WORCESTER, Mass. — Junior Gavin Cullinan (Cumming, Ga.) led the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's swimming team to a fourth-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a school-record swim in the opening 200 yards this evening at the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute at the WPI Sports & Recreation Center in Worcester, Mass.

Cullinan's time of 1:40.51 to lead off the 800-relay eclipsed the former mark in the 200-yard freestyle that he established in the same pool on February 18, 2023. Cullinan shattered the standard by 1.14 seconds. 

The Lyons finished the evening with 48 points to sit in fifth place after the opening day of the four-day title meet. 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is currently the leader with 103 points, while United States Coast Guard Academy trails in second with 93 points.

Cullinan was followed by junior Brian Hixson (Scituate, Mass.), before senior Sean Hill (Ellsworth, Maine) swam the third leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay for Wheaton. Junior Will Larson (Iowa City, Iowa) closed out the race for the Lyons to cap a time of 6:50.22.

Coast Guard won the race with a mark of 6:33.07. The top four finishing teams were separated by 17 seconds. The Bears' time was posted by senior Sean Lyman (Pennsburg, Pa.), sophomore Noah Reice (Wilmington, Del.), first year Luke Giguere (Belchertown, Mass.) and senior Colin Twiss (Mahwah, N.J.). 

Wheaton returns to the pool tomorrow morning for the 10:00 a.m. preliminaries in Worcester, Mass.