ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Four Loyola University Maryland records were broken Wednesday evening as the Greyhounds' men's and women's swimming and diving teams opened the 2022 Patriot League Championships at the U.S. Naval Academy.
The men's team wrapped up the night in fourth place, while the women are seventh.
Max Verheyen and
Caleb Kelly swam the fastest splits of their respective legs in the 200-yard medley relay to help the Greyhounds finish second in a school-record time of 1:26.96, bettering a time of 1:28.16 which the same quartet of
Conor Rutigliano, Verheyen,
Jimmy Hayburn and Kelly clocked last April.
Rutigliano put the Greyhounds in solid position with the opening leg, and Verheyen followed with a split of 23.64 in the breakstroke leg to move Loyola into second place. Hayburn's 20.94-second split in the butterfly kept Loyola in second, and Kelly then finished with a time of 19.44 as Loyola finished behind Navy's meet-record time of 1:25.30.
The women's relay of
Lily Mead,
Abby Andrews,
Izzy Barnette and
Charley Tulio took sixth in its race with a time of 1:42.99. Mead led off the race with a school record of 24.57 in the 50-yard backstroke, putting Loyola in the lead after the opening leg.
Loyola's men came back in the 800-yard freestyle to set another relay record. Verheyen, Kelly,
Reid Hussey and
Henry Mueller finished fourth in 6:32.20, taking more than a second-and-a-half off the record of 6:33.80 set in 2020.
Verheyen's lead-off time of 1:37.74 set a school-best in the 200-yard freestyle, eclipsing Scott Heil's time of 1:37.84 in 2011.
Two Loyola divers,
Jack Still and
Dan Faunce, scored points for the men's team in the 3-meter event. Still moved up from 10
th in the prelims to ninth in the finals, scoring 249.85 points. Faunce was 15
th with 177.55.
The women's 800-yard freestyle relay team of
Laura Latham,
Gianna Moscetti,
Haley Cisewski and Barnette finished ninth in 7:37.78.
Competition resumes on Thursday morning with more preliminary action at the Patriot League Championships with finals beginning at 6 p.m.
