The William & Mary men's swimming team got back in the win column in a big way Saturday, blasting Davidson 187-83 on the road.  The Tribe accounted for 21 of 28 top-two finishes, including 13 of 14 event wins, while improving to 6-4 on the year, while the Wildcats fell to 2-5 overall.  With the win, W&M locked up a winning season for the eighth year in a row, extending its program record in that category.

Leading the way for the Tribe was junior Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) who continued his breakout campaign with a 3-for-3 effort in his individual races.  Starting things off was the 1,000 free, which he won in 9:24.94 to shatter the Davidson Pool record.  That was also just a second off of his collegiate-best in the event, and the eighth-fastest race in school history.  Next up was 200 breast, where he tied with senior Brooks Peterson (Carrollton, Va.) for the win in 2:08.95, before Balbo finished up with a win in the 400 IM at 4:00.35, leading a Tribe sweep of the top three places.  Balbo's three wins on the day gave him 20 on the year, already 14th-most ever in a single season with at least two meets (one dual, and the CAA Championships) still to come, and 45 in his career, moving into ninth all-alone in school history.

Peterson also recorded a pair of wins to sweep the breaststrokes, swimming 58.26 seconds in the 100 breast to go with his shared title in the 200.  Junior Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) won a pair of races as well, touching the wall in 51.36 seconds to win the 100 back before swimming 46.42 for gold in the 100 free.  Thompson also anchored the 400 free relay to victory, teaming with Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.), Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.), and Eric Grimes (Louisville, Ky.) to win in 3:05.59.

Those three were also individual winners in their own rights.  Doherty won the 100 fly in 50.49 seconds, while Wright broke the Tribe's dual-meet record in the 200 free with a time of 1:40.21.  The previous record of 1:40.44 had stood for three years, since Will Manion '16 set it as a senior.  Grimes picked up his win in the 50 free, sprinting the course in 21.37 seconds.  Grimes also anchored the 200 medley relay to a win in the afternoon's first event, alongside Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.), Ian Bidwell (Pelham, N.Y.), and Doherty.  That quartet cleared the course in 1:32.48.  Rounding out the winners were freshman Steven Thalblum (Ashburn, Va.), who won the 200 fly in 1:51.58, and junior Lee Bradley (Crestwood, Ky.), who took the 200 back in 1:53.06.

William & Mary finishes out the regular season next weekend, hosting VMI at noon on Saturday, Jan. 26.  Before the start of the meet at the Rec Center, the Tribe will take a moment to honor its six-member senior class.