Tribe Women Top Towson After Back-and-Forth Battle

Photo Courtesy: William and Mary Athletics

Women’s Meet

In one of the most thrilling meets in recent history, the William & Mary women’s swimming team went back and forth with Towson on Saturday afternoon, with the final score coming down to a win in the final relay to put the Tribe on top, 135-127. With the win, the Tribe improved to 4-1 on the year and 1-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association, with the Tigers fell to 3-2 (0-1 CAA).

Photo Courtesy: Tribe Athletics

W&M built up a lead through the first half of the meet, but each race was close either way beginning with the very first, the 200 medley relay. Katie Sell (Fredericksburg, Va.) led off the backstroke against Jacy Icard, the league’s two-time Swimmer of the Week, before senior Annie Valls (Miami, Fla.) dove in second for the breaststroke. She helped narrow the gap considerably, and Abby Mack (Wayne, Pa.) brought it even closer on the fly leg, touching the wall just .04 behind after splitting 0.6 faster than her opponent. That left things down to the anchor, where junior Annie Miller (Houston, Texas) split 23.7 on the free, a quarter-second faster than Towson to steal the win, 1:45.41 to 1:45.66.

After the Tigers took the 1000 free, the wins continued in the 200 free, where freshman Megan Bull (Hillsborough, N.J.) touched the wall first in 1:53.39. Towson won the next two events, the 100 back and 100 breast, taking the lead for the first time briefly after the latter. Junior Maria Oceguera (New Rochelle, N.Y.) rectified that situation promptly, winning the 200 fly in 2:04.57, and Miller and Sell followed that up with wins in the 50 free (24.13) and 100 free (52.80), respectively.

Towson battled back with wins in the back and breast, this time in the 200-yard versions, before Tigers freshman Karlee Carminati won the 500 free and staked her team to a five-point lead, 106-101, with just three events left. Next up was the 100 fly, where the senior Mack showed her speed and swam 57.44 to win by nearly three-quarters of the second. That chopped the Towson lead down to just two points, 114-112. After the final break, junior Morgan Smith (Verona, N.J.) took control of the 200 IM in the backstroke, building up a big lead of 1.5 seconds, and was able to hang on through the breaststroke and the freestyle to win in a touch, 2:09.39. That victory narrowed the gap to one, 123-122, with just the 400 free relay left.

The final race started off with Emma Herold (Kohler, Wisc.) on the lead leg, and she grabbed the lead in the race right away in the first 50, handing off a lead of more than half a second to Bull, 52.75 to 53.37. The rookie swam like a pro, getting stronger in her second 50, and split 52.09 to reach the halfway point of the relay in 1:44.84, 0.8 ahead of Towson. Next was another rookie, Tara Tiernan (West Hartford, Conn.), who swam a very respectable 52.12 against one of Towson’s top seniors, Kendall Krumenacker, and reached the wall still in the lead but narrowly, 2:36.96 to 2:37.05. Just like the first relay, it would come down to the anchor, where the junior Sell quickly piled up a lead in her first 50 and extended it in her second, splitting 51.51 to bring the Tribe home in 3:28.47 and clinch the meet. W&M’s time was just .01 seconds off of the dual meet record set back in 2015.

Event Winners

200 Medley Relay – W&M 1:45.41 (Katie Sell, Annie Valls, Abby Mack, Annie Miller), Towson 1:45.66 (Jacy Icard, Jacalyn Schoening, Kendall Krumenacker, Caitlin Manthe)
1,000 Free – Karlee Carminati (TOW) 10:10.79, Morgan Smith (W&M) 10:22.90
200 Free – Megan Bull (W&M) 1:53.39, Sarah Margaret Locke (TOW) 1:55.03
100 Back – Jacy Icard (TOW) 56.96, Kitty Arenz (W&M) 58.92
100 Breast – Amanda Rosa (TOW) 1:05.92, Jacalyn Schoening (TOW) 1:06.10
200 Fly – Maria Oceguera (W&M) 2:04.57, Abby Mack (W&M) 2:06.52
50 Free – Annie Miller (W&M) 24.13, Katie Sell (W&M) 24.26
100 Free – Katie Sell (W&M), 52.80, Emma Herold (W&M) 52.94
200 Back – Jacy Icard (TOW) 2:04.84, Cambria Cloutier (TOW) 2:06.07
200 Breast – Amanda Rosa (TOW) 2:23.01, Shannon Harrington (W&M) 2:23.93
500 Free – Karlee Carminati (TOW) 4:59.87, Sarah Margaret Locke (TOW) 5:05.29
100 Fly – Abby Mack (W&M) 57.44, Kendall Krumenacker (TOW) 58.11
200 IM – Morgan Smith (W&M) 2:09.39, Sarah Margaret Locke (TOW) 2:09.41
400 Free Relay – W&M 3:28.47 (Emma Herold, Megan Bull, Tara Tiernan, Katie Sell), Towson 3:29.26 (Ryan Ulrich, Caitlin Manthe, Kendall Krumenacker, Annemarie Schnoor)

