William & Mary Swimming and Diving Mixes Old and New Contests in 2015-2016 Schedule

The William & Mary swimming teams will take on an intriguing mix of familiar and new opponents in 2015-16, head coach Matt Crispino ’02 announced today. The Tribe will have three meets at home, including the first two weeks of the season, and will have a new destination for the mid-year invitational. The W&M men, defending CAA Champions, will swim in 10 dual meets this winter, while the women are scheduled for 11 meets.

“This year’s schedule is exciting in that every meet will present both a great challenge and a great opportunity,” said Crispino. “The amount of travel and the quality of the opponents will demand that we’re ready to race every time we step on the blocks. If we can stay consistent throughout the dual meet season while training hard, that will give us confidence in our taper for CAAs and beyond. We are also thrilled to have Tribe swimmers represent William & Mary in the long course pool on the national stage. The 2016 Olympic Trials will be truly electric.”

The year gets underway at home in the Rec Center Natatorium, with W&M hosting conference-rivals Towson on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. Last year, the Tiger men finished a best-ever second at the CAA Championships behind the Tribe, while the Towson women won for the seventh time in the last eight years. Two weeks later, the Green and Gold celebrates Homecoming on Friday Oct. 23 with a 5 p.m. meet against Georgetown.

The first road trip of the year comes Oct. 31-Nov. 1, with W&M heading up to Newark, Del., for the annual CAA Pod Meet. The Tribe was drawn once again into the pool of Delaware, UNCW, and James Madison (women only). The men have won the double-header each of the past two years, while the women have been 2-1 against the group for the last three years, falling only to the powerhouse Dukes.

Another tri-meet comes the following weekend, Saturday Nov. 7, with W&M heading down to Durham for a match-up with Duke and Old Dominion. The fall will conclude with a pair of mid-season invites, splitting on either side of the Thanksgiving holidays. Before the break, Nov. 20-22, the Tribe heads up to Lewisburg, Pa., for the Bucknell Invitational. The meet features many teams that W&M used to see regularly at the Maryland Invite that was discontinued three years ago. When the students get back and before final exams get started, a select group of athletes who have qualified will head out to Federal Way, Wash., for the AT&T Winter Nationals. Since this is an Olympic year, the national meet will be held on the 50m international course, instead of the NCAA 25-yard pool like last year.

After the winter training trip, the Tribe returns to Williamsburg for the final run-up to the CAA Championships. The 2016 schedule begins with a road trip to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 9 for a duel with George Washington. Senior Day and the final home meet of the year comes on Saturday, Jan. 16, with W&M hosting Davidson at noon. The Tribe has a large class of 13 seniors this year, six women and seven men, who have combined to go 40-23 over the past three years. The last dual meet of the year is another tri-meet, this time in Greenville, N.C., against East Carolina and South Carolina. The Tribe men beat the Pirates last year on Senior Day, while the Gamecocks have been a familiar invitational opponent over the last few seasons.

Championship season kicks off on Feb. 6-7 with the Tribe sending a select number of athletes down to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the Carolina College Cup. The Carolina meet serves as a chance to swim fast for the athletes not on the conference roster, and for them to compete for the last few spots on the CAA team. The CAA Championships return to Richmond this year at the Collegiate School Aquatic Center, Feb. 24-27. The diving portion of the championship will again be held the weekend before at Delaware, and the scores from both meets combine to determine a conference champion. In 2015, the Tribe men overcame a 140-point deficit to win their first-ever conference title, and the W&M women out-swam every school but Towson to post their best score in a decade and place third.

The season wraps up with the NCAA Championships, which will both be held in Atlanta, Ga., this March. The women’s championship will take place March 17-19, with the men coming the next week March 24-26. W&M last sent a men’s member to the national meet in 1986, while the women are looking to advance for the first time since 2010. The Tribe will also be well-represented at the “other” major national meet this summer, the 2016 Olympic Trials in Omaha June 26-July 3. Already, seniors Will Manion (Haddonfield, N.J.) and Jeremiah O’Donnell (Chapel Hill, N.C.) and freshman Annie Miller (Houston, Texas) have qualified for the Trials, with several more swimmers just outside of the qualifying marks.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World. To reach our audience, contact us at newsmaster@swimmingworld.com.

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