The William & Mary women's swimming team out-swam Towson by 26 points on Saturday on the road, but needed seven more points to overcome the Tigers' divers as the Tribe was narrowly edged, 150-144, in the conference opener for both teams. The Tribe evened its record at 3-3 overall, 0-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association, while the Tigers improved to 3-1 (1-0 CAA).
Despite the loss, W&M had a number of outstanding performances, including in the 100 back. Senior
Sophie Rittenhouse (London, England) was narrowly out-touched, but still swam a dual-meet record 56.67 seconds, breaking the record of 56.73 she set herself as a freshman against Duke. Sophomore
Katie Sell (Fredericksburg, Va.) won the 100 fly in 56.93 seconds, and also swam on both of W&M's winning relays. She led-off the 200 medley relay that won in 1:45.16, swimming alongside
Annie Valls (Miami, Fla.),
Abby Mack (Wayne, Pa.), and senior
Jaimie Miller (Houston, Texas); and anchored the 400 free relay to victory in 3:30.51. The final relay was led off by Miller, and also included freshman
Emma Herold (Kohler, Wisc.) and sophomore
Annie Miller (Houston, Texas).
The elder Miller also picked up two individual wins, sweeping the 50 free and the 100 free. In the shorter race she splashed her way to a season-fast time of 23.42 seconds, and in the 100, Miller stopped the clock in 51.84 for win No. 2. Sophomore
Claire Williams (Apex, N.C.) had a pair of victories of her own, sweeping the breaststrokes. In the 100 breast, she swam 1:05.99, then came back to finish her meet with a 2:23.43 win in the 200 breast. She is the first Tribe swimmer to win either breaststroke event against the Tigers since 2007, and the first to sweep them in the modern history of the series back to 1994.
William & Mary is back on the road next weekend, Nov. 5-6, competing in a dual-meet challenge in Harrisonburg, Va. The Tribe will swim against James Madison and ECU on Saturday beginning at 8:30 a.m., and then either UNCW or Delaware on Sunday. If W&M is 2-0 on Saturday, they'll swim the winner of the Seahawks and Blue Hens at 8:30 a.m., otherwise, they'll swim the loser of that match-up at 12:30 p.m.
