W&M Women’s Swimming Begins CAA Title Chase Wednesday

The William & Mary women’s swimming team begins the quest for the Colonial Athletic Association Championship this week in Richmond, starting on Wednesday evening with the 200 medley and 800 free relays. Action continues all week at the Collegiate School Aquatics Center, culminating in the trophy presentation on Saturday night, with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. each day. Fans can follow the meet results either on the Meet Mobile app, or through live results on the web at CAASports.com. The conference will also be streaming the meet live on CAA.tv. Wednesday – Finals 6:00 p.m. 200 medley relay, 800 free relay Thursday – Prelims 10 a.m., Finals 6:00 p.m. 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 200 free relay Friday – Prelims 10 a.m., Finals 6:00 p.m. 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 400 medley relay Saturday – Prelims 10 a.m., Finals 6:00 p.m. 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 1650 free, 400 free relay Let the Chase Begin After last weekend’s diving events, the Tribe will have to make up ground on its five of its six opponents. In 2015, W&M out-swam every team by an average of 213 points. Scores After Diving 1. Northeastern 74 T2. James Madison 72 T2. Towson 72 4. Delaware 71 5. UNCW 21 T6. Drexel 0 T6. W&M 0 Max Power While a championship is the ultimate goal, regardless of how many or how few points it takes, W&M also has the secondary objective of trying to crack a few points top-10 lists. Chief among them is the all-time program record of 686 points scored, set by the 1986 team. To rank among the CAA’s all-time top-10 championship teams will take at least 784 points, while the record of 906 points was set by James Madison back in 1993. The all-time NCAA record for most points in a score-16 format is 1,109.5, set by Texas in 2014. For a full listing of W&M’s top scores, see page 10, and the following page has the all-time most points, events won, and winning margin in CAA history. One Tribe, One Family Swimming is a family tradition, as is attending W&M. On this year’s team, that intersection includes two sisters, Annie and Jaimie Miller; two sisters of former swimmers, Sophie Rittenhouse (John ’14) and Courtney Mizerak (Gabrielle ’13); five more swimmers who are not the first in their families to swim collegiately; and two second-generation W&M attendees, Annie Valls (a cousin who graduated in 1991) and Emma Merrill (two aunts and an uncle who all played soccer at W&M in the mid-1990s). Recruiting Success W&M must be doing something right in recruiting, as the Tribe has each of the last two Rookie of the Year honorees in Jaimie Miller(2014) and Abby Mack (2015). This is only the fourth time in conference history that one school has produced the top freshman two years in a row, and no school has ever won the award three years in a row. The previous winners were Old Dominion in 1995 and 1996, and UNCW in both 1997-98 and 2012-13. Turn it up to 11 This year for the first time, the CAA will host a 50m LCM time-trial day on Sunday following the championships. This meet will allow athletes an opportunity to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Trials, and possibly also the NCAA Championships. The Tribe will have about 20 athletes staying over for the LCM day. 200 Medley Relay Preview W&M is the defending champion in the 200 medley relay, and brings back 3/4 of the team that just missed the conference record of 1:40.34 last year. Fittingly, the Tribe is seeded first by a wide margin (1:42.16), but there is a log-jam of teams right behind. Northeastern, JMU, and Delaware are all seeded between 1:44.54 an 1:44.74. 800 Free Relay Preview Defending champs Towson lost two members off their distance relay, and come in seeded at the back of the pack. Up front, James Madison entered a 7:25.32 relay based on the individual times of their top four swimmers, while the Tribe has had the best actual swim in the conference at 7:26.98. Third again looks to be a battle, with Northeastern and UNCW separated by less than a second. 500 Free Preview W&M has never won the 500 free before, but based on entries that may change this year. Selina Fuller is the top seed at 4:55.62, and freshman Morgan Smith is second at 4:56.41. Towson has had the CAA’s best distance program for the past decade and have Ashley Illenye seeded third at 4:56.75. 