WATERVILLE, Maine - The Husson University men's swimming & diving team set three school records on the first day of the eighth annual State of Maine Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Championship inside the Aquatics Center at the Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center on the campus of Colby College.
The team of sophomores
Alex Walsh,
Brady Hand,
Brayden Champlin, and
Ryan Emerson opened the meet by achieving an ECAC cut standard in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:29.03.
Walsh then carried that momentum into the 500-yard freestyle by becoming the first swimmer in program history to break the five minute mark in the event. He finished the race by breaking his own school record that he set one year earlier in the same pool by clocking in with a 4:58.18.
In the 50-yard breaststroke, Emerson swam to a new school record time of 28.05. The previous record of 28.39 stood for eight years.
Hand managed the break his own school record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:02.51.
Junior
Nathan Gilliam swam to season-best time of 5:17.05 in the 500-yard freestyle, while junior
Hunter Jackson set a personal-best with a 5:26.63.
Sophomores
Sam Peiser (24.70) and
Brayden Champlin (24.82) each achieved personal-best times in the 50-yard butterfly.
In the 50-yard backstroke, junior
Isaias Therio and sophomore
Jacob Brown continued the Eagles personal-best trend by swimming times of 27.84 and 30.97.
Emerson (22.18), Champlin (22.88), Peiser (23.17), and Brown (24.76) all set personal-best times in the 50-yard freestyle, while senior
Ben Carusi earned a season-best time of 25.47.
Graduate student
Spencer Bernat placed sixth in the one-meter diving with a score of 227.90 and junior
Matt Steeves finished eighth with 162.75 points.
The Eagles closed out day one of the meet with the team of Walsh, B. Hand, senior Kayla Payson and junior Rachel Hand swimming a 3:59.42 in the mixed 400-yard medley relay.
Day two of the State of Maine Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Championship will begin on Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
