GEORGE WASHINGTON vs. WILLIAM & MARY
- Jan. 25, 2020
- Hosted by William & Mary
- Short Course Yards
- Full Results
TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
- W&M 125
- GWU 80
MEN
- W&M 138
- GWU 67
William & Mary’s men and women each took a win on senior day over George Washington. The men’s all-time program record is now 406-405-3, marking the first time they’ve had a winning record since 1931.
Missy Cundiff set a new Pool Record and W&M Dual Meet Record for the women. She clipped the 5-year-old mark by 7 hundredths as she won the 50 free in 23.07. Cundiff also led off the 200 free relay squad in 23.34. She was joined by Inez Olszewski (23.86), Katie Stevenson (24.08), and Anna Kenna (23.55) as they set a new Pool Record and Dual Meet Record of 1:34.81.
Teammate Megan Bull put together a winning triple, starting with a 1:53.02 in the 200 free. Her next wins came in back-to-back events. Bull, the Dual Meet Record holder in the 500 free, set the pace to win that event in 5:05.32. She came back to win the 200 breast minutes later in 2:19.98.
On the men’s side, Chris Balbo swam a lifetime best 9:21.58 to break the Pool and W&M Dual Meet Record in the 1000 free. He swept the distance freestyles, touching in 4:36.53 in the 500 free. Fellow W&M senior Ben Skopic set the Pool Record and Dual Meet Record with his 1:49.85 in the 200 IM. He also won the 200 breast in 2:05.15.
The men’s 200 medley relay also set a Pool Record and Dual Meet Record. Colin Demers led them off with a 22.47 back leg. Ian Bidwell (breast- 24.91), Jack Doherty (fly- 21.15), and Ian Thompson (free- 19.75) followed as they took down the mark by over half a second in 1:28.28.
PRESS RELEASE – WILLIAM & MARY WOMEN
The William & Mary women’s swimming team put an exclamation point on the regular season on Saturday, winning its sixth-straight dual-meet with a 125-80 victory over George Washington on Senior Day. The Tribe improved its season record to 6-4 overall, its 17th year of at least six wins in the last 20, while the Colonials fell to 6-4 as well.
How it Happened
– After honoring its seven seniors before the meet, W&M got right down to business in the pool, winning eight of the 11 events on the day and setting four total records, two each of pool records and dual-meet records.
– First up was the 200 medley relay, where the team of sophomore Anna Kenna (Ashburn, Va.), senior Lauren Freeman (Fairfax Station, Va.), junior Madeline High (Raleigh, N.C.), and sophomore Missy Cundiff (Leesburg, Va.) combined to take the win.
– Next was the 1,000 free, and freshman Grace Tramack (Palo Alto, Calif.) touching the wall first in 10:26.01, and taking a share of the Tribe rookie lead with her fourth win of the season.
– In the 200 free, junior Megan Bull (Hillsborough, N.J.) won her first race of the day in 1:53.02, starting off a remarkable two-hour stretch.
– Next up was the 50 free, and the sophomore Cundiff again took center stage as she has all season long. She won the 50 for the 11th time in 12 attempts, and this time slammed into the final wall in 23.07 seconds to break both the pool and dual-meet records of 23.14 that were set exactly five years ago by Megan Howard ’15.
– In the 100 free, freshman Katie Stevenson (Wilton, Conn.) timed 52.34 seconds to earn her second win in as many weeks, after earning her first collegiate victory seven days ago against Davidson.
– Bull was back in the pool for back-to-back wins at the end of the meet to lift her day’s total to three wins. First, in the 500 free, she swam 5:05.32, and then came back in the 200 breast to put a scare into the dual-meet record with a winning time of 2:19.98. That last win gave her 20 victories on the season, a career-best, and tied for 12th-most in program history since 1990.
– Wrapping up the day was another record-setting performance, as the team of Cundiff, Inez Olszewski (New York, N.Y.), Stevenson, and Kenna combined to win the 200 free relay in 1:34.81. That broke both the pool and dual-meet records of 1:34.84 that had stood since 2014.
William & Mary now begins training for the post-season. First up is the Virginia Tech Invitational, Feb. 7-9, followed by the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, Feb. 19-22 in Christiansburg, Va. The Tribe women last won back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017, and have finished second each of the last two seasons.
PRESS RELEASE – WILLIAM & MARY MEN
The William & Mary men’s swimming team wrapped up the regular season with a day of celebrations Saturday, honoring its nine seniors before the meet and then beating George Washington, 138-67. The Tribe finished the regular season at 8-1 overall, just the seventh time in school history that W&M has finished the year with one or fewer losses, while the Colonials fell to 4-4 on the year.
How it Happened
– As has become customary, W&M torched the record books while torching the scoreboard, breaking the pool and dual-meet records in four of the day’s 11 events.
– First up was the 200 medley relay, where the senior quartet of Colin Demers (Virginia Beach, Va.), Ian Bidwell (Pelham, N.Y.), Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.), and Ian Thompson (Alexandria, Va.) combined to swim 1:28.28 to break the pool and dual-meet records set just last week. That was also the eighth-fastest time in school history.
