The William & Mary men's swimming team advanced 19 of a possible 20 swimmers to finals on Saturday at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, setting the Tribe up to make a strong run at the conference title once again.  In the unofficial and projected team standings following the prelims, W&M now leads with 735.5 points, with UNCW in second with 660 points and Drexel third wth 507 points.

200 Backstroke
In the 200 backstroke, senior Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.) led a total of six Tribe men into qualifying positions.  Demers swam a lifetime-best 1:47.04 to earn the second second, and improved to 10th all-time among W&M athletes.  He'll be joined in the championship final by classmate Lee Bradley (Crestwood, Ky.), fifth in 1:47.40, and by junior Jake Kealy (Wilton, Conn.), who swam 1:49.22 to take eighth.  Advancing to the consolation final was sophomore Jack Galbraith (Vienna, Va.), 10th overall in 1:50.79, and freshmen Colby Mills (Chesterfield, Va.) and Noah Fields (Williamsburg, Va.).  Mills touched the wall in 1:51.56 for 12th place, just ahead of Fields who swam 1:51.94 for 13th.

100 Freestyle
Senior Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.) has spent the past week making the impossible seem possible, and he did it again on Saturday morning, earning the top seed in the 100 free.  Wright swam 42.01 seconds to dip well under the likely NCAA invitation line, and also shattered his own conference, meet, and school records of 42.63 set last year.  Currently, he ranks third in the nation in the 100 free.  Wright's classmate Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.) swam a lifetime-best of his own, 43.33 seconds, to earn the second seed and an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.  That was the seventh-fastest race ever for W&M, and ranks Doherty second in school history behind Wright.  Sophomore Graham Hertweck (Greensboro, N.C.) gave W&M three men in the championship final, swimming a lifetime-best 44.57 seconds and tying for fourth overall, and junior Christopher Pfuhl (Greensboro, N.C.) made the consolation finals with a lifetime-best 44.91 seconds.  Hertweck now ranks sixth all-time at W&M, while Pfuhl improved to 11th in school history.  Senior Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) rounded out the qualifiers in 12th place, timing 44.97 seconds.

200 Breaststroke
In the 100 breast, senior Ben Skopic (Marriottsville, Md.) is seeded second overall at 1:59.83, the 16th-fastest race in school history, and will look to win his third individual event after sweeping the IM events already this week.  Sophomore Ryan Bebel (Westfield, N.J.) was fourth with a lifetime-best performance of 2:01.18, improving to seventh all-time at W&M, and freshman Flynn Crisci (Williamsburg, Va.) was right behind him in fifth with a lifetime-best 2:01.57 to rank 11th in school history.  Another freshman, Kyle Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.), made it four in the championship heat, swimming 2:01.99 for eighth place and another lifetime-best to rank 12th all-time at W&M.  Freshman Conor Sokolowsky (Williamsburg, Va.) was 11th in 2:05.63 to qualify for the consolation finals, and will be joined in that heat by senior Ian Bidwell (Pelham, N.Y.), who took 16th in 2:09.73.

200 Butterfly
W&M only had two men swimming the 200 fly, but both came through with qualifying times.  Sophomore Steven Thalblum (Ashburn, Va.) advanced to the championship finals in 1:49.24 for sixth place overall, and the freshman Fields, competing in his second event of the day, timed 1:51.33 for 11th and a spot in the consolation heat.

The finals of all four events, plus the 1,650 free and the 400 free relay, begin tonight at 6 p.m.

2020 Colonial Athletic Association Men's Swimming & Diving Championships
Unofficial and Projected Team Standings (after Saturday prelims)
1. William & Mary 735.5
2. UNCW 660
3. Drexel 507
4. Towson 417.5
5. Delaware 228