The Barton Community College men's swimming team wrapped up four days of competition Saturday with a fifth-place finish at the NJCAA Swimming & Diving Championships held at the Indian River State Aquatics Center in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Across the meet's 25 events, the Cougars totaled 381 points behind 19 program top-10 impacts and 43 personal-best swims against the 11-team national field, closing out the 2025-26 campaign.
Host Indian River State extended its national dominance with a 52nd consecutive team championship, scoring 1,255 points. Southwest Oregon finished second with 802, while Iowa Western placed third with 593.
Freshman Caio Ribeiro delivered Barton's most dominant showing of the championships in his national meet debut, accounting for the Cougars' top four individual finishes while setting four new program records. C. Ribeiro led the 13-man Barton contingent with 66 points, highlighted by a pair of national runner-up finishes in the 100-yard freestyle (44.90) and 200 freestyle (1:36.80).
He added two additional podium performances with bronze-medal finishes in the 500 freestyle (4:26.37) and 1000 freestyle (9:34.21), completing one of the most productive individual championship performances by a Cougar.
Fellow freshman Ricardo Marques supplied the Cougars' second-highest point total, finishing with 46 points behind three A-final appearances. Marques placed fifth in the 200 butterfly (1:54.26), sixth in the 50 butterfly (22.46) to move into second all-time in program history, and concluded with a seventh-place finish in the 100 butterfly (50.36).
Mateo Wallet rounded out Barton's individual A-final finishers, adding 38 points to the Cougars' team total in his final national meet appearance. The sophomore produced his top outing in the 100 backstroke, placing sixth (51.31) to move into fifth on the Barton all-time performance list.
The Cougars also delivered a strong collective showing in the relay events, placing all five relay teams inside the top five while each posting times that landed in Barton's program top-10 record books. The Cougars' top relay finishes came in the 800 freestyle and 200 freestyle relays, both earning bronze medals.
The 800 freestyle relay team of Javier Vargas Hidalgo, Joao Ribeiro, Wallet, and C. Ribeiro finished with the program's second quickest time (6:53.94), while the 200 freestyle relay of J. Ribeiro, Cameron Sein, Wallet, and Marques dialed in the third all-time stoppage (1:23.81).
Barton added two fourth-place relay finished in the 400 medley relay (3:29.05) and 400 freestyle relay (3:05.22), while the 200 medley relay rounded out the scoring with a fifth-place finish (1:36.17), all landing inside the program's all-time top-10 list.
Barton Men's Results
50 Backstroke: 8th - Javier Vargas Hidalgo (24.35) (24.16 PB *5th program fastest in Prelims); 19th - Connor Watson (26.62)
50 Breaststroke: 21st - Juan Gonzalez Gomez (34.00 PB); 22nd - Lautaro Caspe (35.33 PB)
50 Butterfly: 6th - Ricardo Marques (22.46 PB *2nd program best); 15th - Kaiden Dalton (24.21) (24.13 PB in Prelims); 28th - Gabriel Taylor (26.21 PB); 29th - Skyler Fair (26.28 PB)
50 Freestyle: 9th – Mateo Wallet (21.12 PB *8th program fastest); 10th - Ricardo Marques (21.13 PB *9th program fastest); 11th - Joao Ribeiro (21.43 PB); 12th - Cameron Sein (21.46 PB); 26th - Skylar Fair (25.42 SB); 27th - Juan Gonzalez Gomez (25.74 PB)
100 Backstroke: 6th - Mateo Wallet (51.31 PB *5th program fastest); 19th - Connor Watson (58.58 PB)
100 Breaststroke: 18th - Skyler Fair (1:15.58 PB); 19th - Juan Gonzalez Gomez (1:17.59 PB)
100 Butterfly: 7th - Ricardo Marques (50.36); 12th Cameron Sein (53.33 PB); 13th - Kaiden Dalton (53.87 PB); 20th - Skyler Fair (58.54 PB); 21st - Gabriel Taylor (59.06 PB)
100 Freestyle: 2nd - Caio Ribeiro (44.90 SCHOOL RECORD); 9th - Mateo Wallet (46.33 PB *6th program fastest); 10th - Joao Ribeiro (46.97 PB); 11th - Javier Vargas Hidalgo (47.09); 18th - Cameron Sein (49.19); 21st - Kaiden Dalton (49.84 PB); 24th - Gabriel Taylor (54.36 PB)
100 IM: 11th - Javier Vargas Hidalgo (54.01 PB *10th program fastest); 14th - Joao Ribeiro (55.83 PB)200 Backstroke: 16th - Connor Watson (2:11.35) (2:11.06 PB in Prelims)
200 Breaststroke: 200 Breaststroke: 18th - Cameron Sein (2:25.46); 24th Benjamin Heppler (2:36.07)
200 Butterfly: 5th - Ricardo Marques (1:54.26); 11th - Kaiden Dalton (2:09.45) (2:09.13 PB in Prelims)
200 Freestyle: 2nd - Caio Ribeiro (1:36.80 SCHOOL RECORD); 10th - Mateo Wallet (1:41.67 PB *4th program fastest); 11th - Javier Vargas Hidalgo (1:43.02) (1:43.01 PB *6th program fastest in Prelims)
200 IM: 16th - Connor Watson (2:12.34 PB)400 IM: 14th - Joao Ribeiro (4:37.45 PB *10th program fastest)
500 Freestyle: 3rd - Caio Ribeiro (4:26.37 SCHOOL RECORD); 18th - Benjamin Heppler (5:25.27)
1000 Freestyle: 3rd - Caio Ribeiro (9:34.21 SCHOOL RECORD); 13th - Benjamin Heppler (11:13.86 PB); 18th - Gabriel Taylor (13:12.44)
1650 Freestyle: 13th - Benjamin Heppler (19:31.34 PB)
200 Freestyle Relay: 3rd - Joao Ribeiro, Cameron Sein, Mateo Wallet, Ricardo Marques (1:23.81 PB *3rd program fastest)
200 Medley Relay: 5th - Javier Vargas Hidalgo, Caio Ribeiro, Ricardo Marques, Cameron Sein (1:36.17 PB *8th program fastest)
400 Freestyle Relay: 4th - Javier Vargas Hidalgo, Joao Ribeiro, Mateo Wallet, Caio Ribeiro (3:05.22 PB *2nd program fastest)
400 Medley Relay: 4th - Mateo Wallet, Cameron Sein, Ricardo Marques, Caio Ribeiro (3:29.05 PB *6th program fastest)
800 Freestyle Relay: 3rd - Javier Vargas Hidalgo, Joao Ribeiro, Mateo Wallet, Caio Ribeiro (6:53.94 PB *2nd program fastest)