The William & Mary men's swimming team gets back in the pool this weekend, heading down to Greenville, N.C. for a tri-meet with East Carolina and Gardner-Webb. Action begins at the Minges Coliseum Pool at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and can be followed live through the Meet Mobile app.
The Meet
The teams will contest a mostly-standard 16-event line-up, but will swim the 400 IM to start the individual events instead of the normal 1,000/1,650 free. Just like last week, the relays will be the 200 medley and the 400 free.
Scouting the Tribe
W&M began the year with a big win over Division III power Johns Hopkins, downing the Blue Jays 194-68. Sophomore
Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.) was named the CAA Swimmer of the Week after winning all four of his events, including a pool and Tribe dual-meet record 20.46 in the 50 free that currently ranks him top-15 in the nation. His classmate
Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) also won both of his events, the 200 fly and the 500 free, while overall the Tribe leads the CAA in every event except the 200 free, 200 breast, and the 400 free relay.
Scouting the Pirates
East Carolina began the year with a 193.5-98.5 setback at Navy. Gustavo Santos went 50.04 to win the 100 fly to highlight the day for the defending AAC Champions. ECU will start the meet with up to a 32-point advantage in diving.
Scouting the Bulldogs
Gardner-Webb will begin the year on Friday against Old Dominion, before taking on W&M and ECU on Saturday. The Bulldogs were runners-up in the CCSA last year, and return all but four men off of that team.
The Series
- This will be the first time that W&M and Gardner-Webb have faced off.
- East Carolina leads the series dating back to November of 1988, 26-2, and has never lost in Greenville. The Tribe last won by 70 points in January of 2015, 166-96.
Notes
W&M's 200 medley relay against Johns Hopkins went 1:30.53, the ninth-fastest time in school history ... Wright's 20.46 in the 50 free broke his own team dual-meet record by 0.1 ... It also broke the Rec Center Pool record by the same amount, that was jointly held by Wright (against VMI last year) and by Delaware's Andrew Zinn (set in 2008) ... Wright hasn't lost a freestyle race since the Hokie Fall Invitational last September ... East Carolina last November was the last time W&M has lost a dual meet ... The Pirates are also one of only four teams to beat the Tribe since the fall of 2014, winning twice ... The only other winners have been Duke (3), South Carolina (1), and Virginia Tech (1).
