COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's swimming team turned what looked on paper to be an evenly matched affair into a record-breaking runaway on Saturday, riding another Jake Menzer triple and four new pool standards to a 115-85 rout of Washington College on Senior Day.
After honoring seniors Christopher Barthold, Carl Christoph, and Colin McNamara in a pre-meet ceremony, the Bears (8-3, 4-2) went to work on dismantling a Shoremen squad that came in with a winning record in conference duals and had won the past four head-to-head matchups between the programs. Much of that was due to sophomore Jacob Menzer, who piled up three individual wins for the second straight outing and added a pool record for good measure; and freshman Michael Prior, who had a hand in both new pool records to continue a sensational rookie campaign.
Both relay groupings made Elliott Pool history, and McNamara was involved in both record-setting swims in addition to takin first place in the 200 fly in the last home meet of his career. Sophomore Casey Lear joined McNamara on both the 400 medley relay and 200 free relay.
Ursinus could hardly have asked for a better start. Prior joined junior Maxwell Coulter, McNamara, and Lear to break the Elliott Pool record in the 400 medley relay. The Bears' time of 3:32.89 was just a hair shy of three seconds better than the mark set by Washington College in 2016.
Menzer easily took first place in with a 9:56.89 in the 1000 free before junior Daniel Becker (1:47.50) and sophomore Casey Lear (1:47.89) went 1-2 with a close finish in the 200 free.
The Bears' freestyle domination continued in the 50, where junior Travis Venables took home top honors in the day's most exciting race. Venables touched the wall in 21.92 seconds, just .01 ticks ahead of Washington College's Cody Weiler in second.
Menzer made it two individual wins with a pool-record 4:13.74 in the 400 IM, which moved him up three spots to third in the conference and was a whopping 10.39 seconds better than the previous record set by a Gettysburg swimmer in 2013. Junior James Callaghan also logged a season low with a 4:21.72, good for second place and also ahead of the former mark. The third-place finisher, Washington's Brendan Jones, also bettered the previous record.
McNamara made his Senior Day one to remember with a first-place swim in the 200 fly (1:58.98), finishing just over a second ahead of teammate Johnathan Myers (2:00.01).
Prior gave the Bears a second pool record in the 200 back, posting a clocking of 1:55.94 to take first place and edge William Benn's previous mark of 1:55.98 that had stood since 2013.
Menzer completed his trifecta with a 4:45.23 in the 500 free. Barthold was third in 4:56.26 for Ursinus.
Ursinus concluded the meet in fitting fashion, shattering another pool record in the 200 free relay as McNamara, Lear, sophomore Jared Krawetz, and Venables teamed up for a 1:26.55, a full 1.20 seconds faster than the clocking established by a Gettysburg relay in 2011.
The men's swimming team now gears up for the Centennial Conference Championships, which take over Franklin & Marshall from February 22-25.