The William & Mary men's swimming team kept the impressive performances rolling on Thursday morning at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, earning two of the three top-seeds for tonight's finals and advancing a conference-best 15 swimmers to finals overall.  The Tribe had nine championship finalists and six consolation finalists across the three events, and in the unofficial projected team standings, moved up to second overall with 185 points, behind only UNCW (217 points).

500 Free
First up was the 500 free, where senior Ian Bidwell (Pelham, N.Y.) turned in the fastest time in the prelims at 4:30.03.  He'll be joined in the championship finals by his classmate Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.), third overall in 4:31.55, and by junior Christopher Pfuhl (Charlotte, N.C.), who swam 4:32.70 for fifth place.  Freshman John O'Hara (Fredericksburg, Va.) swam a lifetime-best 4:34.92 to tie for ninth overall, and shares top-billing in the consolation finals.

200 Individual Medley
Next, in the 200 IM, senior Ben Skopic (Marriottsville, Md.) earned the number two-seed in the finals tonight after he swam 1:48.14.  He'll be joined in the championship heat by senior Lee Bradley (Crestwood, Ky.), seventh in 1:50.92, and four Tribe swimmers made the consolation finals.  Freshman Flynn Crisci (Williamsburg, Va.) is 10th overall after swimming a lifetime-best 1:51.49, just ahead of junior Jake Kealy (Wilton, Conn.), who was 11th in 1:51.70.  Sophomore Steven Thalblum (Ashburn, Va.) was right behind him in 1:51.83, and sophomore Ryan Bebel (Westfield, N.J.) was 14th overall in 1:52.73.  Freshman Kyle Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) also swam a lifetime-best, 1:57.66, but did not advance.

50 Free
The final event brought the heat, with W&M qualifying all five entries to finals including four in the championship heat.  They were lead, as usual, by senior Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.), who shattered his own school, conference, and CAA Championships records with a time of 19.17 seconds.  That is an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark, and currently ranks among the national top-10.  If it proves fast enough to earn Wright an invitation to the national championships, it will mark the first appearance for the W&M men's team at the NCAA meet since 1986, when Shawn McLane '86 took 15th in the 3-meter dive, and the first swimming appearance since Ron Good '65 participated in the 50 free and the 100 free at the 1963 NCAA Championships.

Also turning in an impressive NCAA provisional qualifier in the 50 free prelims was senior Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.), who swam a lifetime-best 19.66 seconds for third overall.  That is tied for the seventh-fastest single race ever for W&M, and ranks Doherty second in school history behind Wright.  Sophomore Graham Hertweck (Greensboro, N.C.) swam a lifetime-best 20.10 for fourth overall, and to improve to fourth all-time among Tribe athletes, and senior Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) took fifth place in 20.26 seconds.  Making the consolation final was senior Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.), who swam a lifetime-best 20.81 seconds for 16th place overall.

The finals in all three events, as well as the 200 free relay, begins tonight at 6 p.m.

2020 Colonial Athletic Association Men's Swimming & Diving Championships
Unofficial Projected Team Standings (after Thursday Prelims)
1. UNCW 217
2. William & Mary 185
3. Drexel 141
4. Towson 118
5. Delaware 89