ANNAPOLIS, Md. –
Brian Loeffler led the Loyola University Maryland men's swimming and diving team to a tie for its best-ever finish at the Patriot League Championships, and the Greyhounds' head coach was named Patriot League Men's Swimming Coach of the Year following the meet.
Loeffler earned the award for the second time since the Greyhounds joined the conference in 2013-14, duplicating the honor he received in 2020 the first time Loyola finished third at the Championships.
The Greyhounds scored 1,099 points at the meet to finish third behind Navy, which won its 20
th-straight Patriot League title, and Army West Point, the second-place team for the 11
th year in a row.
Eight Loyola men finished amongst the top-40 point scorers at the meet, all tallying 54 or more points.
Max Verheyen led the way with 79 points, followed by
Henry Mueller,
Patrick Hayburn,
Joe Hayburn,
Harry Hearn,
Caleb Kelly,
Cameron Shinnick and
Michael Gozdan.
The Greyhounds excelled in the men's relays at the meet, finishing fourth or better in all six and third or higher in five.
Loyola opened the meet on the men's side with a victory in the 200 freestyle relay, striking down pool, Patriot League and Patriot League Championships records in the event. They followed that with a second-place finished in the 400 medley relay.
Loeffler has been a part of the Loyola swimming and diving program since 1987 when he began at the school as a student-athlete. He graduated from Loyola in 1991, was an assistant coach in 1991-92 and then became the head coach in 1992 and is the longest tenured head coach at the university.
In addition to being named Patriot League Men's Swimming Coach of the Year in 2020, Loeffler was a six-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, earning three men's and three women's honors.
