The William & Mary women's swimming team did everything anyone could ask of it on Wednesday night, opening the Colonial Athletic Association Championships with a pair of all-conference honors and the team lead.  The Tribe has 74 points after the first two events, and leads the seven-team standings by eight points over second-place Drexel (66).  Towson stands a close third with 64 points, with James Madison fourth with 62 points, followed by UNCW (58), Delaware (56), and Northeastern (24).

200 Medley Relay
Starting things off was the 200 medley relay, where W&M took second overall and it took a conference-record to beat the Tribe.  Drexel was the winner for the third time in four years, breaking the conference record along the way.  W&M, meanwhile, was led-off by sophomore Anna Kenna (Chantilly, Va.) led-off with a 50-back split of 25.52, and was followed by true freshmen Annie Tuttle (Alexandria, Va.), 28.33 in the breaststroke, and Brooke Lamoureux (Virginia Beach, Va.), 24.91 on the butterfly.  The Tribe was settled in third throughout all three of those legs, before sophomore Missy Cundiff (Leesburg, Va.) dove in for the anchor and ripped off a race-best 21.8 free leg to overtake Towson and move up into second.  The Tribe's 1:40.56 total time was the fourth-best ever in program history, and this marks the sixth-straight year that W&M has finished in the top three of the event.  For Kenna, it was her fourth all-conference award, and the second for Cundiff.  Both Tuttle and Lamoureux start off their conference careers as All-CAA for the first time.

800 Free Relay
After the diving break, it was time for the 800 free relay.  Junior Megan Bull (Hillsborough, N.J.) led-off for the third time in her three years, calmly and methodically picking off competitors at each turn to finish her leg with the lead in 1:47.59.  That was the third-fastest 200 free race ever for W&M, and gave the Tribe almost a second-and-a-half lead.  Sophomore Inez Olszewski (New York, N.Y.) was next up, and she kept field at bay throughout her 1:50.20 lead, handing off to freshman Katie Stevenson (Wilton, Conn.) for the third leg.  Even with veteran opponents looming close, Stevenson stayed calm under pressure and turned in a flawless 1:48.55 leg, extending the lead to 3.5 seconds over the field heading into the anchor.  Junior Tara Tiernan (West Hartford, Conn.) brought it home strong, cruising to a 1:49.08 final leg, and delivered the Tribe its second gold in three years in the event.  Overall, W&M timed 7:15.42, the third-fastest time in school history.  It was Bull's fourth CAA Championship and the second for Tiernan, while Olszewski and Stevenson both collected their first wins and first all-conference honors.

The CAA Championships resume on Thursday morning, beginning at 10 a.m. with the prelims in the 500 free, 200 IM, and the 50 free.

2020 Colonial Athletic Association Women's Swimming & Diving Championships
Team Standings (2 of 20 events scored)
1. William & Mary 74
2. Drexel 66
3. Towson 64
4. James Madison 62
5. UNCW 58
6. Delaware 56
7. Northeastern 24