The William & Mary swimming program will be well-represented in Omaha, Neb., over the next fortnight as the U.S. Olympic Trials get underway.  This year, USA Swimming has split the Trials into two meets - Wave I, which will run Friday-Monday, June 4-7, and Wave II, which will take place June 13-20.  W&M has a program-record five athletes qualified to compete in the Olympic Trials this year.

Explaining Wave I
The split was made to accomodate greater CoVID-19 testing and local distancing protocols.  A more stringent qualifying standard was enacted for Wave II, and Wave I (using the original Olympic Trials Qualifying Standards) has become something similar to a qualifying draw in tennis.  Any athlete with a Wave II qualifying performance is automatically entered into Wave II in all events that they have any Wave I or II standard, while athletes who only have Wave I qualifiers will swim this weekend.  The top two finishers in each event will earn advancement to Wave II.

Qualifying for the Olympics
The Olympic Trials is the official selection event for the U.S. Olympic Team in swimming for the Tokyo Olympics.  So long as the U.S. has two athletes who have achieved an Olympic Qualifying "A" time in each event, then Team USA can have two athletes entered in each event at the Olympic Games.  The Olympic Trials will determine those two, with the spots going to the top two finishers in each event at the Wave II meet.  In the 100m and 200m free events, as many as six athletes can be selected to serve as relay pool members for the 400m and 800m free relays.  William & Mary has not yet had an athlete qualifying for the Olympic Games in swimming.

Following the Meet
The prelims each day (beginning at 10 a.m. Central, 11 a.m. Eastern) can be streamed live on www.usaswimming.org/watch.  The finals for Wave I (beginning at 7 p.m. Central, 8 p.m. Eastern) can be watched live on the Olympic Channel (channel 1082 on Cox Cable in Williamsburg, check your local listing).  For Wave II, the qualifying heats will be streamed live on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app as well as broadcast on tape delay on NBC Sports Network beginning 5:30-6:30 p.m. Eastern each night, with the finals beginning at 8 p.m. on NBC (generally).  For a full schedule with precise start times on each day, visit USASwimming.org.

W&M Qualifiers
William & Mary has five athletes qualified for the Olympic Trials this summer, the most the Tribe has ever sent to a single Trials meet after sending four in both 2012 and 2016.  Colin Wright '20 will compete in Wave II in both the 50m free and the 100m free, thanks to the school-record times of 22.49 and 49.79 he swam at the 2019 Summer National Championships.  While psych sheets aren't out yet for Wave II, Wright's times rank him 50th in the 50m free.  He was 12th at the 2019 Summer Nationals in the 50m free, and wrapped up his college career in 2020 ranked among the top-eight in the NCAA in both the 50 and 100 free.

Also qualified in a pair of events is Jack Doherty '20, in the 100m fly and the 50m free.  Doherty also swam his two qualifiers at the 2019 Summer Nationals, going 23.10 in the 50m free and swimming a school record time of 54.15 in the 100m fly.  Doherty finished his career with individual gold at the CAA Championships in the 100 fly, and collected a total of 12 relay championships including breaking the CAA record in four relays in 2020.  That included the 200 free relay, which came within two hundredths of a second of qualifying for the NCAA Championships for the first time ever.

W&M will have a third man in the 50m free, with Ian Thompson '20 qualifying after swimming 23.17 at the 2019 Virginia State Championships.  Thompson also holds the school LCM record in the 50m fly and previously held it in the 100m fly.  He was an eight-time CAA Champion for the Tribe, helping break three conference records at the 2020 Championships alone (including on the 200 free relay).  Thompson finished his career 16th in school history in total points scored, with 886.0, and is one of just four men to ever break 20 seconds in the 50 free.

Competing in the women's 50m free will be rising senior Missy Cundiff (Leesburg, Va.), who qualified after swimming 25.95 seconds at the 2019 Virginia State Championships.  That started off what has been a remarkable two-year stretch for Cundiff, who has gone 16-3 in the 50 free over the last two seasons with a runner-up finish in the event at the 2021 CAA Championships.  This winter, she also helped W&M to a pair of relay championship wins, in the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay.

Rounding out the list of competitors this week will be Ben Skopic '19, a doctoral student at W&M.  Skopic will swim the 200m IM, where his best of 2:04.01 from the 2019 Summer Nationals is also the school record.  At the 2020 CAA Championships, Skopic swept the 200 IM and the 400 IM, and also won the 200 breast and swam on the winning 800 free relay to finish his career with a total of eight CAA Championships.  Skopic was also named the CAA Leadership & Sports Excellence Award winner at the end of the season.

Wave I
100 Fly - Sunday, June 6, 11:50 AM
Olympic Qualifier - 51.96 (53.52 B cut); School Record - 54.15

200 IM - Monday, June 7, 11:14 AM
Olympic Qualifier - 1:59.67 (2:03.26 B cut); School Record - 2:04.01

Women's 50 Free - Monday, June 7, 11:26 AM
Olympic Qualifier - 24.77 (25.51 B cut); School Record - 25.70

Men's 50 free - Monday, June 7, 11:37 AM
Olympic Qualifiers - 22.01 (22.67 B cut); School Record - 22.63

Finals - 8 PM Eastern Each Day

Wave II
100 free - Wednesday, June 16 - Prelims 11 AM, Semifinals 8 PM; Thursday, June 17 - Finals 8 PM
200 IM - Thursday, June 17 - Prelims 11 AM, Semifinals 8 PM; Friday, June 18 - Finals 9 PM
100 Fly - Friday, June 18 - Prelims 11 AM, Semifinals 9 PM; Saturday, June 19 - Finals 9 PM
50 Free - Saturday, June 19 - Prelims 11 AM, Semifinals 9 PM; Sunday, June 20 - Finals 8:15 PM