The William & Mary men's swimming team won six events Saturday during the season opener against East Carolina, but could not overcome an effort that included two pool records as the Pirates won narrowly, 136-126.  That's the fourth-closest margin in the series history that dates back to 1957.

The Tribe swept the freestyle events on the day, but started things off in the 200 medley relay with the 13th-fastest race in school history.  The team of Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.), Brooks Peterson (Carrollton, Va.), Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.), and Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) combined to swim 1:30.84, finishing second by less than a quarter-second.

In the individual events, junior Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.) won both the 200 free and the 100 free, swimming 1:41.06 in the former and 46.22 in the latter.  Thompson also won an individual event, the 50 free, reaching the wall in 21.06 seconds.  The distance events saw senior Carter Kale (Williamsburg, Va.) start his campaign with a 9:32.50 win in the 1,000 free, and junior Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) won the 500 free in 4:38.78.  Finishing out the day was the 400 free relay, which won in 3:02.59 to finish just .06 off of the pool and dual-meet records.  Senior Eric Grimes (Louisville, Ky.) led the quartet off, and was followed by Wright, Doherty, and Thompson in turn to win by 0.23.  Wright's leg was a blistering 44.49, fastest of the entire race by three-quarters of a second.

William & Mary hits the road next weekend for four more meets over the course of two days.  On Friday afternoon, the Tribe heads to Annapolis, Md. for a 4 PM quad meet against Navy, Johns Hopkins, and CAA-rival Towson.  The next day, Saturday, Oct. 20, W&M will face off in Baltimore with UMBC at 1 PM.

East Carolina 136, William & Mary 126
Event Winners
200 medley relay - ECU, 1:30.60 (Marek Osina, Jacek Arentewicz, Gus Santos, Gavin Erdmann)
1000 free - Carter Kale (W&M) 9:32.50
200 free - Colin Wright (W&M) 1:41.06
100 back - Tristan Taylor (ECU) 50.36
100 breast - Jacek Arentewicz (ECU) 55.73
200 fly - Marek Osina (ECU) 1:52.23
50 free - Ian Thompson (W&M) 21.06
100 free - Colin Wright (W&M) 46.22
200 back - Marek Osina (ECU) 1:48.49
200 breast - Jacek Arentewicz (ECU) 2:01.11 pool record
500 free - Chris Balbo (W&M) 4:38.78
100 fly - Gus Santos (ECU) 49.29
200 IM - Marek Osina (ECU) 1:50.84 pool record
400 free relay - W&M, 3:02.59 (Eric Grimes, Colin Wright, Jack Doherty, Ian Thompson)