The William and Mary men's swimming team dispatched Mary Washington easily Friday night in the home opener, winning 210-49.  The Tribe won 13 of 14 events on the evening, and set six lifetime-bests along with two pool records, a dual-meet record, and a top-10 all-time performance.

Complete Results

Leading the way was junior sprinter Billy Russell (Newport News, Va.), who smashed a pair of pool records and added a dual-meet record for good measure.  First, he won the 200 free in 1:41.00, breaking the facility record of 1:41.27 set in 2002 by UMBC's Evan Patrick.  Then, right after the first break, he knocked Patrick's name off another record with his 45.46 win in the 100 free.  That race was not only a facility record (old: 46.05 from 2000), it also smashed the Tribe's dual-meet record of 46.03 Russell had set last year at Duke.  Just for good measure, Russell also swam on the winning 400 free relay, teaming with Joe Eiden (White Plains, N.Y.), Risten Clarke (Chappaqua, N.Y.), and Alex Henderson (Hopewell, Va.) for the victory in 3:09.42.

Also with a great night was junior Jeremiah O'Donnell (Chapel Hill, N.C.), who continued his strong start to the year with two more wins and a pair of lifetime-best performances.  In the 1000 free, he swam 9:53.12 to break his previous best by 3.71 seconds, and also took gold in the 100 fly with a time of 50.52 seconds.  A lifetime-best by 1.13 seconds, that performance ranks O'Donnell 10th all-time in school history.  Freshman Wyatt Grubb (Mechanicsville, Va.) scored a pair of wins as well, sweeping the backstroke events in 52.60 for the 100 and 1:55.51 for the 200.

Five more men all won a single race for the Tribe, and four of them began the meet with a 1:34.56 win in the 200 medley relay.  Will Manion (Haddonfield, N.J.) led-off, followed by Andrew Nyce (Vienna, Va.), Conrad Zamparello (Midlothian, Va.), and Justin Barden (Gordonsville, Va.).  Individually, Manion won the 500 free in 4:42.08, and finished second in the 50 free with a time of 21.68 seconds.  Barden was the man who beat him in that 50, touching the wall in a lifetime-best 21.44 seconds, and he also finished second to O'Donnell in the 100 fly with a time of 50.80 seconds.

Nyce's win came in the 100 breast, stopping the clock in 58.40, and he was also second in the 200 IM at 1:56.11 behind Mary Washington's D-3 national record-holder.  Zamparello, a freshman, won the 200 fly in 1:53.87, less than a second off of the dual-meet record.  He also had a bronze medal to his credit, timing 1:59.95 in the 200 back.  Another freshman, Brett Barden (Henrico, Va.) earned three podium finishes starting with a win in the 200 breast.  Barden went 2:11.92 for the win in that event, and was also third in the 200 fly (1:59.14) and third in the 200 IM, at 1:58.97.

Rounding out the notables were a trio of lifetime-best performances from the sophomore class.  In the 100 breast, Alex Montes de Oca (Orange, Va.) swam 59.62 for third place, breaking his previous best by 1.56 seconds.  Sean Higgins (Wilton, Conn.) chopped 3.21 seconds off his best in the 200 breast, touching the wall in 2:19.13, and Eiden shaved 0.04 seconds from his lifetime-best in the 100 fly with a 52.60.

William and Mary is back in action next weekend, traveling south to Wilmington, N.C. for the CAA Pod Meet on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 1-2.  The Tribe's opponents will include Delaware and defending CAA Champion UNCW.