MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The William & Mary men's and women's swim teams got off to a strong start at the WVU Invitational on Thursday, highlighted by a program record 200 IM swim by Sophia Heilen and a women's 400 Medley Relay victory.

With a pair of wins, the Tribe women finished day one in the lead with 156 points and tied host West Virginia for the most finals qualifiers with 15, including a top seed. The Tribe men saw eight advance to the finals on day one, including a pair of championship finals qualifiers in the 200 IM. The Tribe men have 108 points through the first day, landing at fourth place.
 

Women's 500 Free 
Opening the competition with prelims in the 500 Free, Devin Genderson and Kelsey Katt earned the first two qualifying times for the evening session. Genderson finished with a 4:59.07 time, earning the third seed in the consolation finals. She shaved an impressive 10.70 off her seed time for an 11^th place. Sophomore Kelsey Katt also advanced to the finals, swimming a 5:00.99 to qualify for the bonus heat. 

Finals
In the evening, Katt finished third in the bonus final, shaving over a second off her prelims time and clocking in at 4:59.84. Genderson earned the first individual points of the night for the Tribe women, adding four for her finish in the consolation finals.
 

Women's 200 IM
A total of eight Tribe women earned qualifying times in the 200 IM. Heilen earned the top seed and Ellie Scherer finished third in the prelims, recording times of 2:00.53 and 2:01.85, respectively. The duo earned a bid to the championship heat. Lindsay Juhlin's personal-best time of 2:04.75 earned her a seed in the consolation finals.

Kaitlyn Conover-Emmert and Taylor Stockard each earned a bid into the bonus finals. Conover-Emmert finished in 2:05.32 and Stockard recorded a 2:06.81 finish. Lauren Klinefelter, Erin Langenburg and Sarah Rice each qualified for the D finals.

Finals
Breaking her own program record, which was set in February 2023, Heilen swam an impressive 1:58.38 to shave nearly a second off her previous record time (1:59.30) for the victory in the 200 IM finals. Her time marks a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Championships.

Scherer shaved over eight-tenths of a second off her prelims time, clocking in at 2:01.04 to earn a fourth-place finish in the championship heat. Klinefelter knocked almost a second and a half off her time from the morning, finishing second in the D heat in 2:06.00.


Men's 200 IM
Six Tribe men qualified for the finals session in the 200 IM, including senior duo Conor Sokolowsky and Cole Younger who advanced to the championship heat. Earning sixth- and eighth-place finishes in the prelims, Sokolowsksy clocked in at 1:51.10 and Younger finished with a time of 1:51.82. 

Jono Bennett made his return to a familiar venue, as the graduate transfer from West Virginia posted a 1:52.19 time in the prelims to earn spot in the consolation finals. 

A trio of underclassmen moved onto the D heat for the Green and Gold. Logan McDonald's time of 1:53.21 qualified him for the finals and was also good for a personal best, shaving a tenth of a second from his previous fastest time. Freshmen Zach LeMay and David Yune clocked in at 1:53.65 and 1:53.89, respectively, to advance to finals.

Finals
In the championship final, Younger shaved nearly eight tenths of a second from his prelim time, finishing with a time of 1:51.05. Yune finished second in the D heat, cutting over a second and a half from his prelim time for a personal-best 1:52.03 finish.


Women's 50 Free
The 50 Free saw five more qualifiers for the Tribe women's team, including Caroline Burgeson and freshman Flynn Truskett earning places in the championship finals. Burgeson's 23.11 time was good for the second seed in the prelims, followed by just a tenth of a second with Truskett's 23.22 finish. Freshman Zoe Arakelian earned a consolation final qualifying time in 23.70 to advance to the evening. 

A pair of seniors also advanced to finals as Sydney Querner clocked a 23.85 time, earning a seed in the bonus heat, and Kat Vanbourgondien finished in 24.03 to round out the women's qualifying times for the morning.
 
Finals
Burgeson earned third place in the finals with a time of 23.14 and Truskett beat out her prelim time, posting a 23.20 swim in the championship heat. Arakelian also improved upon her morning time, clocking in at 23.67 with a personal best time.


Men's 50 Free
Aiden Bond and Alex Valliere each qualified for the 50 Free finals. Bond earned a seed in the consolation heat with a 20.49 finish and Valliere swam a 20.78 for a spot in the bonus finals. 
 
Finals
In the prelims, Bond set a personal record with his time of 20.49 and he shaved a tenth of a second from his morning swim for a new personal-best time of 20.39. He tied for first in the consolation heat with Navy's Ben Irwin.


200 Free Relay – Finals Only
Kicking off the evening, the women's relay team of Meghan Rourke (23.95), Vanbourgondien, Corrine Davenport and Sarah Dunham secured 22 points for the Tribe in their 1:35.16 finish. The quartet took over three seconds off of their seed time.

On the men's side, two teams placed for points. The A Relay team of Bond (21.29), Gavin Lamoureux, Eugenio Massari and Alex Valliere placed eighth with a 1:23.46 time. Coming in 13^th, Logan McDonald (20.88), Aaron Tingley, Colin Mamaril and Ian Cullicott finished in 1:24.12. McDonald's 20.88 50 Free split was a personal best, cutting half a second from his next-fastest time.
 

400 Medley Relay – Finals Only
The relay team of Vanbourgondien, Scherer, Heilen and Truskett combined for a 3:39.65 finish to earn 40 points for the Tribe women's team. They were nearly three seconds ahead of the next fastest relay team, securing the Green and Gold's second finals victory. Also finishing in the top ten was the team of Burgeson, Juhlin, Klinefelter and Dunham, who finished in 3:46.49 to add 18 points to the Tribe's total.

The men's team also saw a pair of top-ten times in the 400 Medley Relay as Sokolowsky, Brock Rempe, Lamoureux and Bond clocked in at seventh place with a time of 3:18.68 and the team of Yune, McDonald, Kent Codding and Massari recorded a 3:19.82 finish, cutting nearly seven seconds from their seed time.

Women's Team Standings – Through Event 10

1. William & Mary – 156 
2. West Virginia – 155
3. Villanova – 151
4. Northern Iowa – 126
5. Delaware – 120
6. Seton Hall – 98
7. Navy – 92
8. East Carolina – 87
9. Drexel – 72
10. Old Dominion – 28

Men's Team Standings – Through Event 10 

1. Navy – 330
2. West Virginia – 226
3. Delaware – 129
4. William & Mary – 108
5. Seton Hall – 102
6. Drexel – 88
7. Old Dominion – 52
8. Villanova – 48

Full Results from day one are available here.

The WVU Invitational will resume with day two prelims at 9:30 a.m. on Friday and day two finals will take place at 6 p.m. Friday. Then, the event will conclude Saturday with 10 a.m. prelims and 5 p.m. finals. Day two will feature the 200 Medley Relay, 100 Fly, 400 IM, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, 800 Free Relay, Women's 1-Meter Diving, Men's 3-Meter Diving.
 
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