By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
2025 House of Champions Invite
- November 20-22, 2025
- IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, Indiana
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Day 1 Results
- Day 2 Results
IU Indy’s Logan Kelly broke his own House of Champions Meet Record on Friday evening in the 100 breaststroke as the home team roared to the lead on the men’s side; while another win and two big relay performances by Ball State’s Payton Kelly (no relation) extended their lead on the women’s side.
Meanwhile Milwaukee’s unusual sophomore Sam Lorenz inserted himself into the meet with a thunderous presence in the 100 back final.
After winning the 200 IM on Thursday, Logan Kelly added a victory in his best event, the 100 breaststroke, on Friday. He finished in 52.20, which broke his own Meet Record of 52.52 set in 2024.
Kelly is the rare swimmer who has a 5th year of COVID eligibility remaining to use this year after redshirting last season. He opened his season with a 51.56 in a quad meet in September, which would have qualified for last year’s NCAA Championship meet.
This year is using a radically different qualifying system, though, and so Kelly’s easiest past to NCAA Championship qualification is by winning the Horizon League title in a time better than 52.58, which he has now cleared twice this season already.
He was pushed the whole race by Maxim Tsyfarov of NCAA Division II Lynn University, who placed 2nd in 52.90. He was 4th at last year’s NCAA Division II Championship meet.
Lynn once again took a big share of the event wins on day 2, though as a D2 program they didn’t have the depth to keep up in the overall team scoring.
Tsyfarov opened the session with a swin in the 50 breaststroke in 24.06, shaving a tenth of a second off the Meet Record of 24.16 set by Missouri State’s Luigi Da Silva in 2024. Logan Kelly didn’t swim that event.
Then with Tsyfarov on the breaststroke leg, Lynn also won the 200 medley relay. He split 23.87, the third-best split of the field behind Missouri State’s Kiefer Roemer (23.78) and Logan Kelly (23.69), but the back-half of his relay each had the best splits of the field. THe full squad was Maurice Grabowski (21.42), Tsyfarov (23.87), Vitaly Kostin (20.58), and Enzo Constable (19.38).
Kostin then led a 1-2 finish in the 100 fly with Constable. Kostin won in 47.13 followed by Constable in 47.56. That swim is Costin’s best time by seven-tenths of a second. He entered the year with bests of 49.19 from each his freshman and sophomore years, but has now bettered that time in four separate swims at three meets already this season.
Friday also marked the first final for Milwaukee sophomore Sam Lorenz. While his transfer got much less attention than the Shackell siblings at Indiana, he too is experimenting with returning home to train primarily with his club team, Schroeder, while representing a local college, Milwaukee, in collegiate competition.
Lorenz broke a meet record in the 50 back (20.81) and had the fastest morning time in the 50 free (19.68) on Thursday, but scratched both events in finals.
On Friday, he saw out the finals of the 100 back and won in 45.91. That knocked over a second off the Meet Record (Bryan Wiener, Lewis U, 2014); obliterated the Milwaukee University Record (Victor Kostov, 49.24, 2025); and while the league only officially publishes championship records, appears to be the fastest time in Horizon League history (Philipp Sikatzki, Cleveland State, 2016, 46.41).
His previous best time of 46.10 came last season as a freshman at Wisconsin.
Like Kelly, Lorenz’s path to the NCAA Championships is a bit clearer in a mid-major conference. He would need to clear 46.29 in the event final while winning the 100 back at the Horizon League Championships to secure his spot at nationals in March.
Other Men’s Meet Day 2 Winners:
- Missouri State won the 800 free relay in 6:34.37, led off by a 1:37.78 split from freshman Zach Mendez. He was joined by Ilias El Fallaki (1:38.89), Jack Grandy (1:39.02), and Mate Miszlai (1:38.68). The fastest split of the field came from Ball State freshman George Patterson, who anchored their runner-up relay in 1:36.74.
- Patterson also won the 200 free individually in 1:35.98, holding off Mendez’s 1:36.44 for 2nd place. Patterson’s previous best time coming into the meet was a 1:38.09 from October; his high school best was 1:38.20 at the 2025 Indiana High School State Championship meet.
- Missouri State’s Mate Miszlai won the men’s 400 IM in 3:53.09. The Hungarian is a transfer in from NAIA William Carey University.
On the women’s side, it was another big day for Ball State’s Payton Kelly. After a pair of individual wins and a Meet Record in the 50 free on Thursday, plus two relay wins and Meet Records, she grabbed two more victories on Friday.
That started in the 200 medley relay, where she anchored in 21.99 to help Ball State set a new Meet Record of 1:40.00. The old mark was set in 2019 by Michigan State at 1:40.45.
She was joined by Lauren Fecher (26.12), Addie Beasley (28.38), and Anna Keen (23.51) in the record-setting effort – an otherwise very young relay besides the anchor. Keen had the fastest fly split of the field by eight-tenths of a second.
Payton Kelly later dominated the 100 backstroke in 52.86, clearing the field by almost a second-and-a-half (teammate Ava Butterfield was 2nd in 54.24).
Payton Kelly‘s previous best time was a 53.52 from the time trial session at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships.
A 1:47.58 leadoff from Payton Kelly on the session-closing 800 free relay was not enough to hold off an upset from Missouri State, however. The Bears saved their best for the anchor leg, where Ainsley Jenkins made up a seven-tenths of a second deficit to carry her team from 3rd to 1st in 7:21.24. Ball State finished 2nd in 7:21.87.
Missouri State also pulled off a minor upset in the women’s 100 fly, where Lillie Freulon won in 53.89, beating out the aforementioned Keen (53.97). That was in spite of Keen splitting .92 seconds better in the 50 fly leg of the 200 medley relay.
Freulon is another swimmer at this meet who is dropping best times this season repeatedly. She entered the year with a best of 54.59, swam 54.29 in the team’s last dual meet three weeks ago, and now has dropped a total of seven-tenths already this season.
Other Women’s Meet Day 2 Winners:
- Little Rock’s Megan Stewart won the 400 IM in 4:17.43, breaking her own School Record (twice) on Friday. The South African freshman entered the meet with a best of 4:21.26 from 13 days ago; she also won the 200 IM on Thursday.
- That kicked off a record-setting run for the Trojans. Olivia Elgin won the 200 free in 1:47.88, setting another school record, and Amara Addison finished 4th in the 100 back in 55.03, likewise a school record.
- Gabrielle LePine from Milwaukee won the women’s 100 breaststroke in 1:01.05. Her personal best of 1:00.51 still stands from 2022, but this swim was a new Meet Record, breaking her own 1:01.28 from last year. Ball State’s Keen showed off her versatility by finishing 2nd in 1:01.77.
Team Scores After Day 2
Men:
- IU Indianapolis – 1484
- Missouri State University – 1368
- Lynn University – 1200
- Milwaukee Panthers – 1051
- Ball State University – 1038
- Saint Louis University – 798
- Illinois, University of, Chica – 743
- University of Southern Indiana – 564
- Lewis University – 554
- Northern Kentucky University – 463
- University of Montevallo
Women:
- Ball State University – 1780.5
- Missouri State University – 1165.5
- Illinois, University of, Chica – 1145.5
- Little Rock – 1065
- Milwaukee Panthers – 962.5
- IU Indianapolis – 875.5
- Lynn University – 703.5
- Saint Louis University – 653.5
- Butler University – 586.5
- University of Southern Indiana – 360
- Lewis University – 316
- Northern Kentucky University – 232
- University of Montevallo – 226
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Sam Lorenz Crushes Milwaukee School Record in 100 Back at 45.91 at House of Champions Invite
