CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Three records fell and the 200-yard freestyle relay placed second to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's swimming & diving team on day two of the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships hosted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center Pool in Cambridge, Mass.
The Lyons have tallied 234 points after two days to sit in fifth place overall, behind Babson College's count of 279 points. Host MIT leads the title meet with 524.5 points.
Wheaton's 200-yard freestyle relay unit of first year Marcus Tran (Milton, Mass.) and seniors Will Larson (Iowa City, Iowa), Gavin Cullinan (Cumming, Ga.) and Brian Hixson (Scituate, Mass.) combined for a time of 1:21.81 to place second to open the night. The same quartet broke the school record by more than a second in the morning's preliminary with a new standard and NCAA B-cut time of 1:21.24 to upend the former mark of 1:22.55 set last year by Anton Lopez '25, Cullinan, Larson and Hixson on February 21 at the NEWMAC Championship.
The Lyons also received points in the relay from their second unit comprised of senior Andrew Tran (Milton, Mass.), first year Addy Farag (Alexanria, Egypt), sophomore Koby Wulfmeyer (New Paltz, N.Y.) and first year Abel Haller (Needham, Mass.), which combined for a time of 1:26.05 to finish 12th.
Marcus Tran broke a record of his own on the day, turning in a new school mark and NCAA B-cut time of 20.24 in the morning preliminary for the 50-yard freestyle to displace the former record of 20.36 set on March 15, 2007 by Barrett Roberts '07. Tran placed third in the evening finals with a time of 20.41 for Wheaton. The Lyons piled up more points in the race with a fourth-place effort from Hixson on a time of 20.61, while Larson finished 14th with a mark of 21.15. Both Hixson (20.54) and Larson (21.09) set personal-record times in the race in the prelims.
Cullinan also set a new school record with a time of 22.20 in a morning time trial for the 50-yard butterfly to supplant Jonathan Dunnett's '18 former standard of 22.96 from February 24, 2018.
Wheaton finished fifth in the 400-yard medley relay with a season-best time of 3:26.99 behind junior Jadyn Arnold's (Oakland, Maine) lead backstroke, before Andrew Tran's breaststroke. First year Leo Bailon Garcia (Guatemala City, Guatemala) swam the butterfly leg, followed by Wulfmeyer's freestyle anchor. The Lyons also received points from their second unit with a 12th-place showing. Larson, junior Kevin Rice (Vienna, Va.), Farag and Haller combined for a time of 3:29.99.
Rice tallied points on his own with a 10th-place effort in the 500-yard freestyle behind a time of 4:42.99, while first year Nate Contreras (Coalville, Utah) finished 18th with a time of 4:54.84. He set a personal-record with a mark of 4:52.27 in the morning swim. Andrew Tran also scored points for Wheaton with a clip of 1:55.67 to place 15th in the 200-yard individual medley.
The Lyons return to the pool tomorrow for the day three preliminaries in Cambridge at 10:00 a.m.
