The Loomis Chaffee boys swimming & diving team finished as team runner-up at the Founders League Championships at Hotchkiss on Saturday, February 28, while setting two new school records.

The meet was one of the fastest in Founders League history, with elite performances across all teams and nearly every race producing season-best or lifetime-best times.

Sophomore Chris Nelson led the way, breaking two Loomis school records. He won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:42.42 and placed second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 51.86.

The Pelicans opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, swum by Nelson, sophomore Matt Cormier, senior co-captain Chris Zeng, and freshman Gavin Berky, with all four turning in their fastest splits of the season.

Nelson returned immediately in the 200 free to claim victory while sophomore J.C. Liu, junior Dean Tran, freshman Eric Zhang, junior Jack Read, and freshman Jeffery Liu all posted best times. Cormier followed with a third-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (IM), and senior co-captain George Mirgorodskiy placed third in the 50-yard freestyle, with Berky close behind in fifth place.

In diving, held Wednesday, February 25, at Miss Porter’s, senior Georges DeVos earned a second-place finish in his final Founders League appearance. Zeng continued the momentum with a second-place swim in the 100-yard butterfly, supported by lifetime-best performances from J.C. Liu and senior co-captain Jerry Li, who finished seventh and eighth. Junior Ethan Feng placed 12th in the event, breaking one minute for the first time.

Mirgorodskiy and Berky placed fifth and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle, both swimming best times, while junior Jack Haegele, senior co-captain Wyeth Andrews, Read, Emory Andrews, and Hank Saunders also recorded lifetime bests. Tran added a fifth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, with freshman Liam Cheng placing ninth.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of J.C. Liu, Wyeth Andrews, Berky, and Mirgorodskiy placed second with a season-best time. In the 100-yard backstroke, junior Andy Vuong and Zhang joined Nelson with fifth- and sixth-place finishes, both swimming best times. Cormier followed with a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, with Li taking sixth, while Haegele and sophomore Emory Andrews again delivered lifetime-best swims.

The Pelicans concluded the meet with a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay from the team of Nelson, Mirgorodskiy, Cormier, and Zeng, posting their fastest time of the season.

It was a tremendous day for the Pelicans, who will continue to fine-tune their racing and preparation this week ahead of the New England Championships on Saturday, March 7, at Andover.