Up Next

William & Mary heads to Wilmington, N.C., next weekend for the CAA Pod Meet on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 4-5. The Tribe will take on James Madison, UNCW, and Delaware at the meet, which will feature two sessions on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Men’s Meet

The William & Mary men’s swimming team overpowered Towson on Saturday, winning 177-85 in the conference opener for both teams. The Tribe improved to 3-1 on the year and 1-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association with the win, while the Tigers fell to 1-4 (0-1 CAA).

Photo Courtesy: Tribe Athletics

The Tribe set the tone for the meet early, winning the 200 medley relay in 1:31.16, the 14th-fastest race in school history. Lead-off man Wyatt Grubb (Mechanicsville, Va.) staked W&M to the lead in the first 50 that it would never relinquish, before handing off to Devin McNulty (Herndon, Va.), Jack Doherty (Middletown, Conn.), and Colin Wright (Williamsburg, Va.) in turn. The Tribe would go on to win 11 of 14 events, including the 400 free relay where the team of Kyle Neri (Wallingford, Conn.), Ben Skopic (Marriottsville, Md.), Doherty, and Wright swam an easy 3:05.73 to close out the meet.

In between the two relays were a number of standout performances in individual events. The freshman McNulty swept the 100 and 200 breast, including swimming 57.39 seconds in the 100 breast to improve to 16th all-time among Tribe athletes. McNulty later came back to win the 200 breast in 2:07.39 from lane one. Also winning a pair was junior Carter Kale (Williamsburg, Va.), who won the 200 fly in 1:52.48 and the 500 free in 4:37.72.

Single winners included Grubb, who took the 100 back in 51.06, as well as Skopic, 1:42.55 in the 200 free, and Wright, who swam 20.66 in the 50 free. Sophomore Chris Balbo (Short Hills, N.J.) cruised to an easy win in the 1000 free, stopping the clock in 9:31.62, and freshman Jake Kealy (Wilton, Conn.) swam 1:51.22 to win the 200 back. Among Towson’s three wins was the 100 fly, where All-American Jack Saunderson broke the pool record by nearly a full second in 48.72 seconds.

Event Winners

200 Medley Relay – W&M 1:31.16 (Wyatt Grubb, Devin McNulty, Jack Doherty, Colin Wright), Towson 1:33.32 (Owen Robinson, Ryan O’Leary, Jack Saunderson, Nick Essing)
1,000 Free – Chris Balbo (W&M) 9:31.62, Ian Bidwell (W&M) 9:39.38
200 Free – Ben Skopic (W&M) 1:42.55, Evan Brophy (TOW) 1:43.62
100 Back – Wyatt Grubb (W&M) 51.06, Jake Kealy (W&M) 52.16
100 Breast – Devin McNulty (W&M) 57.39, Ryan O’Leary (TOW) 57.94
200 Fly – Carter Kale (W&M) 1:52.48, Tommy Kealy (W&M) 1:52.70
50 Free – Colin Wright (W&M) 20.66, Ian Thompson (W&M) 21.16
100 Free – Nick Essing (TOW) 46.62, Kyle Neri (W&M) 46.81
200 Back – Jake Kealy (W&M) 1:51.22, Philip Barto (W&M) 1:52.93
200 Breast – Devin McNulty (W&M) 2:07.39, Ryan O’Leary (TOW) 2:08.09
500 Free – Carter Kale (W&M) 4:37.72, Ian Bidwell (W&M) 4:43.36
100 Fly – Jack Saunderson (TOW) 48.72, Colin Wright (W&M) 50.60
200 IM – Jack Saunderson (TOW) 1:55.15, Colin Roddy (TOW) 1:55.19
400 Free Relay – W&M 3:05.73 (Kyle Neri, Ben Skopic, Jack Doherty, Colin Wright), W&M 3:10.14 (Tommy Kealy, Lee Bradley, Joey Rento, Ian Thompson)

Up Next

William & Mary heads to Wilmington, N.C., next weekend for the CAA Pod Meet on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 4-5. The Tribe will take on both UNCW and Delaware at the meet, which will feature two sessions on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Press releases courtesy of William & Mary Athletics.

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Blair Zartman

6 years ago

Congrats Heather Hartmann and Sandy Hartmann

Sandy Hartmann

6 years ago

Reply to Blair Zartman

Thank you!