The William & Mary women's swimming team rolled on the road Saturday, downing Old Dominion 190-104 in the final road meet of the year. The Tribe won its sixth-straight away from home, and improved to 10-2 overall while the Lady Monarchs fell to 0-6 on the season.
Down 32 points at the start of the meet due to diving, the Tribe made that up with wins in the first three swimming events and never looked back, winning 11 of 14 swimming events total on the day. That included a 1-2 sweep of both relays, with
Katie Sell (Fredericksburg, Va.),
Jess Crowley (Acton, Mass.),
Abby Mack (Wayne, Pa.), and
Emma Herold (Kohler, Wisc.) combining for the win in the 200 medley relay at 1:45.94 to start the meet off. At the other end of things, Herold led-off the 400 free relay in 52.84 seconds and Sell brought it home in 51.99, while freshmen
Megan Bull (Hillsborough, N.J.) and
Tara Tiernan (West Hartford, Conn.) powered through the middle 200 and helped the team put up a total time of 3:30.98 for the win.
In the individual events, Sell won both of her races, out-touching ODU ace Jacklyn VandePoel in the 100 back in 57.63 seconds, and stopping the clock in 52.53 seconds to win the 100 free by nearly half a second. Fellow junior
Morgan Smith (Verona, N.J.) also won both of her races, winning the 1,000 free in 10:23.59 and the 200 IM in 2:08.25.
Bull and Crowley each won one race, the freshman taking the 200 free in 1:53.56 while the senior Crowley swam 56.94 seconds, a lifetime-best by 0.4 seconds, to win the 100 fly. Senior
Meghan Schilken (Pittsburgh, Pa.) picked up her first win of the year in the 50 free, out-touching her teammate Herold by .01. Junior
Maria Oceguera (New Rochelle, N.Y.) had an easy 2:06.66 win in the 200 fly, and the Tribe's final victory came courtesy of sophomore
Julia Bland (Sea Girt, N.J.) in the 500 free, timing 5:08.44.
Event Winners
200 Medley Relay - W&M 1:45.94 (
Katie Sell,
Jess Crowley,
Abby Mack,
Emma Herold), W&M 1:47.38 (
Emma Merrill,
Annie Valls,
Madeline High,
Megan Bull)
1000 Free -
Morgan Smith (W&M) 10:23.59,
Norah Hunt (W&M) 10:31.62
200 Free -
Megan Bull (W&M) 1:53.56,
Tara Tiernan (W&M) 1:54.57
100 Back -
Katie Sell (W&M) 57.63, Jacklyn VandePoel (ODU) 57.71
100 Breast - Ashley Brem (ODU) 1:04.37,
Annie Valls (W&M) 1:06.35
200 Fly -
Maria Oceguera (W&M) 2:06.66,
Rachel Anderson (W&M) 2:07.49
50 Free -
Meghan Schilken (W&M) 24.61,
Emma Herold (W&M) 24.62
1-Meter Diving - AJ Caruso (ODU) 180.60, Amanda Whepley (ODU) 146.33
100 Free -
Katie Sell (W&M) 52.53,
Emma Herold (W&M) 53.00
200 Back - Jacklyn VandePoel (ODU) 2:04.13,
Shannon Harrington (W&M) 2:06.26
200 Breast - Ashley Brem (ODU) 2:22.97,
Megan Bull (W&M) 2:23.13
500 Free -
Julia Bland (W&M) 5:08.44,
Norah Hunt (W&M) 5:08.92
100 Fly -
Jess Crowley (W&M) 56.94,
Abby Mack (W&M) 57.38
3-Meter Diving - AJ Caruso (ODU) 202.80, Rachel Dinkel (ODU) 191.23
200 IM -
Morgan Smith (W&M) 2:08.25,
Shannon Harrington (W&M) 2:08.57
400 Free Relay - W&M 3:30.98 (
Emma Herold,
Megan Bull,
Tara Tiernan,
Katie Sell), W&M 3:35.55 (
Meghan Schilken,
Maria Oceguera,
Jess Crowley,
Abby Mack)
Notes
W&M's 10-2 record is the most wins since the 2008-09 team finished at 10-2 ... It is the eighth time that the Tribe has reached 10 wins ... W&M's six-straight wins away from home is the seventh streak of at least that length all-time, and the longest since winning 11 in a row on the road from Nov. 1, 2008 to Jan. 15, 2010 ...
Morgan Smith now has a team-best 13 victories ... She also reached 25 career wins with her performance in the 200 IM, the best active mark for the Tribe ...
Katie Sell and
Maria Oceguera both reached 20 career wins ...
Jess Crowley passed 500 career points ... With Smith (13),
Tara Tiernan (12), Sell (12), and Oceguera (10), the Tribe now has four women with 10+ wins for the first time since 2012-13 ... Since 1990-91, the record for the most swimmers over 10 wins in a year is six, set back in 2006-07 ... That record could be in jeopardy, as four more women have at least six wins including
Annie Miller (Houston, Texas) with eight, and six apiece for
Megan Bull,
Shannon Harrington (Philadelphia, Pa.), and Crowley.
Up Next
William & Mary returns home next weekend, hosting Davidson at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 20, at the Rec Center pool. In addition to being the regular season finale, it will also be Senior Day for the Tribe's nine seniors who will be honored prior to the start of the meet.