GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Michael Prior's record-breaking performance in the 200 back put a bow on the final day of the Centennial Conference swimming championship as Ursinus wound up in fourth place at the conclusion of the four-day meet at Gettysburg.
The Bears finished with 527 team points, just 16 back of third-place Franklin & Marshall. Swarthmore ran away with a repeat conference title on 845.5 points with the host Bullets (630) in second. For the championship, Ursinus established three new school relay records in addition to seven new individual standards.
Three more school records fell on Sunday, beginning with Prior's phenomenal effort. The sophomore was sensational in the 200 back, easily surpassing his own program record from the morning prelim sessions with a 1:50.35. It was the second consecutive silver medal in the event for the sophomore, who was bested only by an NCAA B-cut time from Washington College's Andrew Feeley.
Freshman Ryan Carkhuff had already established a new school standard in claiming bronze in the 50 free on Saturday, and snared another program record with a 46.18 in the 100 free in the prelims. The rookie went even lower in the finals, posting a 46.14 to win silver.
The third program record came on the final event of the weekend as junior Jacob Menzer and Carkhuff joined juniors Casey Lear and Jared Krawetz to log a 3:06.47 in the 400 free relay, almost two seconds better than the previous standard from the 2017 season.
Menzer placed fourth in the 1650 free with a time of 16:24.85. Freshman William Clift was seventh (16:40.72) and senior Kevin Gill took ninth (17:03.51).
Senior James Callaghan earned fourth place in the 200 fly, missing the podium by under three-quarters of a second with a mark of 1:53.92.
Senior Maxwell Coulter won the B final of the 200 breast, finishing ninth with a time (2:10.12) that would have placed him sixth in the A final. Freshman Matthew Snyder's 2:11.00 was good for 10th and a personal best, while senior Reid Luksic was 11th (2:11.04).
Senior Johnathan Myers placed 11th in the 200 fly (1:58.33), and classmate Devin Nielsen took 12th in the 200 back (1:59.35).