The William & Mary men's swimming team turned in perhaps its strongest session so far at the West Virginia Invitational on Friday night, breaking the school record in the 50 back and making six more new marks on the all-time record books.  Heading into the final day, the Tribe solidified its grasp on third place in the eight-team meet with 724 points, while host West Virginia continues to lead with 1,419 points.

200 Medley Relay
Starting off the session was the 200 medley relay, where the Tribe's top team finished a close second overall.  Senior Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) led-off, and smashed his own school record in the 50 back with a 22.0 split that was two-tenths faster than he swam at the CAA Championships last winter.  Devin McNulty (Herndon, Va.), Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.), and Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.) followed him in the water, and the four combined to swim 1:27.43, tying for the second-fastest time in school history.  W&M also got big points from the B relay, which finished fourth overall in 1:29.82, the 10th-fastest performance ever for the Tribe.  Senior Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) led-off in his fastest-ever 50 back split, 22.29, and was followed by Ian Bidwell (Pelham, N.Y.), Jack Galbraith (Vienna, Va.), and Graham Hertweck (Greensboro, N.C.).

100 Fly
Doherty led the way in the 100 fly, finishing fourth overall in 48.92, two spots ahead of Wright who swam 49.07 for sixth.  Thompson won the consolation finals in 48.62 seconds for ninth overall, while sophomore Steven Thalblum (Ashburn, Va.) was 15th in 49.90 seconds and Galbraith took 29th in 50.70.

400 IM
In the 400 IM, doctoral candidate Ben Skopic (Marriottsville, Md.) dropped big time from this morning to finish second overall in 3:54.83, and Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) also moved up, taking fourth in 3:55.34.  Freshman Conor Sokolowsky (Williamsburg, Va.) won the C finals in 4:02.80 to take 17th overall, while James Mostofi (Darien, Conn.), 4:08.30, and Philip Barto (Midlothian, Va.), 4:09.18, finished back-to-back in 29th and 30th, respectively.

200 Free
Freshman John O'Hara (Fredericksburg, Va.) was 14th in the 200 free with a time of 1:42.30, and junior Christopher Pfuhl (Charlotte, N.C.) added five more points with his 20th-place time of 1:41.88.  His classmate Aristides Speres (Rye, N.Y.) was 24th in 1:45.47 for another point, and freshman Owen Miller (Kalamazoo, Mich.) swam 1:44.78 in the D final to finish 27th overall.

100 Breast
McNulty came back after his relay performance to take fifth overall in the 100 breast with a time of 55.51, finishing just ahead of Bidwell who was seventh in 56.41 seconds.  Sophomore Ryan Bebel (Westfield, N.J.) won the consolation finals and finished ninth overall in 56.37, and freshman Kyle Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) was 14th in 57.53 seconds.  His classmate Flynn Crisci (Williamsburg, Va.) stopped the clock in 58.38 seconds for 28th overall.

100 Back
The elder Demers shone again in the 100 back, taking fourth overall in a lifetime-best performance of 48.02 seconds.  That was the ninth-fastest single race in school history, and ranks him third all-time among Tribe athletes.  Thompson also swam very well and set a personal-best of his own, winning his second consolation final of the evening in 49.22 seconds.  That was almost three-tenths better than his previous record, and moved Thompson up to eighth in school history.  Junior Jake Kealy (Wilton, Conn.) was 14th overall in 51.05 seconds and Galbraith was 16th, timing 51.40 seconds.  Senior Lee Bradley (Crestwood, Ky.) won the D finals in 51.27 for 25th overall, and freshman Noah Fields (Williamsburg, Va.) swam 53.47 for 32nd.

800 Free Relay
The final event of the day was the rare 800 free relay, and W&M once again showed its depth of speed with two top-10 finishes.  The first team tied for fourth overall in 6:44.64, the 14th-fastest race in school history, thanks to the combined efforts of Wright (who swam a conference-best 1:39.85 lead-off), Pfuhl, O'Hara, and Skopic.  The B team of Hertweck, Thalblum, Balbo, and Speres took 10th overall, stopping the clock in 6:54.14.

The final day of the West Virginia Invitational begins on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with prelims in the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, and 200 fly.  The evening finals will also see competition in the 1,650 free, 3-Meter diving, and the 400 free relay.

2019 West Virginia Invitational
Team Standings (14 of 21 Events Scored)
1. West Virginia 1,419
2. Kenyon 1,049.5
3. William & Mary 724
4. Carnegie Mellon 532
5. Villanova 390
6. Old Dominion 302.5
7. Navy 160
8. St. Bonaventure 60