The William & Mary men's swimming team wrapped up a solid week at the West Virginia Invitational on Saturday night, finishing third overall in the eight-team event with 1032.5 points.  The host Mountaineers won big with 2,111 points, while perennial national contender Kenyon was second with 1,579.5 points.

1,650 Free
The night begin in the 1,650 free, where senior Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) took fourth overall in 15:47.45, and reached a major career milestone.  His 26 points gave him 1,000 exactly for his career, becoming just the eighth swimmer for W&M since 1996 to reach that mark.  Freshman Conor Sokolowsky (Williamsburg, Va.) took 16th overall in 16:20.29, while James Mostofi (Darien, Conn.) was 21st in 16:33.05 and Owen Miller (Kalamazoo, Mich.) took 24th in 16:35.94.

200 Back
Next up was the 200 back, and an eighth-place finish for Jake Kealy (Wilton, Conn.) in 1:51.74.  Senior Ben Skopic (Marriottsville, Md.) was 13th in 1:51.69, just ahead of classmate Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) who swam 1:52.44 for 14th overall.  Jack Galbraith (Vienna, Va.) touched the wall in 1:52.87 for 19th overall and Lee Bradley (Crestwood, Ky.) added four more points in 21st place with a time of 1:53.44.  In the D finals, senior Philip Barto (Midlothian, Va.) and freshman Noah Fields (Williamsburg, Va.) finished back-to-back in 26th and 27th, timing 1:52.89 and 1:53.74, respectively.

100 Free
Senior Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.) swam 44.09 in the 100 free, the ninth-fastest race in school history, and finished second overall in the event.  His classmate Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) won the consolation finals in 45.49 for 9th overall, while Graham Hertweck (Greensboro, N.C.) was 15th in the same heat with a time of 45.94.  It was Thompson's third ninth-place finish of the week.  Junior Christopher Pfuhl (Charlotte, N.C.) finished 22nd in 46.49 seconds, and his classmate Aristides Speres (Rye, N.Y.) stopped the clock in 47.69 for 31st overall.

200 Breast
Freshman Kyle Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) took top honors for W&M in the 200 breast, swimming 2:05.47 for eighth overall, and Skopic came back for his second race of the night to finish 12th in 2:05.99.  Sophomore Ryan Bebel (Westfield, N.J.) also made the consolation finals, timing 2:06.59 for 15th overall.  In the C finals, senior Ian Bidwell (Pelham, N.Y.) was 2:07.32 for 21st overall and Devin McNulty (Herndon, Va.) swam 2:09.26 for 24th place.  Sokolowsky made his second appearance of the session, finishing 31st overall in 2:11.43.

200 Fly
Sophomore Steven Thalblum (Ashburn, Va.) finished out his week with a sixth-place finish in the 200 fly, stopping the clock in 1:51.30.  Balbo was close behind in 1:53.80, finishing eighth and adding 22 more points to his total.

400 Free Relay
Finishing out the week was the 400 free relay, where the Tribe's top squad of Doherty, Wright, Hertweck, and Thompson combined to finish third overall in 2:59.26.  That was the eighth-fastest race in school history.  W&M also got significant points out of the B relay of Diego Cruzado (Vienna, Va.), Flynn Crisci (Williamsburg, Va.), Bidwell, and Thalblum, which finished 13th overall in 3:06.83.

William & Mary now has the next month and a half off for exams, holidays, and the winter training trip before the next scheduled dual meet, Saturday, Jan. 11, at Old Dominion.  Several athletes will head to Atlanta, Ga., from Dec. 4-7 for the U.S. Open National Championships, looking to join their five teammates (including Wright, Thompson, Doherty, and Skopic) who are already qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials.

2019 West Virginia Invitational
Final Team Standings
1. West Virginia 2,111
2. Kenyon 1,579.5
3. William & Mary 1,032.5
4. Carnegie Mellon 876.5
5. Villanova 661
6. Old Dominion 431.5
7. Navy 287
8. St. Bonaventure 105