova University 1:07:10.77
9. Sianna Savarda of University of South Carolina 1:07:14.11
10. Libby Michel of University of Cincinnati 1:07:14.11
11. Adele E Sands of Purdue University 1:07:19.48
12. Tori N Shoemaker of University of Alaska Fairbanks 1:07:20.70
13. Reagan G Mattice of Purdue University 1:07:21.51
14. Celine S Petruschke of University of North Carolina Asheville 1:07:23.61
15. Ella S Dyjak of Florida State University 1:07:26.92
16. Natalie M Stuart of University of Richmond 1:07:28.43
17. Ashlyn Massey of University of Miami Florida 1:07:28.89
18. Lise Coetzee of Tulane University 1:07:30.58
19. Emma Reiser of University of South Carolina 1:07:31.79
20. Caitlin M Hurley of Purdue University 1:07:33.43

© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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