GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Bates junior Max Cory finished national runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle and the men's 400-yard medley relay team took third in the country, highlighting the first day of the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships for the Bobcats.

Cory (Dublin, Calif.) recorded the fastest prelims time in the entire 50-yard freestyle field, racing to the finish in 19.56 seconds and breaking his own school record in the event. Then he took second in the championship final in 19.60 seconds, trailing only St. Mary's (Md.) senior James Schwenk, who touched the wall in 19.53 seconds. Cory's second-place finish matches Nathan Berry '23 for the best individual finish at NCAAs in program history, as Berry also took second place in the 50-yard freestyle in 2023.

Cory served as a dominant anchor in the 400-yard medley relay on Wednesday. His morning split of 42.12 seconds is believed to be the fastest 100-yard freestyle split in NCAA Division III history. The Bates team of sophomore Tim Johnson (Brewster, Mass.) in the backstroke, junior Marrich Somridhivej (South Windsor, Conn.) in the breaststroke, first-year Nate Oppenheim (Easton, Conn.) in the butterfly, and Cory in the freestyle entered the day seeded ninth out of 28 schools. They took second place in the morning prelims in 3:12.76 and followed that up with the fastest 400-yard medley relay ever swam by a NESCAC school with their school-record time of 3:12.09 in the championship final, good for third place behind just Emory (3:12.01) and Carnegie Mellon (3:10.84). It's the best relay finish at the NCAA Championships in Bates swimming history. 

Combined, the men's swimming team scored 49 points on Wednesday, good for 7th place out of 36 scoring schools with three days remaining.

Senior women's swimming captain Stephanie Tropper (Solon, Ohio) competed in the 500-yard freestyle on Wednesday and tied for 25th out of 44 competitors with her career-best time of 5:00.60. Of the 44 women in the field, she was one of just eight who improved from their previous best time. She entered the event seeded 37th, jumping up 12 spots with her performance. Sophomore Sarah Palmer (Brunswick, Maine) competed in the 50-yard freestyle for Bates and recorded a career-best time of 25.10 seconds. 

"Clearly it was a special day," head coach Peter Casares said. "Everyone who competed set career-best splits and times. The best part is the team is happy, but also knows it can continue to improve. We can clean some things up and continue to have a great meet over the next three days."

The Bobcats return to action at NCAAs on Thursday, with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.