The William and Mary men's swimming team put up a terrific fight Saturday afternoon at Duke, but ultimately fell to the ACC-rivals 144-118 for its first loss of the season.  The Tribe is now 5-1 on the year, while the Blue Devils improved to 2-1 overall.

Complete Results

W&M had five swimmers go over 10 points on the day, and came away with six new entries in the record books.  Sophomore Billy Russell (Newport News, Va.) led on both lists, winning the 100 free en route to 16.75 points, and marking his name on the all-time lists four times (in two individual races, and both relays).  His winning time in the 100 free was 46.03 seconds, improving him to 10th all-time in school history, and he was a narrow second in the 200 free in 1:40.47, a time that also ranks 10th all-time at W&M.

Russell also anchored both of W&M's relays, to a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, and the win in the 400 free relay.  The victorious team was freshman Alex Montes de Oca (Orange, Va.), freshman Joe Eiden (White Plains, N.Y.), junior Taegan Clarke (Chappaqua, N.Y.), and Russell, and they combined to swim 3:05.78, the 14th-best time ever for W&M.  The medley relay was the first event of the day, and Russell finished out the race in 1:32.18, eighth-best ever, after taking the baton from classmate Will Manion (Haddonfield, N.J.), senior Andrew Strait (Henrico, Va.), and sophomore Justin Barden (Gordonsville, Va.).

Also collecting wins on the day were three more of those outstanding relay swimmers.  Eiden won the 1,000 free in 9:48.06, finishing just ahead of classmate Sean Higgins (Wilton, Conn.) who now ranks just outside the top-16 at 9:48.93.  Eiden also finished third in the 500 free, with an alliterative 4:44.44.  Manion won his signature event, the 100 back, in 50.44 seconds, and also finished second in the 200 back at 1:53.70.  The man who beat him in the 200 was Montes de Oca, with an impressive 1:52.10 to leap into the Tribe record books at 11th all-time.  Montes de Oca also swam 21.63 seconds in the 50 free to finish third overall.

William and Mary has the next two weeks off to prepare for the fall invitational Nov. 21-23.  The Tribe will once again head out to Blacksburg for the prelim/final meet, which serves as both a round-up of the fall and a dress rehearsal for the CAA Championships in February.