Males’s swimming makes historical past with sixth-place end at NCAA Championships

INDIANAPOLIS — Bates males’s swimming made a splash this weekend by ending in sixth place out of 46 scoring groups on the NCAA Championships, the most effective efficiency on the nationwide stage in program historical past. 

“Finishing in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships is something I promised the team we would do 19 years ago during my first team meeting when we were 11th in NESCAC,” head coach Peter Casares mentioned. “Now, that day is here and I couldn’t be prouder of these men.” 

Previously, the most effective finishes for the respective Bates swim groups on the NCAA Championships have been eleventh for the ladies in 2015 and thirteenth for the lads in 2025. The Bates males’s workforce led all NESCAC colleges with a program-record 185 factors this yr, profitable a pair of nationwide titles alongside the best way. 

On Saturday, the Bobcats turned in six All-America performances to complete the four-day nationwide meet in type.

• Senior captain Max Cory (Dublin, Calif.) positioned fourth within the 100-yard freestyle in 43.24 seconds.
• Junior Tim Johnson (Brewster, Mass.) broke his personal Bates report within the 200-yard backstroke and took fifth within the championship remaining in 1:45.22, the most effective end ever by a Bobcat within the 200 again at NCAAs.
• Junior Sarah Palmer (Brunswick, Maine) represented the ladies’s workforce with panache, ending sixth within the championship remaining of the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:17.50. Palmer scored 19 factors on the meet, which put the Bates ladies in a tie for twenty sixth place out of 44 scoring groups. She is now a six-time All-American and her sixth-place displaying within the 200 breast is the most effective ever by a Bobcat on the NCAA Championships.
• Senior captain Marrich Somridhivej (South Windsor, Conn.) broke his personal Bates report within the 200-yard breaststroke within the morning prelims along with his time of 1:59.61. Then he positioned fifth within the comfort remaining in 2:00.14, good for thirteenth place total. Somridhivej finishes his Bates profession as a two-time nationwide champion and a 10-time All-American.
• Junior John Weigel (Iowa City, Iowa) recorded a time of 44.32 seconds within the morning prelims of the 100-yard freestyle to qualify for the comfort remaining, the place he took seventh in 44.48 seconds to position fifteenth total within the occasion. 
• The 400-yard freestyle relay workforce of Weigel, Johnson, senior Nate Pierce (Fairfield, Maine), and Cory took fourth within the championship remaining in 2:57.90, the most effective end by a Bates 400 free relay at NCAAs in program historical past. Weigel is now a six-time All-American, Johnson is a nine-time All-American, Pierce graduates as a three-time All-American, and Cory wraps up his Bates profession as probably the most embellished males’s sport athlete at school historical past with 15 All-America honors and two nationwide championships.

With nationwide championships within the 400-yard medley relay and the 100-yard breaststroke this yr, Bates males’s swimming can declare three NCAA titles, tied for the fourth-most amongst Bates sports activities with ladies’s out of doors monitor and area. Overall, Bates athletics has gained 33 nationwide championships.