The William & Mary men's and women's swimming teams begin the 2018 portion of the season on Thursday morning, with a 10 a.m. meet in Boca Raton, Fla.  The Tribe, which is currently on its annual winter training trip, will swim against host Florida Atlantic in the meet as well as against the North Florida women's team and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) men's team.

The Meet
The double-dual will be swum in 13 events, which includes five freestyles (50, 100, 200, 500, and 1,000-yards), the 200 IM, and the 100-yards of the backstroke, butterfly, and breaststroke.  The teams will also swim the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay, and the 1-meter and 3-meter dives (Florida Atlantic and NJIT being the only two teams with divers).

Scouting the Tribe Men
W&M starts the second half of the year at 6-1 overall, with only a two-point loss on the road at East Carolina on the red side of the ledger.  The Tribe's success has come from all parts of the line-up, with four different men earning CAA Swimmer of the Week honors during the fall including Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.), Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.), Devin McNulty (Herndon, Va.), and most recently Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) following an outstanding week at Princeton's Big Al Invitational.  Wright and Balbo sit atop the team points race, with both sophomores claiming 11 victories on the season so far, while Wright has used his spot on the Tribe relays to build a 191.75-148.0 points lead on his classmate.

Scouting the Tribe Women
The W&M women are also off to a strong start, going 7-2 in the fall dual meet season for its best start since 2008-09.  The strength of its team has been its breadth of top-tier talent, with eight women already over 130 points, more than any other fall season in school history.  Two freshmen, Megan Bull (Hillsborough, N.J.) and Tara Tiernan (West Harford, Conn.), lead the points table with 183.75 and 165.75, respectively, while junior Morgan Smith (Verona, N.J.) has 11 victories ahead of Tiernan's 10.

Scouting the Owls
The Florida Atlantic women are 1-1 on the year with a win over Indian River State College and a loss to Princeton, while the men fell to both of thos schools in the fall semester.  For the Owls, Spence Atkins has been impressive in her first year since transferring from Tennessee, where she was 15th in the 200 fly and 16th in the 1650 free at the 2017 SEC Championships.  This year, she has the best times in the meet in the 200 free (1:49.32), 500 free (4:47.92), and the 1,000 free (9:53.23).  Also projected at the top of the meet is Abby Marshall, in the 50 free (23.33) and the 100 free (51.15).  On the men's side, to performers include distance swimmer Will Smith (9:33 for 1,000 free, 4:37 in the 500 free) as well as Phillip Crouch who is seeded second overall in the 100 breast at 57.07 seconds.

Scouting the Ospreys
North Florida is 0-8 on the year, with its best result coming in a 14-point loss to Georgia Southern.  Jacqueline Barklund has been having an outstanding year in the backstroke, and has the best entry of the meet in the 100 back at 55.73.

Scouting the Highlanders
NJIT is 4-5 on the year and winners of three of its last four with victories over Mount St. Mary's, St. Peter's, Manhattan, and St. Francis (N.Y.).  The Highlanders also finished second at the ECAC Winter Championships at the end of the fall semester, behind the efforts of several including Matheus Monteiro Montarroyos who took second in the 100 free, third in the 500 free, and fourth in the 50 and 200 free while also helping NJIT take second in four of five relays.

Previous Meetings
The Tribe women faced North Florida in January of 2006, a W&M win during a tri-meet at Charleston, but has never faced any of the other teams.  This is also believed to be W&M's first outdoor collegiate meet in recent memory.

News and Notes
If the W&M men are able to win both meets, the 8-1 record would be the best since the 1998-99 team finished 15-1 ... Head coach Matt Crispino '02 was a freshman on that squad ... W&M has reached eight wins in a year just eight times so far since World War 2 ... The women, if they are able to also pick up the two wins, are looking at improving to 9-2 on the year ... That would be the most sins since the 2008-09 team went 10-2 overall ... There have been just eight nine win seasons since the women's swim team began in 1964-65, with five of those coming in the first seven years ... If the Tribe wins out in the regular season, the women's team will finish with the third-most wins in a year (11-2), behind only the 1967-68 and 1968-69 teams that both finished 12-0 ... The men's team could finish at 10-1, one of just four double-digit seasons ever (15-1 in 1998-99, 10-1 in 1970-71, and 10-0 in 1969-70).