The William & Mary swimming teams dive back into action this weekend, resuming the season with a 1 p.m. match-up at George Washington.  The Tribe and the Colonials will contest a standard 16-event line-up, which includes two diving events to give GW a 26-0 lead in the women's meet and 18-0 for the men (W&M does not have divers).

Scouting the Tribe Women
W&M went 4-3 (2-2 CAA) in the fall portion of the schedule, which closed with two strong invitational performances.  At the Bucknell Invitational before Thanksgiving, the Tribe won its first in-season tournament against a deep field of nine schools, including Connecticut and Buffalo.  Senior Jessie Ustjanauskas (West Hartford, Conn.) then went on to compete at the AT&T Winter Nationals, where she came back with a pair of school records in the 100m fly as well as a third, in the 50m fly.  She earned CAA Swimmer of the Week honors for that performance, her second award of the fall, while junior Sophie Rittenhouse (London, England) was the Swimmer of the Week following the Bucknell Invitational where she set three lifetime-bests and two NCAA qualifying marks in the 100y and 200y backstrokes.

Scouting the Tribe Men
The Green and Gold tankers went 5-1 (3-0 CAA) during the first half of the schedule, capping things off with the Bucknell Invitational title over Buffalo and Connecticut (among others).  In the CAA mid-season report, the Tribe has the best time in all five relays and nine of 13 individual events, including every stroke event except the 100 fly.  The lists are led by seniors Jeremiah O'Donnell (Chapel Hill, N.C.), the reigning CAA Swimmer of the Year, Billy Russell (Newport News, Va.), W&M's all-time record-holder in the 50, 100, and 200 free, and Will Manion (Haddonfield, N.J.), the Tribe's winningest conference champion.  Russell leads the conference this season in both the 100 and 200 freestyles, while Manion leads the 100 back and ranks second in the 200.  O'Donnell leads in all three events he won last year, both IM events as well as the 200 breast.

Scouting the Colonials
The George Washington women are 1-3 on the year and 0-1 in the Atlantic 10 after falling to Richmond in their most recent meet.  Freshman Emily Zhang is the top swimmer for the Colonials, and already owns the school record in the 200 IM (2:02.83) and leads the A-10 in that event.  On the men's side, GW is 1-2 overall, sharing with the women a win over Howard and losses to UMBC and Towson.  Bogdan Balteanu is their top swimmer in the Atlantic 10 ranks, and will give O'Donnell a challenge in the breast and IM events.

News and Notes
- This will be the first meeting between W&M and George Washington since the 2003-04 season, and the 24th overall for the women's programs (23rd for the men) in a series that dates back to the late 1970s.

- The Tribe women lead the series with the Colonials 13-10 overall, and have won three of the last four meetings.  GW took the last meeting however, 129-113 in a neutral-site meeting in Baltimore in 2004.  The teams have each won six times in DC, most recently a 127-113 Tribe win in 2002.

- On the men's side, the Colonials have the decided advantage, 16-6 over W&M.  The Tribe did win each of the last two meets, in 2003 and 2004, but haven't won in Washington since 1990 (2-9 all-time).

- Russell (12), Manion (13), and O'Donnell (14) are all within striking distance of reaching 20 wins this season, a feat that has only been achieved a total of seven times in the last quarter-century.  The last time multiple swimmers in the same season reached 20 wins was 1998-99, when W&M swam 16 dual meets as well as a pair of championship meets to allow Chris Robinson '00 to win 33 times and Mike Lovett '00 to reach 27 victories.

- This season could also be the year that a Tribe swimmer breaks 400 points again.  Both Russell (currently 271) and Manion (270) have a shot at the milestone that only Robinson (twice) and Lovett have so far achieved.

- On the career lists, Manion enters his final semester fourth all-time with 62 victories, just 15 away from former teammate Andrew Strait '14 and the top three.  Robinson has the most victories all-time with 100 for the Tribe, while All-American diver Shawn McLane '85 has 80.

- O'Donnell is currently eighth all-time with 42 victories, three ahead of Russell who stands ninth.

- Manion is currently third all-time with 1,202 career points, and is only 98 points away from overtaking Strait for second all-time behind Robinson's 1,469.5 points.

- Speaking of points, Russell enters the week with 962 career points, and is charging to become the sixth 1,000-point scorer in school history.  O'Donnell is also on the cusp, just 144 points away, and provided both make it they (along with Manion) it would be the first time in school history that three classmates all hit 1,000 points.

- On the women's side of the ledger, both Ustjanauskas (214 points currently) and junior Jaimie Miller (Houston, Texas) with 218 are in position to crack the all-time top-16 for single-season points.  The two are roughly 125 points behind the cutoff with four dual meets, CAAs, and the Carolina College Cup still to go.

- Ustjanuaskas is also closing in on a career milestone with 870 points, just 130 away from becoming the 10th woman over 1,000 points in the last 25 years.  Miller is a bit further back, 196 points from 1,000, but also has another year after this one.

- The duo as well as Rittenhouse are close to appearing on the wins lists also.  Ustjanuaskas has 10 wins already this season, while 17 is needed to make the single-season list.  She is also just one win away from 16th on the career list, with 27 victories already.  Rittenhouse is just behind with 26, and Miller closing fast with 23 wins.