GREENSBORO, Calif. – Lucas Lang finished in third place in the 500-yard freestyle, earning first-team All-America honors and setting a new CMS and SCIAC record, on the first day of the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatics Center.  

Lang swam a 4:24.54 to take third, setting a new personal best and passing the previous program and league record of 4:24.75, set by Anderson Breazeale. Justin Finkel of Connecticut College finished first in 4:22.43, and Lang finished in the middle of a tight three-swimmer race for second, with Ryan Nunez of Williams touching in 4:24.40, and Connor Vincent of NYU coming in 4:24.77.

Lang won the national title in the 1650 last year, and has been a first-team All-American in the 1650 in each of his first three seasons, coming in second as a first-year and fifth as a sophomore. This year marked his first time in the championship final in the 500, after coming in 11th twice and ninth once for second-team All-America honors, before earning his third-place finish this year to make his debut on the 500 podium.

The Stags also earned second-team All-America honors (15th) in the 400-yard medley relay, as Jeremy Tan, Evan Deedy, Dylan Krueger and Theo Johnson qualified for the final spot (16th) in the evening session by a margin of .19 in prelims. They ended up swimming a 3:17.05 in the consolation final, which ranks fifth in program history.

Day two of the NCAA Championships will take place tomorrow and will feature the men's 200-yard freestyle relay, with CMS seeded 16th (1:20.90).