By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
Given all the green and gold he grew up around, it's no surprise that Aiden Bond chose to continue his swimming career at William & Mary. Ellie Scherer's road to Williamsburg wasn't that clear or simple.
Scherer, a junior on the women's team, is here largely due to circumstances. Not considered fast enough at the time, she was not highly recruited out of high school. But with some unexpected openings on his roster, Tribe coach Nate Kellogg offered one to Scherer.
She took maybe a second to accept.
"I had been talking to mostly D-III schools, and I probably would have gone there and maybe transferred in," Scherer said. "But this ended up working out."
In her first college meet — at Johns Hopkins in her hometown of Baltimore — Scherer finished second in the 100 breast stroke (1:07.78), fourth in the 200 breast (2:30.20) and fifth in the 200 IM (2:14.28). A good start, and it only got better.
In her first taste of the CAA Swimming and Diving Championships as a freshman, Scherer finished second in the 200 IM at 2:02.90, then a school record for a freshman. As a sophomore, she won her first gold medal by finishing first in the 100 breast with a school-record time of 1:00.90.
"Ellie Scherer went from someone we wouldn't have recruited to winning an event at CAAs and setting a school record in the 100 breast stroke and CAA records in the 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay," Kellogg said. "She's been on a massive trajectory these last two years."
For the '23 Championships, Scherer was seeded 18th in the 100 breast with a season-best time of 1:05.04. In the prelims, she clocked a 1:01.14, an improvement of nearly four full seconds.
"I was so tired at the end I was like, 'Oh my gosh, there's no way I can drop time from the morning,'" Scherer said. "I wasn't expecting a double-zero. That was crazy to look at the board and see that."
Going into this year's CAA Championships, which began Wednesday morning and run through Saturday at the Hampton Aquaplex, Scherer is seeded first in the 100 and 200 breast. She is second in the 200 IM behind teammate Sophia Heilen.
"I'm just trying to go into it loose," she said. "I just want to have fun and enjoy myself."
Bond, a freshman on the men's team, is the fourth member of his immediate family to attend William & Mary. He follows his mother (Alicia '90), sister (Delaney '23) and brother (Ryan '25).
His father, Matt Bond, is a Wake Forest alum whose attempts to name one of his boys James was shot down. He settled for the family dog.
In Aiden's first swim at William & Mary, he timed 21.21 in the 50 free and 46.73 in the 100 free. Six weeks later, at the WVU Invitational, those times dropped to 20:39 and 45.14 -- good for 10th and 12th, respectively, among W&M's all-time performers list.
"I'm really excited by my progress," Bond said. "The training has definitely been a lot different than what I experienced in high school. Once I got to college, I had this group of people around me that had the same mindset as me, which I didn't really experience as much in high school.
"Everyone wanted to get faster day in and day out and work toward a common goal of winning a conference championship. I think that has helped me progress in the water. I'm surrounded by people who make me want to try harder in practice and give my all to them."
In his most-recent swim, a dual meet against Georgetown, Bond swam a 20.68 in the 50 free and 45.48 in the 100 free. He was not wearing a tech suit, which he was at WVU while setting his record times.
"To be able to go close to my fastest time, especially at a dual meet, felt awesome," Bond said. "I'm feeling really good heading up to CAAs."
Bond is seeded seventh in the 50 and 100 free and 12th in the 200 free. He also will be competing in four relays: the 200 free, 400 free, 200 medley and 400 medley.
"I really want to be able to make some 'A' finals and score some points for our team," Bond said. "I especially want our relays to place higher than they did last year.
"I don't like to have times in mind because I don't like that added pressure. I just want to be able to race and make the 'A' finals."
