From now until the end of the calendar year, the Vassar Athletic Department is counting down the Brewers' top 10 moments of 2018 across all sports. The countdown continues with moment No. 8, from Feb. 24. Max White was exceptional at the Liberty League Swimming & Diving Championships, setting four school records, winning the conference title in the 500 yard freestyle and being named Liberty League Rookie of the Year.
Moment #9: Cornwall, Edwards Make Doubles Final at ITAs
Moment #10: Baseball Sweeps, Clinches Playoff Berth On Final Day
ITHACA, NY (Feb. 24, 2018) – The Vassar College men's swimming & diving team finished the 2017-18 season Saturday at the fourth and final day of competition in the 2018 Liberty League Championships, hosted at the Athletics & Events Center Aquatics Pavilion on the campus of Ithaca College. The Brewers ended the competition seventh in the team standings with 568 points.
Along with that,
Max White (Green Bay, WI) was honored as the Liberty League Championships Male Rookie of the Year. White became the Brewers' second Rookie of the Year joining Ben Chung from back in 1999, as the Vassar freshman chalked up 86 points in individual events while becoming Vassar's second-ever Liberty League champion in the 500 yard freestyle on Wednesday.
He broke the longest-standing school record with his victory in the 500 freestyle. White shattered Ben Chung's 18-year old mark of 4:43.55 by swimming a 4:40.39 in the preliminaries to qualify for the "A" final as the No. 2 seed. White was consistent throughout the race, sitting between 27.79 and 28.71 seconds for all of his split times.
In the finals, White came back against defending Liberty League 500 freestyle champion Trevor Maxfield of RPI. He caught Maxfield over the final 100 yards, posting back-to-back splits of 27.90 and 27.1 seconds over the final two laps. He finished in 4:35.18 to break both the school and Liberty League Championships record and become just the second Vassar men's swimmer to win a conference title.
White crushed another of Chung's records in the 200 freestyle. He earned the No. 2 seed for the final with a time of 1:41.63 in the morning prelims. That time was more than four seconds faster than Chung's 1:45.98 clocking from 2000. In the final that evening, White was just out-touched by Bard's Dio Tzortzis, taking second in 1:41.73.
His third individual school record came in the 200 backstroke. White placed fifth overall with a 1:56.48 clocking, nearly two seconds faster than his time in the prelims (1:58.14) and more than a second ahead of the his then-program record 1:57.99 swim from earlier in the season.
A fourth school record fell in the 800 freestyle relay. The Brewers' team of
Jordan Kalina (Palatine, IL),
Harrison Taylor (Wyandanch, NY), White and
Jonah Strand (Woodstock, NY) shattered the old mark. Their time of 7:07.89, which was good for fifth place in the event, was more than five seconds than the previous standard of 7:12.94. White swam the third leg and had the second-fastest time of the entire race with a 1:41.83 split.
Overall, White contributed 86 of the Brewers' 568 points at the Championships. He captured one conference title (500 freestyle), with second- and fourth-place finishes in his other two individual events. White set a school record in each race, as well.
