ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's swim team set championship meet, conference, and school records in three events as the 2023 Atlantic East Conference Swimming Championships got underway Friday (Feb. 10). In addition to the records, St. Mary's College collected nine podium finishes. For the second straight year, the Aquatics Center at the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center on the St. Mary's campus is serving as the host site.
 
The Seahawks currently sit second in the team standings with 195 points, 10 points behind Marymount (Va.) University. The Saints lead the six-team field with 205 points while Cabrini University, the four-time defending champion, rounds out the top-three with 173 points.
 
How It Happened

• Sophomore Luke Schwenk (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) posted a championship meet, conference, and school record as well as an NCAA B Cut in winning the 50 freestyle with a record-setting time of 20.35. This is Schwenk's second NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 50 freestyle this season.

 

• Schwenk broke the 50-freestyle championship meet and conference record twice in one day as he surpassed his own mark of 20.76 from last year's championship action (Feb. 11, 2022) in the morning's preliminaries, qualifying for the finals with a 20.65. For the school record, he shaved off 0.05 seconds from his previous mark of 20.40 set on December 3 at the Randolph-Macon College Yellow Jacket Invitational.

 

• First-year Robert Shively (Potomac, Md./Walt Whitman) earned a championship meet and conference record in the 500 freestyle as Shively captured the event in 4:43.61. Shively reset the previous mark of 4:44.45 set by Cabrini's Cameron Mousley in 2020.

 

• Schwenk and Shively were then part of the winning and record-setting 400 medley relay to end the meet. Schwenk, senior captain Anri Cifuentes Robinson (Easton, Md./Easton), Shively, and senior captain Jack Kennedy (Northampton, Pa./Northampton Area) clocked a championship meet, conference, and school record time of 3:30.55 to finish first.

 

• The Seahawks knocked off 4.89 seconds of last year's championship meet and conference record set by Cabrini (3:35.44). For the school record, the foursome broke the 10-year-old record of 3:30.88 set on February 15, 2013, at the Capital Athletic Conference Championships, shaving off 0.33 seconds.

 

• First-year William Kendrick (Laurel, Md./DeMatha Catholic), Cifuentes-Robinson, junior Sam Shenot (Upper Marlboro, Md./Leonardtown), and Schwenk started the meet with a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle in 1:27.33.

 

• Senior captain Sebastian Ludwig (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) and Kennedy both joined Shively on the podium for the 500 freestyle. Ludwig picked up a fourth-place finish in 4:54.81 followed by Kennedy in fifth in 5:02.12.

 

• First-year Jair Jackson (Laurel, Md./Chapelgate Christian) led the Seahawks in the 200 individual medley with a fifth-place finish in 2:02.05 while sophomore Sam Meisel (Chevy Chase, Md./Walter Johnson) took eighth in 2:21.25.

 

• Kendrick notched a second podium appearance with an eighth-place finish in the 50 freestyle in 22.93 while Cifuentes-Robinson won the 50-freestyle consolation final in 22.67 for ninth overall. Shenot followed Cifuentes-Robinson in 10th place in 23.13.

 
Up Next for the Seahawks

• Feb. 11 at Atlantic East Conference Championships – St. Mary's City, Md./Aquatics Center – 10:00 a.m. (Prelims) / 5:50 p.m. (Senior Recognition) / 6:00 p.m. (Finals) – Tickets

 

• Feb. 12 at Atlantic East Conference Championships – St. Mary's City, Md./Aquatics Center – 10:00 a.m. (Prelims) / 4:00 p.m. (Finals) – Tickets

 
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