“Not a Traditional DIII Power”: Swimming Wraps Historic Season at NCAAs – The Bates Scholar

In their best season ever, males’s swimming positioned sixth total on the NCAA DIII Championships ending March 21. Women’s swimming, led by Sarah Palmer as the only competitor, positioned twenty sixth.

It was a exceptional season for swimming, spearheaded by the boys’s relay group and others who broke data on the faculty, NESCAC, and nationwide degree. Head Coach Peter Casares was named National Men’s Swimming Co-Coach of the Year.

“I’ve always felt that Bates has all the ingredients to be a contender at the top-ten level,” Casares mentioned on the Bobcast on March 23. “To finally achieve that for the program for Bates, for the swimmers and divers on the team and the past athletes and the current ones, is something I couldn’t be more proud of.”

Men’s swimming carried away two nationwide titles at NCAAs this yr, each of which broke earlier data. The males’s 400-relay medley group, composed of Tim Johnson ‘27 (backstroke), co-captain Marrich Somridhivej ‘26 (breastroke), Nate Oppenheim ‘28 (butterfly) and co-captain Max Cory ‘26 (freestyle), gained their race in 3:08.43, setting a brand new DIII report.

Cory gained the 100-yard freestyle race in 2025. He additionally set an unofficial DIII report for his 50-yard break up within the 200-yard medley relay final yr. Coming off of that momentum, he mentioned specializing in the relays was extra vital to him this yr. Touching the wall within the remaining leg, his celebration was clear.

“I’ve always loved swimming, especially the 400 medley relay. That’s my favorite one,” Cory mentioned on the Bobcast. “Honestly, I knew we were going to win it, and I knew we were going to smash the record. So when I hit the wall, I’m like, ‘All right, jobs done.’”

Casares acknowledged Cory’s intentional coaching for the relay over his personal particular person occasions, saying the freestyle swimmer “put his teammates on his back.”

“He put himself second, but in doing that, became the most decorated athlete in Bates history, and probably cemented himself as the most impactful relay swimmer in our history, if not the entire country, over a course of four years,” Casares mentioned.

Somridhivej gained his personal 100-yard breaststroke race in 51.82 seconds, a brand new NESCAC report and second-fastest ever in DIII.

“After Wednesday, the [400-yard relay], I was just so excited, and it was hard to stay focused for the rest of the meet, but I kept it together, held it together,” Somridhivej mentioned on the Bobcast.

Somridhivej was a walk-on his first yr, which Casares mentioned provides to the joy of the senior’s record-breaking performances. Casares mentioned he is aware of Somridhivej’s highschool coach, and that connection allowed Somridhivej to pursue the thought of swimming in faculty, even when he had not been recruited.

“I shake my head at that. It’s unbelievable,” Casares mentioned. “He caught the bug, and he worked hard, and every single year, he kind of surprised himself with what he could accomplish, and realized that if he continued to think and work hard, that he could get faster.”

Somridhivej and Cory have completed their time as Bates swim leaders, and lots of different DIII rivals for Bates this yr had been juniors. As for Oppenheim, he has two years left on the group, and mentioned his confidence has grown from watching his upperclassmen teammates.

“While I definitely have on-paper a weaker split than some of my teammates, a lot of it for me has come down to realizing that regardless of how I’m swimming, it is a team effort,” Oppenheim mentioned on the Bobcast. “I think that over time, I’ve gotten better at realizing that no matter what I split, I’m a part of the relay, and it can’t be done without me.”

The relay group nearly gained the 200-yard medley as effectively with an obvious new DIII report, however they had been disqualified last-minute as a result of Cory was discovered to have taken off early. Bates nonetheless holds the league report from their 2025 efficiency.

“I told the team that night, we get to celebrate together when the moments are great, and we get to be together when the moments are really tough…And so in the grand scheme of life this is not something that we should be tragically upset about,” Casares mentioned

Somridhivej, Johnson, Oppenheim, Cory, Benjamin Wolking ‘27, and John Weigel ‘27 all gained All-American honors for his or her particular person performances at NCAAs. The 400-yard freestyle relay group, that includes Weigel, Johnson, Nate Pierce ‘27 and Cory, additionally earned All-American honors. Combined, the boys ranked sixth out of 46 groups, their finest end ever and solely time inserting within the prime ten groups.

Meanwhile, as the ladies’s sole nationwide competitor this yr, Palmer earned All-American honors twice, taking sixth within the 200-yard breaststroke and eleventh within the 100-yard breaststroke. Based on her outcomes alone, the ladies’s group scored twenty sixth out of 44 groups.

“I would say that that was a really fun experience, being on a team where people were breaking national records and winning national titles,” Palmer mentioned within the Bobcast. “Getting to see the Bates swim team be represented like that, and getting to swim with some of the best people, literally, in the country, and seeing what they do for warm up and what they do to eat and sleep and rest and everything, was really a good experience.”

Palmer beforehand earned All-American honors in each 2024 and 2025. Her efficiency on the regional and nationwide degree has cemented her as a constant group chief.

Casares gave Palmer kudos for her wonderful efficiency, particularly as the one member of the ladies’s group current.

“She has been a rock for us all year long,” he mentioned. “To be the lone female swimmer with with eight other guys going through the training for nationals and the resting and the preparation for it all, she did a phenomenal job balancing her love for the sport, her academics and injuries and illness, as she went through those three weeks and was just as much a part of the team as anything.”

Following their successes this yr, Casares hopes the group continues to construct on its momentum. He believes this yr won’t be the final of Bates excellence.

“This is something that we can come back and get after next year,” Casares mentioned. “Can we be top ten, two years in a row? And can we bring in recruiting classes that will allow us to do it for the foreseeable future? The ingredients are there, the table set, and now it’s continuing on this journey.”