WATERVILLE, Maine -- The Bates men's 800-yard freestyle relay team made history on the first night of the NESCAC Championships on Thursday, recording an NCAA "B" Cut time and breaking the program record in the event along the way. 

The "A" team of junior Nate Sommer (Terre Haute, Ind.), senior Andrew Hall (Little Silver, N.J.), sophomore Mark Gregory (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and senior captain Pieter Cory (Dublin, Calif.) combined to race to the finish in 6:42.89, breaking the previous team record of 6:46.02 set at the 2018 NCAA Championships by Alex Bedard '19, Tanner Fuller '20, Jonathan Depew '18, and Teddy Pender '18. 

Williams won the race in a NESCAC record time of 6:31.93. The Bates "A" team took fourth place out of 22 teams, earning 52 points for the Bobcats. 

Bates got a strong performance from the "B" relay team as well. Senior Chris Draper (Armonk, N.Y.), sophomore Dylan Nordstrom (Pelham, N.Y.), first-year JB Whiteley (Tampa, Fla.), and senior Kyle Jorgensen (Lawrenceville, N.Y.) combined to race to the finish in 6:52.52, good for 16th place and 16 meet points. 

Combined, the Bobcats scored 68 points in the event, fifth most in the conference and only four points back of a tie for third with Conn. College and Amherst. 

Friday is the first full day of the men's NESCAC Championships, with prelims at 10am and finals at 6pm.