– The next event also saw the record book re-written, as senior Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) swam a lifetime-best 9:21.58 to win the 1,000 free. In addition to breaking the pool and dual-meet records of 9:23.66, set two years ago by Carter Kale ’19, that was also the fourth-fastest single race in school history, and lifts Balbo to third all-time among W&M athletes.
– In the 200 free, freshman John O’Hara (Fredericksburg, Va.) won his first collegiate race, stopping the clock in 1:41.91.
– Next was the 50 free, and Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.) again put on a show, winning the race in an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 19.90 seconds. That was the 13th-fastest time in school history, and the third time under 20 seconds in a dual meet this season for Wright. Behind him, Thompson took second in 20.55 seconds, and sophomore Graham Hertweck (Greensboro, N.C.) completed the sweep with a collegiate-best time of 20.67 seconds, improving to a tie for 15th all-time among Tribe athletes.
– In the 200 IM, senior Ben Skopic (Marriottsville, Md.) won the first of his two golds on the day, breaking both the pool and the dual-meet records with a time of 1:49.85.
– Wright was back in the winner’s circle in the 100 free, winning in 44.46 seconds.
– Senior Lee Bradley (Crestwood, Ky.) won the next event, the 200 back, touching the wall first in a time of 1:50.78.
– Balbo’s second win of the day came in the 500 free, where he swam 4:36.53 to finish just two seconds off the pool record.
– Skopic picked up his second win with a time of 2:05.15, finishing first in the 200 breast.
– The final event of the day was the 200 free relay, where the team of Doherty, Wright, Hertweck, and Thompson combined to swim 1:19.71 to break the pool and dual-meet records set back in the season opener in October. That was the fastest time in the CAA this season, and the fifth-fastest race ever at W&M.
– With the win, the W&M achieved an important milestone in program history, improving to 406-405-3 all-time since the 1927-28 season. This is the first time the Tribe has been over .500 all-time since Jan. 30, 1931, when W&M was 8-7 before falling to Virginia that afternoon.
William & Mary now begins training for the post-season. First up is the Virginia Tech Invitational, Feb. 7-9, followed by the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, Feb. 19-22 in Christiansburg, Va. The Tribe men have won each of the last five conference titles.
PRESS RELEASE – GWU WOMEN
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – GW women’s swimming and diving continued its road to the Atlantic 10 Championships on Saturday with a tough test at William & Mary.
Jackie Torrez (200 fly), Andrea Ho (200 back) and Courtney Sicinski (200 IM) picked up individual wins, but the Colonials fell to the Tribe, 125-80, at W&M Recreation Center.
HIGHLIGHTS
– Torrez finished her 200 fly in 2:02.16 to win by more than five seconds.
– Sicinski claimed victory in the 200 IM with a season-best time of 2:08.18. The sophomore from Pennsylvania also placed third in the 200 breast (2:22.43) just behind teammate Stine Omdahl Petersen (2:22.10).
– Ho touched first in the 200 back in 2:03.29. The junior from Australia was also part of a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay with Omdahl Petersen, Meghan Burton and Rebecca Smolcic (2:01.00).
– Burton was second in the 50 free (:23.96), and the junior from Virginia was also part of GW’s runner-up showing in the 200 free relay with Smolcic, Becca Brown and Sydney Melnick (1:35.56).
– Marissa Martin (1,000 free), Erin McCarthy (500 free) and Isabela Patino (100 free) also landed individual runner-up finishes.
UP NEXT: GW returns to action next Saturday at West Virginia in its final competition before the A-10 Championships, which run Feb. 19-22 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
PRESS RELEASE – GWU MEN
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – DH Hwang’s win in the 200-yard butterfly paced GW men’s swimming and diving at William & Mary on Saturday.
The Colonials continued preparations for the upcoming Atlantic 10 Championships with the difficult test, falling 138-67 to the five-time defending CAA champion Tribe at W&M Recreation Center.
HIGHLIGHTS
– Hwang’s winning 200 fly time of 1:52.54 was a personal best, edging William & Mary’s Steven Thalblum by three-tenths of a second.
– First-year Zach Hu was runner-up in both distance races, finishing the 1,000 free in 9:49.12 and the 500 free in 4:45.59.
– Haoning Chen led the Buff and Blue in a pair of events. The graduate student who joined the squad for this semester was second in the 200 breast (2:05.22) and third in the 200 IM (1:55.30).
– Andrew Cho was runner-up in the 200 back in 1:51.00, just ahead of teammate Ryan Patterson (1:53.61). The senior from California was also part of GW’s second-place effort in the 200 medley relay with Chen, George Aspougalis and Max Forstenhaeusler (1:31.57).
– Dylan Arzoni took second in the 200 free in 1:42.24.
– Forstenhaeusler, Youssef Ragab, Tyler Kawakami and Moritz Fath teamed up to take second in the meet-closing 200 free relay in 1:23.53.
UP NEXT: GW closes out its regular season next Saturday at West Virginia in its final meet before the A-10 Championships, which run Feb. 19-22 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
Go Tribe!