The William & Mary women's swimming team found itself locked in a long-distance barnburner Saturday afternoon with Davidson, but prevailed in the winner-take-all 200 free relay with its sixth and seventh records of the day to win the meet, 132-130.  With the victory, the Tribe kept its clean sheet for the season and improved to 3-0, while Davidson opened the year 0-1.  Before the meet, W&M took a moment to honor its five seniors, Diana Tramontano (Greenwich, Conn.), Tara Tiernan (West Hartford, Conn.), Tess Ruona (Medford, N.J.), Madeline High (Raleigh, N.C.), and Megan Bull (Hillsborough, N.J.), as they prepared for their final college home meet.  The meet was conducted in telegraphic fashion, with each team swimming at their home pools on the same meet schedule, and exchanging results after each event.

Despite the tight score, W&M had a number of very impressive swims, with four dual meet records and three pool records set during morning.  That began in the very first event, where the Tribe swam 1:42.65 in the 200 medley relay to break the old dual and pool records set back in 2018 (also against Davidson).  The team was led-off by junior Anna Kenna (Chantilly, Va.), who gave way to sophomore Annie Tuttle (Alexandria, Va.), freshman Corinne Davenport (Elon, N.C.), and junior Missy Cundiff (Leesburg, Va.) in turn.  W&M's performance was also the 12th-fastest single race in school history.

Next up was the 1,000 free, where sophomore Elizabeth Intihar (Columbus, Ohio) swam a lifetime-best 10:14.05 for second overall, improving to 10th all-time among Tribe athletes.  Kenna was back in action in the 100 back and broke her own dual-meet record for the second meet in a row in 55.38 seconds, and also broke the pool record of 55.68 that had stood since 2012.  Tuttle followed up with a win of her own in the 100 breast, 1:03.46, and Cundiff kept her remarkable streak going in the 50 free with a win in 23.07.  Dating back to Jan. 19, 2019, a meet against Davidson her freshman year (a span of 14 meets), Cundiff's only non-win in a dual-meet 50 free was last year against Davidson, when she was disqualified for a false start.

After halftime, sophomore Katie Stevenson (Wilton, Conn.) kept herself undefeated in the 100 free this season with a win in 51.38 seconds, but the Wildcats rallied to win each of the next two events, tying the meet at 94-94 heading into the final four events.  Next up was the 500 free, where senior Megan Bull, swimming at home for the final time, went out with a bang as both she and Intihar dove under the W&M dual-meet record and became the first women in program history to swim under 5:00 minutes in the event.  Bull won the race in 4:56.39, and Intihar was second at 4:57.27.  That put W&M on top 108-99, but Davidson had strong performances in response in the 100 fly, chopping the lead to 114-112, and then also in the 200 IM, allowing the Wildcats to take the lead, 124-121.  That set up the final race of the day, the 200 free relay, as a winner-take-all race.  W&M put up its best speed in the top team, with Cundiff leading-off in the day's fastest time, 23.04, followed by Stevenson, Kenna, and Bull on the anchor to swim 1:33.31, breaking the dual-meet record and the pool record of 1:34.81 set last year against George Washington.  That proved to be just enough to edge out Davidson (1:33.75), and claim the meet for the Green and Gold by two points.  That was the closest-ever margin of victory for either team in the 28-year series history.

William & Mary will wrap up the regular season next week with a road trip down to Old Dominion.  The Tribe and the Monarchs will face off on Saturday, March 13, starting at 2:00 p.m.