The William & Mary men's swimming team barged its way into the national conversation Thursday night at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, posting two of the top times in the country this season while sweeping the night's four events.  With seven events complete, the Tribe is a narrow second in the team standings with 294.5 points, just seven and a half behind UNCW.  Drexel is third with 202 points, while Towson is fourth at 163.5 and Delaware fifth with 129 points.

500 Free
Starting the session off was the 500 free, and a 1-2 finish for the Tribe.  Senior Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) swam a calm and controlled race, climbing inexorably into the lead over the back half of the race to win in 4:29.74.  His classmate Ian Bidwell (Pelham, N.Y.) was right behind him in 4:30.45 for second overall, winning a sprint to the wall by a touch, and junior Christopher Pfuhl (Charlotte, N.C.) was fourth in 4:30.54, just 0.01 away from making a clean sweep of the podium.  In the consolation finals, freshman John O'Hara (Fredericksburg, Va.) swam 4:36.74, and took 14th overall.  Balbo's win was the second of his career, joining the 400 IM he won as a freshman in 2017, and it was the first gold for W&M in the 500 free since Carter Kale '19 won it all in 2017.

200 Individual Medley
Next up was the 200 IM, and the first record of the night.  Senior Ben Skopic (Marriottsville, Md.) was fifth after the fly leg, then second after the backstroke by a huge 1.54 second margin.  He began making it up on the breaststroke, closing the gap by 0.9, and then kept the pressure on through the freestyle, moving into the lead at the final turn and charging home to win in a school record and meet record time of 1:45.33.  That was also an NCAA provisional cut for Skopic, who won the 200 IM for the first time after taking the 400 IM each of the past two years.  It was also W&M's first win in the event since 2016.

Behind Skopic, fellow senior Lee Bradley (Crestwood, Ky.) was seventh overall, in 1:51.35.  The Tribe dominated in the consolation finals, with freshman Flynn Crisci (Williamsburg, Va.) swimming a lifetime-best 1:50.29 to win the heat and take ninth overall.  That improved Crisci to 11th all-time among W&M athletes.  Sophomore Steven Thalblum (Ashburn, Va.) was 11th in 1:50.82, a collegiate-best that improved him to 13th in school history, while Jake Kealy (Wilton, Conn.) was 13th in 1:51.76 and Ryan Bebel (Westfield, N.J.) swam 1:53.36 for 15th overall.

50 Free
In the 50 free, senior Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.) began one of the finest hours in W&M swimming history.  Already having set the school and conference records at 19.17 in the prelims, he came back in the finals to swim 19.18, the second-fastest time in program history, and become the first man in CAA history to win the 50 free all four years.  His classmate Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.) won a sprint to the wall for silver, timing 19.73 seconds, the 11th-fastest time ever at W&M, and senior Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) was 4th in 20.21 seconds, just ahead of sophomore Graham Hertweck (Greensboro, N.C.), who tied for fifth in 20.24 seconds.  In the consolation finals, senior Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) turned in his second lifetime-best of the day, down to 20.77 seconds, and placed 16th overall.

200 Free Relay
Following the diving break, the Tribe lined up for the 200 free relay, and proceeded to stun not just the capacity crowd but also the nation's swimming fans.  Wright led off, and swam nearly a perfect race to touch the wall in 18.98 seconds, shattering the conference, school, and pool records.  Behind him came Thompson, splitting 19.56 for the fastest second leg, then Hertweck in 19.93.  Doherty dove in on the anchor, and came up with a massive 18.95 split to bring W&M home in a total time of 1:17.42, breaking that conference, school, and pool record as well.  It was also an NCAA "B" standard time, the first in school history for the men, and currently ranks 12th in the nation this season.  The Tribe has never swum a relay at the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships.

Individually, Wright's 18.98 to lead off made all sorts of waves out of the pool as well.  In addition to breaking all the records for W&M, the CAA, and the Christiansburg Aquatics Center, Wright is now tied for the NCAA lead in the 50 free, with defending national champion Ryan Hoffer of Cal.  They are the only two men so far this season, in any division, to break 19 seconds.  It is 0.02 seconds off of the automatic selection standard, but a sub-19 swimmer has never been left out of the NCAA meet.  According to research performed by the national website SwimSwam.com, Wright is just the fourth swimmer from a non-Power 5 school to break 19 seconds in the 50 free, and William & Mary becomes just the 19th school in Division I history (the first-ever from the state of Virginia) to produce a sub-19 swimmer.  The website also noted that W&M is the smallest school (by enrollment) to have ever had a swimmer go sub-19.

Wright's 18.98 will most likely be enough to earn an invitation to the NCAA Championships, if he doesn't swim an automatic qualifying time in one of his final two events.  He will become the first W&M men's swimmer to appear at the national championships since Shawn McLane '86 earned All-American honors in both diving events in 1985 and 1986.  The last time the Tribe had a men's swimmer reach the national meet was 1963, when then-sophomore Ron Good '65 competed in the prelims of 50 free and the 100 free.  Other national competitors in school history included Leonard Goldberg '39 in the breaststroke and Johnny Adams '39 in diving, who both competed at the 1938 NCAA Championships.

The Colonial Athletic Association Championships continue on Friday, with prelims starting at 10 a.m.  Events on Friday include the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 3-meter diving, and the 400 medley relay.

2020 Colonial Athletic Association Men's Swimming & Diving Championships
Team Standings (7 of 20 events complete)
1. UNCW 302
2. William & Mary 294.5
3. Drexel 202
4. Towson 163.5
5. Delaware 129