200 IM Preview It looks to be a dogfight in the 200 IM, with JMU’s Katie Parker and W&M’s Allie Christy separated by just eight one-hundredths of a second. Towson senior Charlotte Holz also cannot be counted out as the defending champion. 50 Free Preview W&M will be looking to go 1-2 with sisters Jaimie Miller (top-seed at 23.06) and Annie Miller (third at 23.41) in the 50 free. Delaware’s senior Morgan Whyte is the defending champ, however, and beat the Miller’s head-to-head at the CAA pod meet. James Madison senior Camilla Czulada is also a threat, seeded fourth at 23.43. 200 Free Relay Preview Much like the 200 medley, W&M is the defending champ and top-seed in the 200 free relay by half-a-second over Delaware, and JMU is seeded third another quarter-second back. The Tribe returns only half of its winning relay from last year, however, while the Blue Hens bring back all four of their swimmers 400 IM Preview JMU’s Maddy Massey is the top seed by a wide margin in the 400 IM, almost two second ahead of Towson’s Christine Hammond in4:25. Hammond is the defending champ with a best of 4:16.6, and UNCW freshman Kyra Schemmel is seeded third at 4:27.95. 100 Fly Preview Northeastern’s Sara Touchette-McGowan has the top entry in the 100 fly at 54.40 seconds, an NCAA B-qualifier, but two seniors may have something to say about the eventual winner. For UNCW, Catherine Gargula is seeded second at 54.56, and for the Tribe,Jessie Ustjanauskas (the top returner from 2015) is picked third at 54.71. The Tribe also has seeds No.s 4 & 5, in Georgie Cromptonand 2015 Rookie of the Year Abby Mack. 200 Free Preview As fitting from their seed time in the 800 free relay, James Madison will look to score big points in the 200 free with four of the top seven entries including third and fourth Camilla Czulada and Quinn MacMillan. The top two spots, however, go to W&M and juniorsSelina Fuller (1:50.26) and Jaimie Miller (1:50.41). 100 Breast Preview Another titanic battle is shaping up in the 100 breast, with Drexel’s Rachel Bernhardt taking the top seed in 1:02.99. Defending champion Jenna Van Camp of Towson is second at 1:03.13, and the W&M duo of Annie Valls and Allie Christy are third and fourth at 1:03.67 and 1:03.74, respectively. 100 Back Preview The CAA record is under red-alert in the 100 back, as defending champ Sophie Rittenhouse of W&M has already gone 54.14 this season, just .01 off the all-time mark. Catherine Gargula of UNCW is the second pick at 55.48, and Northeastern’s Christine Leong is third. 400 Medley Relay Preview Rittenhouse will have to make a quick turn-around if she wants to lead top-seed W&M to its first win since 2007. The Tribe is entered at 3:44.68, 1.5 ahead of Northeastern and three seconds in front of Delaware. 1650 Free Preview The last Tribe winner in the mile was all the way back in 1989, butSelina Fuller (17:00.78) and Morgan Smith (17:01.12) look to change that in 2016. They’ll have to get past top-seed Claire Adkins of JMU (16:59.74) however, as well as Towson’s Ashley Illenye and Hannah Snyder. 200 Back Preview Sophie Rittenhouse will go for the unified backstroke title in the 200 back, and is the top seed at 1:57.90. A distant second is Towson’s Natalie Obando at 2:00.59, while Catherine Gargula of UNCW is third at 2:01.19. 100 Free Preview W&M’s Jaimie Miller is top-seed in the 100 free at 50.24, and won this event as a freshman in 2014. A familiar set of opponents will look to keep her out, with JMU’s Camilla Czulada second at 50.60 and defending champion Morgan Whyte of Delaware third at 51.03. 200 Breast Preview The Tribe’s Allie Christy is the top-seed in the 200 breast at 2:16.79, while defending champion Jenna Van Camp of Towson is close behind at 2:17.04. JMU senior Amanda Presgraves is also gunning for her first title, seeded third at 2:18.83. 200 Fly Preview W&M has won more 200 fly titles (six) than any other event, and senior Jessie Ustjanauskas will go for No. 7 as the co-top seed in 2:03.10 alongside Northeastern’s Delaney Lanker. Tribe sophomores Rachel Anderson (2:03.62) and Abby Mack (2:03.92) are the third and fourth seeds, respectively. 400 Free Relay Preview The team championship could very well come down to the last relay, which JMU won last year with a conference-record 3:20.45. The Dukes return 3/4 of that team, needing to replace only the anchor, as does defending silver medalist Delaware. W&M is the top-seed, however, at 3:23.94.

Swimming news courtesy of William & Mary Swimming & Diving.