Swimming and Diving Season Review

04/25/06 12:19PM

WILLIAMSBURG - The 2005-06 Tribe swimming and diving teams set a pattern of continuous improvement, beating last year’s teams in nearly every measurable category. Academically, scholar-athletes set the bar for the rest of community to follow, with four from the swim and dive ranks (Dan Byler, Morgan Adams, Laura Hodulik, and Lindsay Young) earning the Provost’s Award, believed to have the most rigorous academic standards in college athletics. Further, Lindsay Young was recently selected to Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most prestigious undergraduate honor society in America. The women’s team as a whole was awarded the appellation of “Academic All-America Team” by the College Swim Coaches Association of America.

In the pool, the women’s team tied the school record for victories in a season with 10, and set school records for most conference victories in a season and best conference record as they rolled to a final record of 10-5 (8-1 CAA). The team also tied the best finish at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, mounting a furious rally on the final day to move into second place. Individually, the women finished with five CAA champions and 16 all-conference citations with freshman Whitney Pezza taking home the gold in the 200 fly and the 400 medley relay of Meredith David, Kelly Reitz, Pezza, and Marnie Rognlien winning their race. Over the course of the season, the team had 72 lifetime-best swims and finished with 21 new entries in the W&M record books despite swimming the first two days of the conference championships in a pool that was too long. School records were set by Pezza in the 200 fly, freshman Marina Falcone in the 500 free (the first Tribe woman to swim under five minutes), and the 400 free relay team.

The men also had a noteworthy season, recording the most victories since finishing 15-1 in 1998-99 and achieving a .500 record in conference for the first time since that same season, finishing the year with a record of 5-7 (4-4 CAA). At the CAA Championships, the team improved upon last year’s finish by coming in fifth. Individual achievements included an outstanding 119 lifetime-best swims (for comparison, the teams last year combined for only 102 lifetime bests) and 20 new entries in the school’s record books. Included in those totals is the all-conference performance of freshman Jeff Collier at the CAA meet, where he surprised the field by taking second in the 1650 free, dropping more than a minute from his previous best swim to finish in 15:49.04, the second-fastest time in school history. Collier’s time at the 1000-yard mark is also second in Tribe history.