W&M Swimming and Diving Announces 2007-08 Competition Slate

Five Home Meets On Tap For Tribe

08/06/07 3:33PM

WILLIAMSBURG - Director of Swimming and Diving McGee Moody announced the 2007-08 William and Mary competition schedule today, the start of the Tribe's fourth season under his tutelage. Five of the 11 dual meets are at home this year, the most since 2003-04.

Men's 2007-08 Schedule
Women's 2007-08 Schedule

The Tribe opens the year at home on October 13, hosting Towson at 2 p.m in a Colonial Athletic Association match-up. The College holds a 3-1 advantage over the Tigers in the last two seasons, including a perfect 2-0 record on the men's side. A trip down to Greenville, North Carolina brings the Tribe into conflict with the East Carolina Pirates and the N.C. State Wolfpack at 12 o'clock noon on October 20. ECU, former conference rivals for W&M, swept the Tribe in each of the last two years, while the Wolfpack also won both the men's and women's match-ups in 2005-06, the last time William and Mary took on the ACC school.

After two weeks off from competition, action resumes the weekend of November 2-3 with the CAA Pod Meets. After three years in a pod with Old Dominion, Delaware, and Northeastern, William and Mary rotates into a new grouping this year and will travel to Fairfax, Virginia to face George Mason and Drexel. Swimming begins at 5 p.m. on Friday, November 2, and diving opens the day on Saturday at 9 a.m. A further two weeks gives the College time to prepare for the Terrapin Cup Invitational, November 15-17 in College Park, Maryland. Last season's Terrapin Cup was one of the fastest invitationals east of the Mississippi River, and this year promises to be no less exciting. The fall portion of the season will conclude on December 1 with an inter-divisional match-up with the University of Mary Washington at 2 p.m. in Fredericksburg.

After exams and the winter holidays, the Tribe will get in a quick tune-up with a friendly match with Johns Hopkins University in North Palm Beach, Florida, at 10 a.m. on January 10th. After that, the Green and Gold barely ventures out of Williamsburg until the conference championships. First up is former CAA-foe College of Charleston, who visits the Tribe at 2 p.m. on January 12. Arch-nemesis UNC Wilmington visits one week later, January 19, also at 2 p.m. for a match-up between the two teams that won last year's conference titles.

The women's side takes on long-time rival Richmond on the road at 1 p.m. on January 27, the last road trip for either squad this season. The Tribe and the Spiders have faced off every year but two since 1977-78, with Richmond holding a slim 15-13 advantage. The regular season closes on the first weekend in February, as the College welcomes Old Dominion at 5 p.m. on Friday, February 1, and Delaware at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 2. Both meetings are CAA contests, giving W&M a total of six conference meets this season.

The CAA Championships return to Fairfax for the eighth-consecutive year from February 27-March 1, but for the first time with the William and Mary women's squad as the defending champions. The Tribe women will look to add a second trophy to their case this year, while the men will look to equal or better the program-best second-place finish of 1999. This year's NCAA Championships will be held March 20-22 in Columbus, Ohio for the women, and March 27-29 in Federal Way, Washington for the men.

The W&M women's team returns 20 of 25 members from last year's squad that went 8-4 (6-2 CAA) and won the school's first conference championship in swimming. Returning athletes accounted for over 85 percent of the team's dual-meet victories (104 of 122) and over 70 percent of the gold medals won at the CAA Championships (17 of 24). The men's side brings back 14 of 20 athletes from 2006-07, including all three all-conference performers. Last season, the Tribe posted the first winning record since 1998-99, 6-3-1 (4-2-1 CAA), and finished fourth at the CAA Championships, a program-best under Moody.