GREENSBORO, N.C. – Connecticut College junior Justin Finkel (Cheshire, Conn.) captured his second national title in three days on Friday night at the 2024 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships, winning the 200 butterfly in record-breaking fashion at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Finkel made up ground with a late push and touched the wall in 1:43.21, breaking the Division III national record held by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' Frank Applebaum. He becomes the first Conn College swimmer to win multiple national titles, as he was also victorious in the 500 freestyle earlier this week.

With the fourth-fastest time of the morning session, Finkel had a tall order ahead of him in the championship final. Applebaum—the two-time defending champion in the 200 fly—turned in the fastest time of the prelims and looked prime for another repeat.

Finkel, swimming in lane six, had Applebaum two lanes over to his right at the start. Between them was Chicago's Jesse Ssengonzi in lane five, and the three would battle throughout the race.

Applebaum led the group out in 48.43 over the opening 100, with Ssengonzi in second and Finkel a close third. The order was the same at the 150-mark, leaving Finkel with work to do in the last 50. He caught Ssengonzi before the final turn and went head-to-head with Applebaum in a sprint to the finish, out-touching him at the wall to win by .18 seconds.

"A lot of things are going through my head right now," said Finkel after the race. "I've been working on it for a while—I've done a lot of 200 fly pace—and I'm glad to see it paid off. I worked on my turns a lot this morning, because that was something I fell short on. I'm thankful for everyone who is here—all my friends and family, coaches, and faculty. I'm overwhelmed right now, and happy."

Finkel shaved 3.6 seconds off his morning prelims time en route to the win. In the process, he swam the race faster than any Division III athlete has ever done before.

"My goal was to have a better race than this morning, go a best time," Finkel said of the performance. "My best time coming into it was a 1:44.3, so I was trying to go a little bit under that, and I guess the record time just came with it. I was really happy with the end result."  

Finkel becomes just the second Conn College student-athlete to win multiple national titles, and the first to do so in the same NCAA Championship. Michael LeDuc won three national titles, two of which came in outdoor track (2013, 2014) and the other in cross country (2013).

Finkel's performance capped an impressive three days for the junior. In addition to the two national titles, he also finished fourth in the 200 free. He is the first men's swimmer in Conn College history to qualify for championship finals in three individual events at the same NCAA Championship, and he earned All-America honors in each.