Behind a dual-meet record and wins in 12 of 14 swimming events, the William & Mary men's swimming team cruised on the road at George Washington Saturday, winning 178-96. The Tribe improved to 6-1 on the year with the victory, while the Colonials fell to 1-3 overall. This now marks four-straight years with at least six wins for W&M, the longest-such streak since 1984-88.
Down 18-0 at the start of the first relay due to diving, the Green and Gold wasted no time erasing that deficit, taking the lead for good just two events in. W&M won each of the first 12 races, and only missed the last two by exhibitioning every swimmer and relay. Starting things off was the 200 medley relay, where the team of
Wyatt Grubb (Mechanicsville, Va.),
Brooks Peterson (Carrollton, Va.),
Alex Montes de Oca (Orange, Va.), and
Will Manion (Haddonfield, N.J.) combined to win in 1:34.29. Freshman
Eric Grimes (Louisville, Ky.) was first to the wall in the 1,000 free, winning in 9:42.53, and then Manion was back on top with a lifetime-best 1:40.44 in the 200 free. That was also a dual-meet record for W&M, breaking the mark set by classmate
Billy Russell (Newport News, Va.) in 2013 by .03 seconds, and improved Manion to 16th all-time in the event.
Senior
Justin Barden (Gordonsville, Va.) won the 100 back in 51.07 seconds, his first of two wins, and classmate
Andrew Nyce (Vienna, Va.) won the 100 breast by a wide margin in 57.36 seconds. Sophomore
Tommy Kealy (Wilton, Conn.) was another double-winner, first in the 200 fly with a time of 1:51.76. The sprints went to
Joe Eiden (White Plains, N.Y.), who won the 50 free in 21.08 seconds, and to
Kyle Neri (Wallingford, Conn.), winner of the 100 free in 46.60 seconds.
The second half of the meet saw Montes de Oca take the 200 back in 1:51.25, and fellow junior
Josh Zimmt (Barrington, R.I.) won the 200 breast with a time of 2:07.97. Kealy's second win was the 500 free in 4:44.92, and Barden won the last contested event with a 50.50 showing in the 100 fly.
William & Mary is back in action next Saturday, Jan. 16, hosting Davidson at 12 p.m. It will be the final home meet of the season for the Tribe, and the final home meet in the careers of seniors Barden,
Austin Glass (Mechanicsville, Va.), Manion,
Ryan Natal (Great Falls, Va.), Nyce,
Jeremiah O'Donnell (Chapel Hill, N.C.), and Russell. The seven are 11-2 (.846) at home in their careers, behind only the classes of 1973 (18-3, .857) and 1971 (17-2, .895), and will be honored in a short ceremony before the first race.
