Graham Chatoor broke his own program record in the men's 500-yard freestyle as he and Thomas Pritchard finished second and third, respectively, to highlight New York University's showing on day one of the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, IN.

"We got off to a good start today, especially in the 500 freestyle," said Head Swimming Coach Trevor Miele. "Thomas and Graham both swam outstanding races, as did Caitlin and Leydn."

Chatoor's time of 4:24.00 in the 500 free finals was 0.34 seconds faster than the previous program record he set during the 2019-20 season. Pritchard completed the race in 4:24.37 to place third as both swimmers became All-Americans in the event with their top-eight finishes. Chatoor was second (4:24.47) while Pritchard came in seventh (4:27.06) in the morning preliminaries as the latter jumped four spots in the evening session. Connor Vincent (19th) and Nathaniel Yeoh (28th) also raced in the 500 free prelims.

"Graham and Thomas came in and got the job done in the morning to set themselves up for the championship final tonight," commented Assistant Coach Erica Belcher. "They're training partners and they worked so hard this year, every single day, to finish that race stronger than anyone and it showed. I'm excited to see what they can do the rest of the week!"

In the women's 500 freestyle, Leydn McEvoy finished ninth in prelims (4:55.70) while Caitlin Marshall placed 15th (4:57.81) as both qualified for the consolation finals to guarantee team points in the event for NYU. Marshall jumped to 13th (4:56.78) in the evening session and McEvoy placed 11th (4:55.82), totaling 10 points for the Violets. Ashley Brodnick (40th) and Georgia Basil (42nd) were NYU's other women's 500 free qualifiers who swam in the morning session.

"Both Leydn and Caitlin swam really smart, controlled races tonight and were about to finish up very strong," Miele added. "It's exciting that both of them are underclassmen and we're about to make it back in their first event at NCAAs."

NYU swimmers also competed in the 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relay preliminaries this morning.

Gabriel Giacoppo (36th) represented NYU in the men's 200 IM while Julianna Sosnowski (26th), Candice Saxod (37th) and Emily Ma (57th) swam on the women's side.

Jessica Flynn (35th) and Nika Kouznetsova (46th) were the Violets' 50 free qualifiers for the women, while Ajay Watanakun (32nd) and Alec Reimon (40th) swam for the men.

In the 200 medley relay, the group of Violet women placed 17th and men 20th during the preliminary round. 

Men's three-meter diving was held today as well, with Hunter Whitbeck hitting the boards and scoring 389.25 points to finish 20th.

Day two of the Championships starts tomorrow at 10 am, beginning with the 200-yard freestyle relay. Other events tomorrow include the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 400 medley relay and women's one-meter diving.