The William & Mary women's swimming team won 19 of 33 races on Saturday on the first day of the CAA Pod Meet, good for leads in two of the three head-to-head match-ups with just six events to go. Despite facing 32-0 deficits in all three meets, the Tribe leads UNCW 156-79 and host Delaware 127-107, while defending CAA Champions James Madison lead W&M 153-82.
Leading the way for the Tribe on the day was junior
Julia Bland (Sea Girt, N.J.), who totalled four individual wins including a sweep of all three teams in the 400 IM. Bland swam 4:29.88 in the grueling medley, leading a W&M sweep of the top three spots overall. Earlier in the day, she also beat UNCW in the 200 IM, touching the wall in 2:09.54. In the other distance event of the day, the 1,650 free, junior
Norah Hunt (Stuarts Draft, Va.) swam 17:25.24 for wins over both UNCW and Delaware.
William & Mary was also undefeated against UNCW in the three relays, and beat the host Blue Hens in two of the three. In the 200 free relay, freshman
Missy Cundiff (Leesburg, Va.) began her day with a 24.02 lead-off, and then passed the baton to
Tara Tiernan (West Hartford, Conn.),
Emma Herold (Kohler, Wisc.), and
Annie Miller (Houston, Texas) to combine for a time of 1:36.42. Tiernan came back at the end of the morning session to anchor the 400 medley relay to a tie of 3:54.45 and a win over UNCW, joining with
Anna Kenna (Chantilly, Va.),
Lauren Freeman (Fairfax Station, Va.), and
Madeline High (Raleigh, N.C.). Kenna, Freeman, and High then came back to swim the 200 medley relay just a few hours later with Miller on the anchor, stopping the clock in 1:47.49 to beat both UNCW and Delaware.
Other individual winners included Cundiff, who followed up her outstanding relay leg with a 24.08 showing in the open 50 free, beating both UNCW and Delaware in the process. Sophomore
Megan Bull (Hillsborough, N.J.) also beat both teams, swimming 1:52.03 in the 200 free for second overall in the meet, and the rookie Kenna continued her strong season in the backstroke, swimming identical 59.0 times both to lead-off the 400 medley relay and in the open 100 back for two more wins, her sixth and seventh of the season. Freeman picked up a win over the Seahawks in the 100 breast in 1:07.20, and senior
Maria Oceguera (New Rochelle, N.Y.) rounded out the winners' list with a victory over UNCW in the 100 fly, touching the wall in 57.39 seconds.
The CAA Pod Meet finishes on Sunday, Nov. 4, with six events starting at 10 a.m.
