Heil Sets 200 Yard Freestyle Record at NEAC Championships

CAZENOVIA, N.Y. – Freshman Austin Heil (Medina, N.Y.) set the 200 Yard Freestyle record for the Wells College men's swimming team at the North Eastern Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday. Through two days of competition, the Express remain in second place with 325.5 points.

SUNY Cobleskill leads the four-team field with 342.5 points while Gallaudet is ranked third with 234 points. The hosts from Cazenovia College, competing with a limited roster, are fourth with 51 points through 26 events. Heading into the third and final day of competition on Sunday, Wells has posted 12 new times in the All-Wells Top 10 program records and set once program record.

Heil's time of 1:55.51 in the 200 Yard Freestyle beat the previous team record time of 1:55.80, set by current Assistant Coach Matthew Sleezer '14. He touched the wall in second place in the finals, finishing one place ahead of Owen May (Warsaw, N.Y.) whose time of 1:57.60 is not only a personal best, but also the fourth-lowest in team history.

Junior Keith Davenport (Weedsport, N.Y.) collected the first of two top finishes for Wells, completing the 400 Yard Individual Medley in 5:41.50 to post the seventh-best time in program history. Snell trailed Davenport with a second place time of 6:01.25, the ninth-fastest since the program's inception.

Freshman Jordan Johnson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) picked up a first place finish in the 100 Yard Backstroke finals (1:07.07), posting the eighth-fastest time in team history in the preliminary round (1:07.83) as well.

Wells recorded a time of 1:53.07 in the 200 Yard Medley Relay as Johnson, freshman Arthur Brooks (Morristown, N.J.), May and Heil combined to post the 10th-fastest time in program history in the B relay finals, earning 14 points in the process. The A relay of Davenport, sophomore Tyler Lewis (Chittenango, N.Y.), classmate Shawn Snell (Hilton, N.Y.) and junior Lucas Donnenwirth (Frankfort, N.Y.) cashed in with a time of 2:05.15, drawing 26 points.

Brooks later competed in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, drawing third place with a career-low time of 1:11.48 to collect 12 points for his team.

Both of Wells' entries in the 800 Yard Freestyle Relay cracked the All-Wells Top 10 list as Donnenwirth, Davenport, May and Heil chipped in with the fourth-best time (8:30.44) to take second while freshman Brandon Sprague (Brockton, Mass.), Snell, Lewis and Brooks' time was the 10th-lowest in history (9:51.23).

Wells will look to finish strong in the third and final day of competition at the NEAC Championships Sunday morning at 10 a.m. – the finals will begin at 4:45 p.m. on the campus of Cazenovia College.