The William and Mary men's swimming team picked up a historic win Saturday on Senior Day, downing Old Dominion 144-120. In addition to being the first win over the Monarchs since 2006-07, the victory lifted W&M's all-time record in its current pool to 53-52, the first winning all-time record since since the Tribe was 2-1 on Jan. 17, 1990 (before any current swimmer was born). W&M improved to 7-1 on the season, while ODU fell to 2-4 overall. The meet was also worth 10 points in the Optima Health Challenge, and the Tribe now leads the series 40-20 (first to 55 wins).
Complete ResultsLeading the way in the triumph was sophomore
Will Manion (Haddonfield, N.J.), who won both the 100 back and the 200 back in pool-record times. First he won the 100 back in 48.93 seconds, almost a second ahead of the old record and both W&M's dual-meet record and the seventh-fastest race ever for the Tribe. After the first intermission, he came back to time 1:47.90 in the 200 back, crushing the previous facility mark of 1:50.19. Manion's time in the longer event was another dual-meet record, and also the 10th-fastest 200 back performance in school history. Those two individual performances came on the heels of Manion helping set a third dual-meet record, in the 200 medley relay. He led-off the quartet of
Andrew Strait (Henrico, Va.),
Greg Rogers (Yardley, Pa.), and
Alex Montes de Oca (Orange, Va.) to a winning time of 1:31.89, tied for the seventh-fastest ever at W&M.
Also in the 200 medley relay, the team of
Austin Glass (Mechanicsville, Va.),
Chris Dong (Chapel Hill, N.C.),
Justin Barden (Gordonsville, Va.), and
Billy Russell (Newport News, Va.) went 1:32.59 for second place, and the 15th-fastest time in school history. Other performances of note on a time-basis include from Montes de Oca, who was third in the 100 back in 51.75 to improve to 13th all-time. Sophomore
Jeremiah O'Donnell (Chapel Hill, N.C.) upped his best to 57.33 seconds in the 100 breast, 11th-best in school history. Senior
John Rittenhouse (London, England) had a pair of third-place showings in the butterflies, including in the 100 fly where he timed a lifetime-best 51.00 to improve to 13th all-time at W&M.
Picking up a pair of wins alongside Manion was the senior Strait, who swept the breaststroke events in 56.50 seconds and 2:06.04, respectively. Also earning wins on the day was Barden, with a 50.59 performance in the 100 fly, along with a runner-up showing in the 100 back.
Charley Bowles (Yorktown, Va.) locked up the team win with his 4:07.56 victory in the 400 IM, alongside O'Donnell was was second in 4:07.86. O'Donnell also took third in the 200 breast earlier in the meet. Russell earned three podium finishes, taking second in both the 50 and the 100 free, as well as third in the 200 free. Rounding out the notables was senior
Tyler Poling (Morristown, N.J.), who took fifth in both the 500 and the 1000 free.
William and Mary is back in action next weekend, traveling to East Carolina. The final dual meet of the season will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1, in Greenville, N.C.
