The William & Mary men's swimming had one of its strongest outings of the season on Saturday afternoon, downing Old Dominion on the road 212-68, for its fifth in a row. The Tribe improved to 6-1 on the year with the win, its eight-straight season with at least six wins, while the Monarchs fell to 1-3 overall.
How it Happened
- W&M dominated in every event, winning all 14 swimming events and taking 37 of 42 top-three spots across those events. Overall, the Tribe finished just 10 points off of scoring its maximum-possible, en route to recording its biggest-ever margin of victory in the series against ODU (144 points).
- The Tribe's day included three dual-meet records, two in individual events and in the 400 free relay. With two meets still remaining in the regular season, W&M has broken 11 dual-meet records, four Rec Center pool records, and one school record so far in 2019-20.
- First up was the 100 back, where senior
Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) stopped the clock in 48.86 seconds to tie the dual-meet record originally set by
Will Manion '16 in November of 2014.
- Later in the 100 fly, fellow senior
Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.) reset his own dual-meet record, swimming 48.58 seconds for the win. This is the fourth time this season that Doherty has broken the dual-meet record in his signature event, most recently before Saturday at 49.00 seconds in late October against Towson.
- The final race of the day was the 400 free relay, where the team of
Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.),
Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.), Doherty, and
Graham Hertweck (Greensboro, N.C.) teamed up to swim 3:00.95 and win by nearly eight seconds. That broke the previous record of 3:02 flat that the Tribe set last year against VMI on Senior Day. It was also the 12th-fastest single race ever at W&M.
- W&M's first relay of the day also turned in a fast performance, setting the tone from the very first race. Demers led-off the 200 medley relay and was followed by
Ian Bidwell (Pelham, N.Y.), Doherty, and Wright to a total time of 1:29.64, the 10th-fastest performance in school history.
- Doherty also had a second individual win in the 200 free, reaching the wall first in 1:40.73. He was one of four Tribe seniors with two individual wins on the day.
- Wright swept the 50 and the 100 free, timing 20.04 in the former and then coming back after the diving break to stop the clock in 44.44 in the longer event. He now has 65 wins in his career, and 13 this season alone.
- Distance ace
Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) started his meet off with yet another win in the 1,000 free, timing 9:30.89, and then came back to win the 200 breast in 2:05.99 in the back half of the meet. Balbo's wins give him a team-best 15 victories on the season, and breaks a tie with Hall-of-Famer
George Collins '70 for seventh on W&M's all-time wins list with 63.
- Doctoral student
Ben Skopic (Marriottsville, Md.) pulled off an impressive double win at the back end of the meet, starting with a victory in the 500 free in 4:43.18. After a rest of just one event, he was back in the pool for the 200 IM, and touched first in that race as well in 1:53.04.
- The Tribe also got a win from the senior Bidwell, who won the 100 breast in 57.04 seconds.
- In the 200 back, senior
Lee Bradley (Crestwood, Ky.) recorded his first victory of the season, stopping the clock in 1:52.47.
- Rounding out the winners was freshman
Noah Fields (Williamsburg, Va.), who swam 1:51.32 to take the 200 fly and pick up his first collegiate victory.
William & Mary returns home next weekend, Saturday, Jan. 18, hosting Davidson at 12 p.m. at the Rec Center.
