Max Cory Breaks Diii Relay Split Record at Nescacs – The Bates Student

Max Cory '26 ended the performance of the Bates Men's Swim Teams at the NescAC championships with an obvious DIII record of 50 meters freestyle, which was shared on February 22nd in Middlebury, VT.

Cory anchored the 200-meter medley relay and swam the route in 18.59 seconds. Although these divisions are not always officially recorded, this time it is “assumed that it is the fastest 50-free split in the history of the NCAA Division III,” said Bates Athletics.

In addition to Tim Johnson '27, Marrich Somridhivej '26, and John Weigel '27, Cory posted a Bates record in the event with a time of 1: 27.24. They took second place behind Tufts University, which demanded a new Nescac record.

For Cory, which also set up a Nescac record in a 100-meter freestyle event with a time of 43.2 seconds and later won the event in 43.55 seconds, the record meant all the more because it was part of a team effort.

“I swim much better in seasons, and this is mainly because the adrenaline really takes up for me, and I love to swim more for the team than I do for myself,” he said. Before he started separating, Cory saw that his teammates had set up him for success with good relay columns. “I knew that it was a great opportunity for us to do something great,” the junior considered.

Nevertheless, the result was a bit of shock. “When I hit the wall, I didn't think it would be as fast as it was,” he said. “And so I was pretty surprised, but I knew it would be something special.”

At the beginning of the season on January 14th, Cory The Bates Babcast announced that it “has only one thing in my head at the moment, and that wins a season at Nescacs”. He predicted that they would win titles in two winnings. According to Cory, this team is best.

“We have a super great freshman class and the second studies had a great season this year,” said Cory. He mentioned that Weigel, Johnson and Nate Oppenheim '28 had all outstanding outbreak seeds and promotes a “huge team -wide improvement, which is why we did so much better this year.

Cory spent the autumn semester abroad in Stockholm, where he “probably average twice a week”. When he returned to the USA and joined his team on their December trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, it was difficult to return to the groove.

“These 10 days were rough, rough, rough,” said Cory. “The majority of the Janumonat was a lot of work, only the feeling of winning back for the water to get back into the right aerobic form.”

Now, before the national championship in Greensboro, NC, from March 19, Cory does not terminate.

“I take it a little for the next three days and only recover because Nescacs a four -day meeting of only … is a lot of work,” he said. But then: “We will simply get involved again … more than 20 hours a week, just try to punish the stuff that is not perfect at conferences and to make it perfect in the nationals.”