Last week, Max Cory ’26 of Dublin, Calif., captured the college’s first national swim title, winning the 100-yard freestyle at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
In so doing, Cory put to rest self-doubt that he can perform his best under the highest pressure. Self-effacing and candid, he shared with Aaron Morse, host of the long-running Bates Bobcast, how, in the past, he “tended to swim worse when the pressure’s on.”
Not this time. No way: His time of 42.88 seconds set a Division III record. “I beat the finals choker allegations,” he told Morse.
Watch Max Cory’s record-setting victory in the 100-yard freestyle at the NCAA meet on March 22, 2025:
Cory’s interview with Morse touches on his historic swim, his family’s support, how he returned to campus refreshed after the fall semester in Stockholm, Sweden, and his academic interests.
This summer, he’ll be staying on campus to work in the Bates lab of Ryan Bavis, the Helen A. Papaioanou Professor of Biological Sciences, who is investigating Sudden Death Infant Syndrome with support from a major NIH grant.
Morse: At the NCAA meet, you were a little nervous maybe between preliminaries and finals. How’d you calm yourself down? How’d you get ready for the big swim?
Cory: To be honest, I never really calmed down. I was freaked out. I talked with my teammates. I just tried to latch onto them and garner support from them. If I choked there, I would’ve been crushed. So thank God I somehow mustered up the courage and got up on the blocks and made it happen.
Morse: And what was your reaction when you looked up at that scoreboard?
Cory: I knew the record was close, but historically I am a huge finals choker. I tend to swim worse when the pressure’s on. So I just really wanted the win, and then lo and behold, the record came with it. I was just really happy I finally beat the finals choker allegations. There’s a lot of evidence against me.
Morse: And how many text messages and calls did you have afterwards?
Cory: I could just feel my phone exploding and I wanted to check it bad. I wanted to text my family. When I took it out after the post-race interview, it was really awesome to see all the support I was getting from all kinds of people.
Morse: Can you elaborate a little bit more on what your family’s support means to you?
Cory: My brother and my mom are always pushing me. On Wednesday when I came in second in the 50, boy did they light me up.
But that really helps drive me forward, I’m always trying to meet their expectations. And my dad and my sister are just all love. When I got second in the 50 they picked me back up. I’d be nothing without the support of my family.
Morse: You’re majoring in biochemistry here. Tell me a little bit about that major.
Cory: I’ve always been interested in the medical field, so biochemistry was a natural step for me. This summer. I’m going to be doing research at Bates with Ryan Bavis, which is awesome. It’s an opportunity that you might not get at bigger schools, which is something I’m really happy about.
Morse: And you spent the fall semester abroad, right? Normally that’s a challenge for swimmers to come back in the middle of the season, but it seems like it wasn’t an issue for you.
Cory: Physically, I might not be quite as good as if I stayed on campus and trained. But mentally it’s so awesome to have a break from all the stress of college swimming and meet a bunch of new people and learn a bunch of new things. I think it totally contributed positively towards my career this year.
Morse: Is there anything else you’d like to mention about the race we haven’t gotten to talk about?
Cory: I’m just really excited for next season. Obviously I was pumped when I hit the wall and I saw the record go down, but I also know I’ve got so much more in me for next year.
Morse: What does that mean to you in terms of the legacy of this program?
Cory: It’s awesome. It’s a career-defining swim for me, and it puts my name in the books, but more importantly, it’s going to garner more attention to Bates as a program as a whole, to help it grow into something even greater, which I have got no doubt that it can be.
