The Bard College swimming team opened competition on the first day of Liberty League Championships held at Ithaca. The Raptors swam the preliminary in the morning, with Nate Dower qualifying for the 200 individual medley "C" final and the men's 400 Medley Relay. 

Nate Dower shined in his first Liberty League Championship competition, as he smashed his personal best in the 200 IM preliminary with a time of 2:07.86 (previous time 2:12.46 during the Bard vs Potsdam meet). He earned the Raptors first point during the evening "C" finals when he finished 8th and broke his personal record with a time of 2:07.69. 

The 400 medley quartet of Freddy Coronel, Owen O'Reilly, Nate Dower and Hal Beatty finished 8th with a time of 4:06.07, which beats the quartet's preliminary time of 4:06.98. This gave the Raptors 44 points and finished the day 8th in the standing, above Hobart and St. Lawrence. 

Seven other Raptors also swam a personal best in their respective events. In the 500 freestyle, Beatty shaved off close to 20 seconds of his time, while Sophie Levy cut down close to six seconds off her time. In the 50 freestyle, O'Reilly, Jose Rivera Corujo, Cooper Andrews, Maya Farwell, and Vera Topsik all swam their personal best. 

The Raptors will be back tomorrow for the second day of the championship with the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free and 200 free relay. 
 
500 Free:
Hal Beatty 5:24.84 
Sophie Levy 6:42.31 
Julia Pelletier 6:56.59 

200 IM:
Nate Dower 2:07.86 (Qualifying)  
8. Nate Dower 2:07.69 ("C" Finals) 
Olivia Dower 2:26.98 

50 Free: 
Owen O'Reilly 26.36 
Jose Rivera Corujo 27.46 
Cooper Andrews 31.40 
Maya Farwell 27.55 
Mary Mendez 28.17 
Vera Topsik 35.15 
Rose Rahimi 36.25 

400 Medley Relay 
8. Coronel, O'Reilly, Dower, Beatty 4:06.07 (Finals)