Max Cory of Bates College celebrates after setting a new NCAA Division II record and winning the national title in the 100-yard freestyle at the Division III championships on Saturday in Greensboro, N.C. Cory’s time of 42.88 seconds was one-tenth of a second faster than the previous record, set seven years ago by Emory’s Oliver Smith. Sofiia Briantseva photo

Eight national records fell at NCAA Division III swimming national championships last week in Greensboro, North Carolina, and two were toppled by swimmers from Maine colleges.

Max Cory, a junior at Bates College, won the men’s 100-yard freestyle event in 42.88 seconds, which bested Emory’s Oliver Smith’s time of 42.98 in 2018.

“I’d say I’m definitely still on cloud nine,” Cory said. “It was a really amazing thing. I’ve been looking forward to proving myself at NCAAs all year. And, you know, ever since I hit the wall and saw the time, I’m still reeling from it. So it’s a pretty awesome feeling.”

Natalie Garre, a Bowdoin freshman, shattered the 1,650-yard freestyle (also known as the mile race) record with a 16:17.84, nearly four seconds faster than Williams College’s Sarah Thompson’s time of 16:21.44 in 2015.

“Honestly, I was really excited for this one, and with my past two miles, I’ve been pretty nervous, but in this one, I was really excited,” Garre said. “I felt like I was on pace in practice, so I was excited just to see what I could do. So that one, I think the excitement helped get me through the long race.”

Both record-setting performances happened on Saturday, the final day of the national championships.

Garre is the first swimmer in the Bowdoin women’s team program to earn multiple titles at the same national championships. She also won the 500 freestyle (4:44.90) on Wednesday, which made her only the second national title winner in program history, joining Lissa McGrath Millett, who won three in the early 1980s.

Cory, now a 10-time All-American, is Bates’ first national champion swimmer. He is the school’s first national champ since the women’s rowing team in 2021, and its first individual NCAA champ since David Pless won the shot put at the 2013 indoor track and field championships. Ahmed Abdel Khalek won a College Squash Association national championship in 2016.

“I think sometimes people don’t quite realize all that goes into something like this and how incredible it is,” Bates coach Peter Casares said. “There (are) still moments where I’m thinking, you know, Max Cory is now the fastest man in the history of Division III swimming ever. And that is something that is pretty crazy to wrap your head around. But he’s been doing some amazing things throughout the year.”

Cory, who is from Dublin, California, said his favorite race is the 50-yard freestyle, in which he finished second (19.60 seconds) at nationals on Wednesday. He had set a school record in the prelims with a time of 19.56. Coming short in the 50 motivated him for the 100.

“Yeah, 100%,” Cory said. “It was a really tough finish on day one. I really wanted the 50. That’s my favorite event. I really wanted that to be the one that I did something special in.”

Cory and Garre both had to push through pain during their races.

Cory said his game plan was to jump to an early lead and hold off his competitors.

“It was an incredibly painful race,” Cory said. “Those last 15 yards were very excruciating, but I knew I had a big lead on the field, and all I had to do was hold on — I made it happen.”

Max Cory of Bates College celebrates after setting a new NCAA Division II record and winning the national title in the 100-yard freestyle. Sofiia Briantseva photo

Garre, the NESCAC rookie of the year from Bethesda, Maryland, said she locked into a pace and into a good rhythm while counting down the 66 laps of the 1,650-yard freestyle.

“I tried to keep my goal in mind and push myself to just keep going and fighting even when it was very painful,” Garre said.

Bowdoin coach Brad Burnham said he knew at the 300-yard mark of both of Garre’s national championship finals that she was in control of her swims. He lauded her for pressing the pace from the 300- to 400-yard mark of the 500, something Garre had been working on throughout the season.

“It’s rare to find someone who embraces the work that you have to do, for her kind of racing, as much as she does,” Burnham said. “She will just keep going and work harder and harder every day, and she finds a lot of worth in doing it. … It’s worthwhile to do the work and she gets that it’s not all fun, but she’s willing to do it.”

Cory said the different style of preparation he learned last fall during a semester abroad in Sweden, at the Stockholm School of Economics, played a role in his success.

“I was training maybe, you know, probably three days a week on average, nothing too crazy,” Cory said. “I was training with the club team in Stockholm, and they kind of showed me some new ways of approaching training for swimming. It was a really interesting time. I worked a lot on my sprinting and just learned a lot from them, not just physically in terms of the training but just how to approach swimming with a different mindset, and it’s a lot of fun. I totally think it contributed to how well I’ve done this season.”