The William & Mary men's swimming team put 21 men in the water on Friday morning at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, and came out of the session with 21 qualifiers for finals, three school records, a freshman record, a conference record, and a pool record.  W&M's strong morning pushed the Tribe into the lead in the unofficial and projected team standings with 465.5 points.

400 Individual Medley
Starting the morning off was the 400 IM, and the Tribe put three of its five swimmers into the championship finals.  Senior Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) led the way in 3:53.62, earning the top seed, and his classmate Ben Skopic (Marriottsville, Md.) was right behind him in 3:56.38 for second.  Freshman Conor Sokolowsky (Williamsburg, Va.) also made the championship heat in an eighth-place time of 4:01.74.  Two more rookies both made the consolation finals.  Noah Fields (Williamsburg, Va.) was ninth overall in 4:02.25 while swimming the event for the first time this season, and Colby Mills (Chesterfield, Va.) was 12th overall in 4:06.58.

100 Butterfly
In the 100 fly, senior Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.) earned the top seed to tonight's finals, after swimming an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 47.11 seconds.  That was the fifth-fastest single race ever at W&M.  Sophomore Steven Thalblum (Ashburn, Va.) also made the "A" final after swimming a lifetime-best 48.49 seconds for sixth place overall.  Thalblum also now ranks sixth all-time among Tribe athletes.  Senior Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) was 10th overall in 49.14 seconds for a spot in the consolation finals, where he'll swim alongside sophomore Jack Galbraith (Vienna, Va.), 12th in a time of 49.24 seconds.

200 Freestyle
The first records fell in the 200 free.  Senior Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.) led things off with a school-record time of 1:35.96 to earn the top seed in tonight's finals, just 0.11 seconds off of the conference record set back in 2010.  It was also an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark.  Freshman John O'Hara (Fredericksburg, Va.) broke the freshman record with his fourth-place time of 1:38.80, beating the mark set back in 2012, and now ranks 13th all-time among Tribe athletes.  Junior Christopher Pfuhl (Charlotte, N.C.) also made the championship final with his sixth-place 1:39.08, and sophomore Graham Hertweck (Greensboro, N.C.) earned the top seed in the consolation finals after swimming a lifetime-best 1:39.85 for ninth place.

100 Breaststroke
The Tribe put all four of its swimmers in the 100 breast into the championship finals tonight.  Senior Ian Bidwell (Pelham, N.Y.) led the way with his third-place time of 55.14 seconds, the 15th-fastest race in school history.  Behind him was freshman Flynn Crisci (Williamsburg, Va.), fourth overall with a lifetime-best 55.21, and sophomore Ryan Bebel (Westfield, N.J.) was fifth in another lifetime-best, 55.35 seconds.  Freshman Kyle Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) finished out the line-up in sixth place, with a third lifetime-best, down to 55.60 seconds.  All-time at W&M, Crisci now ranks seventh among athletes, Bebel ninth, and Demers 11th.

100 Backstroke
The final preliminary event of the morning was the 100 back, and senior Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) cruised to the top seed and a school-record time of 47.29, beating Will Manion's '16 47.35 from 2015.  His classmate Lee Bradley (Crestwood, Ky.) was fifth overall in 49.54 seconds, and Galbraith, swimming his second event of the morning, was sixth in 49.83 seconds.  Junior Jake Kealy (Wilton, Conn.) earned the top spot in the consolation finals, finishing ninth overall in prelims at 50.05 seconds.

200 Free Relay
After swimming an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark in the 200 free relay last night, the Tribe chose to time-trial the race again on Friday morning, to see if the team could get under the 1:17.17 automatic standard and earn a lane at the NCAA Championships.  W&M kept the same order as last night, Wright, Thompson, Hertweck, and Doherty, and while the team improved significantly, came up just inches shy at 1:17.19.  That broke W&M's own school, conference, and pool records in the event, and improved the Tribe to eighth in the nation so far this season.  Wright's lead-off was 19.09, another NCAA provisional qualifier, and the second-fastest time in school history in the 50 free.

The finals of all five individual events, as well as the 3-meter diving and the 400 medley relay, begins tonight at 6 p.m.

2020 Colonial Athletic Association Men's Swimming & Diving Championships
Unofficial and Projected Team Standings (after Friday Prelims)
1. William & Mary 465.5
2. UNCW 399
3. Drexel 309
4. Towson 259.5
5. Delaware 137