WATERVILLE, Maine -- The Bates swimming and diving teams competed at the two-day Maine Collegiate Invite on Friday and Saturday, with the men's team finishing second out of eight schools and the women's team taking fourth place. 

The Bates men's team scored 791 points, finishing runner-up in a close finish to the University of Maine's 811.5 points. The Bobcats edged rival Bowdoin by 17.5 points and finished well ahead of fourth-place Colby, as the Mules scored 732 points.

Meanwhile, the Bates women's team scored 488 points, with a number of Bobcats recording lifetime bests.

Bates Men's Highlights

• Sophomore John Weigel (Iowa City, Iowa) and first-year Nate Oppenheim (Easton, Conn.) finished 1-2 in the 50-yard butterfly, with Weigel winning in 22.52 seconds. Oppenheim touched the wall in 22.54 seconds.
• Junior Marrich Somridhivej (South Windsor, Conn.) won the 50-yard breaststroke in a Maine Collegiate Invite record time of 25.27 seconds.
• Oppenheim and Weigel went 1-2 in the 200-yard IM, as Oppenheim won the race in a Maine Collegiate Invite record time of 1:52.53. Weigel touched the wall in 1:52.71.
• Sophomore Tim Johnson (Brewster, Mass.), Somridhivej, Weigel, and Oppenheim won the 200-yard medley relay in a Maine Collegiate Invite record time of 1:30.24.
• Oppenheim won the 400-yard IM in a Maine Collegiate Invite record time of 4:01.92.
• Weigel won the 200-yard freestyle in a Maine Collegiate Invite record time of 1:41.24.
• Somridhivej and Oppenheim finished 1-2 in the 100-yard breaststroke, as Somridhivej recorded an NCAA "B" Cut time of 55.04 seconds and Oppenheim touched the wall in 56.17 seconds.
• First-year Anton Kondratyev (Belle Mead, N.J.) won the 1650-yard freestyle in 16:20.26.
• Johnson won the 200-yard backstroke in 1:50.05.
• Oppenheim and Somridhivej took 1-2 in the 200-yard breaststroke, as Oppenheim won in 2:04.51 while Somridhivej finished the race in 2:07.81.
• Oppenheim broke the school record in the 100-yard IM, taking second place in the event in 50.99 seconds.

Bates Women's Highlights

• Sophomore Sarah Palmer (Brunswick, Maine) won the 100-yard breaststroke with an NCAA "B" Cut time of 1:04.16.
• Palmer tied her school record in the 200-yard breaststroke with her NCAA "B" Cut time of 2:18.61, as she won the race by nearly four seconds.
• Palmer finished runner-up in the 50-yard breaststroke in 29.53 seconds.
• First-year Erin Barisonek (New Vernon, N.J.), Palmer, junior Emma Burke (New Hartford, N.Y.), and senior captain Stephanie Tropper (Solon, Ohio) took third place in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:47.21.
• Tropper placed third in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:54.18.
• Tropper was the runner-up in the 1650-yard freestyle in 17:31.09.
• Burke placed third in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:07.02.

The Bobcats also competed in a mixed 400-yard medley relay, and the Bates team of Johnson, Palmer, Burke, and Oppenheim finished in second place with a time of 3:37.36.

Bates swim and dive is back in action Saturday, Jan. 4 at 1 p.m. when the Bobcats host Dartmouth for a dual meet at Tarbell Pool.