The most exciting part of a swim race happens within the final laps: Anxious parents rise from their seats, cheering for their children. Teammates and coaches are jumping and waving their arms at the pool deck to get their swimmers home. The front pack of swimmers are feeding off this energy as they use their last bit of fuel left in their tanks to get to the wall.

Then, a collective pause — everything goes silent for just a brief moment. The tension of waiting for the scoreboard to show a number placement and a final time feels like an eternity. 

Loud cheers and applause erupt, and the announcer calls out a new record. The top finisher looks at the scoreboard, and in utter shock, turns to their teammates and pumps their fist in the air that makes a celebratory splash. 

This scene played out plenty of times during the three days of competition when the Boston University swimming and diving teams hosted the 19th annual Terrier Invite.

The Fitness and Recreation Center competition pool fills up each November for this annual meet, the biggest outside of the Patriot League Championship in February.

The meet typically serves as a midseason checkpoint for how the teams are doing. However, this progress check saw 10 total school and pool records go down along with 27 top-10, all-time program swimmers set.

For the first time since 2018, the women’s team (2-3, 1-2 Patriot League) won the Terrier Invite, scoring 1,150 points, dethroning the two-time defending champion Northeastern University Huskies (3-1). The men’s team (2-3, 2-1 PL) finished second overall, scoring 1,288 and falling behind Boston College (3-2).

For Head Coach James Sica, the win was an unexpected surprise.

“We talked about being our best and being ready to go and using this as just a step along the way of the grand scheme of things,” Sica said. “To put it all together and see everyone do what we know they can do to improve, to get better and to have that end result of being a team win, that’s really special.”

The first school records went down on day one of competition.

Senior Haley Newman set the record in the 200-yard individual medley. Her winning time of 2:01.11 beat the mark set by Erin Nabney in 2019.

“I’ve been trying to go for that since my freshman year,” Newman said. “The energy and emotions were super heightened, and it was almost like everyone was just giving me their energy.”

Later on in the session, the all-rookie squad of Danka Ndubuisi, Hadar Miller, Kiki Rampersad and Molly Barber lowered the school record in the 400-yard medley relay, winning the event with a time of 3:41.41.

Barber sprinted to another win for the Terriers, winning the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.90.

Newman praised the younger swimmers on the team, saying they’re a pleasure to lead and mentor throughout the season.

“I feel very grateful to be put in that position,” Newman said. “I just love the women that I’m surrounded with.”

On the men’s side, sophomore Giovanni Sullo won the 500-yard freestyle, boasting a new personal-best at 4:23.70, just under a second shy of the school record.

“I didn’t really expect it, to be honest,” Sullo said. “To drop that much in finals is really exciting.”

More school records would face their fates on day two.

Rampersad, who broke the 100-yard butterfly school record against Army and BC just under a month ago, lowered the mark again.

After breaking the record in the morning prelims with a time of 53.26, she won the finals with a time of 53.04.

But just when you thought Rampersad was done, she helped bring down another record. She, alongside Miller, Barber and sophomore Abby Han, won the 200-yard medley relay, lowering the record time set last year to 1:41.05.

The men also broke records on the second night of racing. Seniors Tony Ponomarev and Ben Cho joined juniors Henry Dvorak and Ethan Huynh to win and surpass last year’s 200 medley relay record with a 1:28.09.

To finish the night off, Sullo, sophomore Charlie Nenchev, freshman Nathan Lee and junior Jonny Farber won the 800-yard freestyle relay. Their winning time of 6:34.84 was a new pool record — the previous record was set by BC in 2021.

Other wins from the Terriers in night two included the men’s 400-yard individual medley from freshman Ethan Zhou with a time of 3:53.91 and the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay from Newman, junior Izzy Valantiejus, sophomore Katie Pestrichelli and freshman Ava Coombs with a time of 7:27.82.

The Terriers finished the meet as strong as they started it on the third and final day. 

Just like the day before, another school record met its demise in the morning prelims. Ponomarev broke the decade-old 200-yard backstroke record, clocking in at 1:43.33. His time also broke the pool record set back in 2021.

In the finals, Sullo also knocked both school and pool records with one swim, winning the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:17.84.

“It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, so it was great to finally do it, especially in front of a lot of home fans and at our own pool,” Sullo said.

Other wins from the Terriers in the final night of competition included the women’s 200-yard backstroke from sophomore Cambria Jewett at 1:58.38, the men’s 200-yard backstroke from Ponomarev at 1:45.03, the women’s 100-yard freestyle from Barber at 50.38 and the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay from Barber, freshman Lily Osborn, Rampersad and Ndubuisi at 3:22.83.

In total, the Terriers set seven school records, three pool records and 27 top-10, all-time swims.

“This was a lot of fun,” Sica said. “I’m so excited to keep having fun with this group because there’s a lot more to come. We’re only halfway through.”

The Terriers will have more than a month of preparation before their next meet, which will be a tri-meet against Colgate and Fairfield University in Hamilton, New York on Jan. 10.