After 44 years, the 500 free record has finally been broken by sophomore Sam Jaggers with a time of 5:02.87 on January 11, 2022. The original record was set by Walt Buery in 1978 with a time of 5:03.40. 

“[When I found out I broke the school record] it was an exhilarating feeling, getting to share it with my teammates made it a really special moment,” Jaggers said. “My first thought when seeing the time was to thank Biff [sophomore Thomas Powell].”

Jaggers has been swimming for 10 years, and Jaggers says Coach Vigar and his previous coaches have seen the 500 free to be his strong suit.

“Distance events work best for me,” Jaggers said. “My swimming isn’t super technical, I can hardly dive. Distance allows for more mistakes in form in exchange for endurance.”

Jaggers says that his events have changed occasionally but the 500 free has stayed consistent. 

Jaggers says that if he could choose any event to swim it would be the 100 fly because it seems fun to him. 

“It’s a pretty vague goal, but to keep dropping time,” Jaggers said. “The 200 IM record is something to shoot for but simply improving is what I strive for.”

Jaggers says that it’s always disappointing when he doesn’t swim a best time. 

“ Hopefully I’m not done improving,” Jaggers said. “I’ll just keep training and pushing myself until my career is finished.”

 Jaggers says that he will most likely swim in college. 

“It’s not something that sounds super fun but I can handle four more years,” Jaggers said. “It’s better to give it a shot and hate it, rather than to not try and never know.”