The Upper Main Line YMCA swim team won the Combined National Championship at the 2026 National Long Course Swimming Championship. The Berwyn-based program is the first Pennsylvania YMCA to claim the title in the event's 40-year history.

The team competed July 28 through Aug. 1 in Ocala, Florida, finishing with 1,235.5 points, as first reported by MyChesCo. Greater Spartanburg YMCA placed second with 1,003 points, and the YMCA of the Jersey Shore took third with 858, according to SwimSwam.

The 43-member roster draws from 21 schools across the region, including all three West Chester Area School District high schools: Henderson, West Chester East and Rustin. More than 450 athletes from YMCA programs nationwide competed at the five-day meet.

UMLY entered projected to finish third. Instead, 37 of its 43 swimmers advanced to finals, giving the single-branch program enough scoring depth to pull ahead of associations with 700 to 1,200 swimmers.

Two UMLY swimmers won individual national titles. Jayden Kwon took the boys' 200-meter freestyle in 1:52.31, the only swimmer in the field to break 1:53. Sebastian Tith won the boys' 100-meter breaststroke in 1:03.44, improving by more than seven-tenths of a second from prelims in a race where just 0.10 seconds separated the top three.

Kwon also placed third in the boys' 100-meter backstroke in 58.10. Both he and Tith earned qualifying cuts for the Speedo Winter Junior Championship East, scheduled for Dec. 9–12 in Indianapolis.

UMLY won the boys' team title for the first time since 2009, finishing with 663 points and edging Greater Somerset County YMCA by 8.5. The girls' team placed second nationally with 572.5 points behind Lakeland Hills Family YMCA's 615.

The 800-meter freestyle relay repeated as national champion.

Head coach Todd Conrad was named 2026 Coach of the Meet for the second straight year. He was also named a 2026 YMCA Swimming Coach of the Year earlier in 2026, according to the YMCA of Greater Brandywine.

"This championship represents so much more than what happened in the pool during one week," Conrad said. "It belongs to every athlete, coach, family member, volunteer and alumnus who has invested in this program throughout its 55-year history."

Conrad's staff included Owen Edwards, Jamie Krull, Jared Messic, Katie Dijiacomo and Gudrun Graesser. Coaches spent nearly 13 hours on deck each day during the five-day competition, according to the YMCA.

Bertram L. Lawson II, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Brandywine, said Conrad and the coaching team built a culture that challenges young athletes to pursue excellence alongside leadership and accountability.

The competitive swimming program has operated at Upper Main Line YMCA for 55 years. Kwon and Tith are next scheduled to compete at the Speedo Winter Junior Championship East in December.