The William & Mary swimming programs leap off the starting blocks for the first time on Saturday afternoon, heading up to Fairfax, Va. to take part in a double-dual at George Mason.  In addition to the host Patriots, the Tribe women will face ancient rivals Richmond starting at 1 p.m., while the GMU and W&M men's teams will square off in a triangular with Delaware beginning at 4:15 p.m.

The meet will take on a modified event order, in addition to the change in the typical format to help reduce crowding on the pool deck.

1. 200 IM, 2. 500 Free, 3. 50 Free, 4. 100 Back, 5. 400 IM, 6. 200 Free, 7. 100 Breast, 8. 100 Fly, 9. 1650 Free, 10. 200 Back, 11. 100 Free, 12. 200 Breast, 13. 200 Fly, 14. 200 Free Relay (men only)

Scouting the Tribe Women
The William & Mary women's team heads into 2021 poised for a great season, returning nine of its top-10 scorers and 16 of 20 athletes overall off the squad that finished runner-up in the CAA for the third year in a row.  That loaded line-up includes senior Megan Bull (Hillsborough, N.J.), the two-time CAA Champion at 500 fee and school record-holder in the 500 free, 200 free, and 200 breast.  A 20-race winner a year ago, Bull enters her fourth season ranked 10th in school history with 45 career wins and 9th all-time with 1,110.75 points.

Also back for the Tribe is senior Tara Tiernan (West Hartford, Conn.), who has made the finals at the CAA Championships in all nine of her events over the past three years.  Tiernan was also the 200 back silver-medalist in 2019, and anchored the 800 free relay to the win in 2020 for her second win in the event.  Junior Missy Cundiff (Leesburg, Va.) is an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 50m free, and went 10-2 in her signature race a year ago en route to a third-place finish at the CAA Championships.

In total for the season, W&M returns its top-11 scorers from 2019-20, and 13 of the top-16.  To that embarrassment of riches, the Tribe also added five strong freshmen in recruiting.

Scouting the Tribe Men
The W&M men begin the 2021 season eager to climb back to the top of the CAA standings, and will put up a strong fight at every turn.  Despite losing the strongest class in school history to graduation, the Tribe reloaded with six outstanding freshmen to add to the bevy of returning veterans.

The returning ranks include senior sprinter Christopher Pfuhl (Charlotte, N.C.), a two-event CAA Champion last year and bronze-medalist in the 200 free.  His classmate Jake Kealy (Wilton, Conn.) is a two-time CAA silver-medalist in the 200 back, an event he's also the freshman record-holder in.  Kealy is also the active wins-leader on the Tribe roster with 15 victories in his career.  The junior class includes sprinter Graham Hertweck (Greensboro, N.C.) who had a breakout campaign in 2019-20, setting lifetime-bests in the 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free, finishing in the top nine at the CAA Championships in all three events.  Hertweck was also a big part of W&M's record-setting relays, winning conference titles in both the 800 free relay and the 200 free relay, the latter of which he was part of the squad that was just .02 off NCAA qualifying in 1:17.19.

Scouting George Mason
The GMU men picked up their first conference championship in 2020, winning the Atlantic 10 title by 20 points.  Sophomore Luke DeVore is the reigning conference champion in the 100 fly and the 200 fly, and junior Will Rastatter won the 50 free in addition to swimming on championship-winning 200 free and medley relays.  On the women's sides, the Patriots finished eighth overall, with junior Jacquee Clabeaux winning the 100 breast and breaking the conference record to do so.

Scouting Delaware
The Delaware men had an impressive turnaround in 2019-20 under second-year coach Pablo Marmolejo, increasing their point total at the CAA Championships by half-again as much as 2018-2019.  The Blue Hens return senior Eric Veit, fifth in the 200 breast, and opened their season last week with a resounding 169-87 win over Villanova.  Sophomore Ryan Polino and senior Bryce Ciecko both won a pair of events against the Wildcats.

Scouting Richmond
The Richmond Spiders finished fourth overall at the Atlantic-10 Championships in 2020, buoyed by a gold-medal turn by junior Maggie Purcell who won the 200 breast after earlier in the week taking second in the 400 IM.  Also earning a silver medal was sophomore Lauren Medlin, in the 100 free.

The Series
- GMU leads the all-time series with the W&M men 5-4, but the Tribe won the last meeting back in 2011.  W&M head coach Nate Kellogg, a 2004 graduate of GMU, is 2-2 in the series personally as the teams split their four meetings while he was an undergraduate.

- On the women's side, W&M leads the series with the Patriots 7-2, and won each of the last three meetings.

- W&M's men have won nine in a row against Delaware, and lead the Blue Hens 15-9 overall.

- The Tribe and the Spiders have been swimming each other since 1965 in women's swimming, with W&M holding a 27-19 advantage in the series.  The last meeting came back in 2014, the second of two-straight wins for the Green and Gold.