Champions! Men's 200 free relay takes home first NESCAC relay title in program history

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- The Bates men's 200-yard freestyle relay team captured the NESCAC title on Friday, becoming the first relay team to win a conference championship in program history.

As a team, the Bobcats sit in fourth place out of 11 schools at the NESCAC Championships with 425.5 points through the first full day of action.

Friday Highlights

Junior Max Cory (Dublin, Calif.), first-year Nate Oppenheim (Easton, Conn.), sophomore John Weigel (Iowa City, Iowa), and junior Marrich Somridhivej (South Windsor, Conn.) teamed up to set a new Middlebury pool record with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:20.56, capturing the NESCAC championship in the 200 free relay over runner-up Williams (1:20.91). Their time was also good for a new Bates record in the event, and Cory's opening split of 19.66 seconds tied his school record in the 50-yard freestyle. The Bobcats had never won a NESCAC title in a relay until Friday.
Cory wasn't done collecting hardware, as he won the NESCAC title in the 50-yard freestyle with an NCAA "B" cut time of 19.81 seconds in the championship final. It's the first NESCAC title in the 50-yard freestyle for Bates men's swimming since Teddy Pender '18 won the event in 2016.
Sophomore Tim Johnson (Brewster, Mass.), Somridhivej, Oppenheim, and Cory earned All-NESCAC honors in the 400-yard medley relay by finishing in second place with a school-record and NCAA "B" cut time of 3:14.37.
Somridhivej earned All-NESCAC honors by tying for third in the 50-yard breaststroke, setting a Bates record with his time of 24.99 seconds. Sophomore Noah Katz (Hallowell, Maine) also made the championship final, taking sixth place in 25.31 seconds.
Weigel and Johnson placed sixth and eighth respectively in the championship final of the 200-yard IM, with Weigel touching the wall in 1:50.99 and Johnson finishing in 1:51.35. Meanwhile, Oppenheim won the consolation final in 1:51.74.
Junior Kailer Tom (Daly City, Calif.) won the consolation final of the 50-yard breaststroke in 25.39 seconds, while senior captain Jack Mocarski (Fairfield, Conn.) took sixth in 25.90 seconds. Meanwhile, first-year Gavin Bavis (Lewiston, Maine) was third in the preconsolation final in 26.22 seconds.
Sophomore Liam Friedlander (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished sixth in the consolation final of the 500-yard freestyle in 4:35.83, while first-year Anton Kondratyev (Belle Mead, N.J.) won the preconsolation final in 4:36.96.
Sophomore Collin Faraher (Madison, N.J.) placed third in the preconsolation final of the 50-yard butterfly in 23.15 seconds and junior Trent Hieber (Granby, Conn.) finished seventh in 23.33 seconds.
First-year Zach White (Santa Barbara, Calif.) finished third in the preconsolation final of the 50-yard backstroke in 24.34 seconds, after recording a prelims time of 24.18 seconds.