William and Mary’s men’s and women’s swimming teams flexed their collective muscle in North Carolina this weekend, turning in impressive results.
The Tribe visited Chapel Hill, N.C. to compete in the Carolina College Invitational for a two-day meet starting Saturday. The women sent 15 swimmers to the invitational while the men had 11 of their own present at the event.
On the women’s side, the Tribe saw 21 career bests across all events and two freshmen records. Freshman Shannon Harrington started the meet off in record-breaking fashion for the College, becoming only the fourth Tribe swimmer to dip under two minutes and four seconds in the 200-meter Individual Medley. She finished with a time of 2:03.97, good for fourth place overall. Harrington went on to set another freshman record Sunday, recording a 2:17.90 in the 200-meter breaststroke preliminaries before going on to finish second overall in the finals.
The 50-meter freestyle saw more impressive first-year performances, as four more freshmen set career bests in the event. Freshmen Jess Crowley, Kitty Arenz, Megan Schilken and Noland Butler all improved on their previous highs, and all broke the 25-second barrier. However, junior Sara Schad eclipsed her younger teammates and was the College’s top swimmer in the event, posting a lifetime best of 23.30 seconds in the prelims.
Later in the day, Butler had another strong showing, finishing third overall in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:53.22. Her fellow freshman Bailey Hall finished in 1:59.06 to secure 10th place in the event. Greenwich, Conn. native Kitty Arenz was also back in action, placing fifth in both the 200-meter and 100-meter backstroke with personal bests of 56.99 and 2:04.79.
Sophomore Alex Henderson had a sensational performance for the men, recording four lifetime bests, one for each event he swam in. He bested his previous marks in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and 500-meter freestyle events, as well as a lifetime best in the 200-meter backstroke.
Junior Lukas Dempsey also gave an impressive performance in the 500-meter freestyle, finishing with a lifetime best of 4:30.87. Dempsey also swam a lifetime best in the 200-meter freestyle, racing his way to a 1:39.40, the sixth fastest mark in Tribe history.
Freshman Wyatt Grubb posted times of 4:01.43 in the 400-meter individual medley and 49.71 in the 100-meter backstroke. The latter was a career best for the rookie.
Sophomore Conor Cudahy and Dempsey braved the one mile-swim on Sunday, finishing third and fourth overall with times of 15:55.79 and 16:15.32, respectively.
The men and women both head to Richmond, Va. for the Colonial Athletic Association Swimming Championships Feb. 25. The event is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.