It had been a great four days for the Terrapin men’s swimming and diving team.

The Terps had set new program bests in 14 events. They were poised to improve on last year’s finish in the ACC men’s swimming and diving championship. They were ready to head into the second leg of their championship season with a roster performing at its highest level all season.

Then late Saturday night, one call put arguably the only damper on the weekend’s activities for the Terps. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the squad was disqualified after one official judged a Terp swimmer of leaving his starting block early.

The team was awarded no points, allowing Duke to leapfrog into seventh place, ahead of the Terps by just 3.5 points. The Terps had occupied the seventh spot for three days, hopeful they would be able to hold on and improve on last year’s eighth-place finish. They ultimately didn’t, but coach Sean Schimmel said the result was immaterial.

“The guys stood up and handled it like men, but unfortunately, it changed our position,” Schimmel said. “Championships are not done yet.”

Though the sheer number of records broken was surprising, Schimmel said the swimmer who earned more than a fifth of them might have been more so. From Thursday to Saturday, freshman Andrew Relihan broke one program record each day.

Thursday, Relihan made the team’s first and only trip to the podium after a record time in the 200-yard IM (1:46.03) earned him third place overall. Friday, he finished sixth in the 400-yard IM with another school record (3:48.40). And Saturday, he continued with an 11th-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke that made his final dent in the record book (1:44.52).

“He does things at a higher level,” Schimmel said of Relihan. “We didn’t know Andrew was gonna be able to jump to that level in all three events as a freshman, but he did a good job.”

It wasn’t just the team’s young guns getting the job done. Seniors Andy Dilz and Eric Cullen put in some of their best performances all season to score the Terps valuable points. Dilz set numerous career bests in the meet and was also a part of several record-breaking relay teams.

Just one day after establishing a new record in the 100-yard breaststroke in the prelim swims (53.81), Cullen broke his own school record in the 200-yard breaststroke (1:59.45) with a 12th-place finish Saturday.

“His determination all year, especially the last three months, has just been on,” Schimmel said. “It showed up this last weekend.”

All told, the Terps broke records in two-thirds of the meet’s events, setting new bests in 14 of 21 events. The Terps also did not trot out a competitor for the meet’s three diving events, potentially costing the team valuable points but also making the record-breaking regularity even more impressive.

Even though his team did not finish in the upper tier of the championship, Schimmel said he was proud to be involved with such history in his first season as coach.

“It’s just a real honor to me to be a part of this,” Schimmel said. “The guys and girls worked hard this year, and they deserve it.”

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