Men's Swimming Pre-Championship Webcast

With 16-straight CAC Men's Swimming Championships under its belt, Mary Washington will once again enter this weekend's championships as the favorite to take home conference hardware.

The Eagles were the unanimous pick to win the conference in the preseason poll, and posted a perfect 5-0 mark in CAC dual meets this season. All-American Dallas Tarkenton, who was one of two CAC swimmers to qualify for the NCAA Championships last season, is back to lead the Eagles.

The other CAC male to qualify for NCAA's last year was CAC Swimmer of the Year Kyle Walthall, who captured the 2016 national title in the 100 breaststroke. The Spartans lost Walthall to graduation, but put together an impressive dual meet record of 12-2 overall and 4-1 in the CAC.

The three-day CAC championship will once against be hosted by St. Mary's, beginning on Friday, Feb. 17. The action continues with two sessions per day through Sunday afternoon, Feb. 19.

Below is a brief breakdown of each team heading into the 2017 championship:

FROSTBURG STATE will look to improve on its team finish from a year ago at the upcoming CAC Championships behind some of the league's top marks this season. Junior Christian March will play a big part for the Bobcats as he enters the championships with the league's top times in three events, including a pair of NCAA B cuts. He is currently ranked first in the 50 freestyle (21.19), the 100 (56.37) and 200 breaststrokes (2:03.48). Freshman Jacob Auerbach enters his first championship weekend ranked fourth in the 1,650 freestyle (17:43.22), while junior Darnell Hungerford is fifth in the 50 breaststroke (29.67).

MARY WASHINGTON enters the championship looking to gain their 17th straight CAC Championship, and 23rd overall. Led by seniors Dallas Tarkenton, Tyler Gimple, Dylan Gore, and Sam Maranto, UMW will sport a deep squad that includes Austin Farrar, Noah Carpenter, and Kenyon Huber-Wilker. UMW is on the doorstep of NCAA qualifying in many events, and will look to send multiple swimmers to NCAAs.

MARYMOUNT rounded out a successful regular season with a victory over CAC opponent, Frostburg State. Leading the pack as individual top performers are seniors Tyler Hayes, and William Bryan and freshman Zachary Payne. Hayes has notched seven top-place finishes throughout the season in freestyle events. Bryan also pieced together an impressive season in the breast and IM races, registering four top-place finishes, two of which set new program records for Marymount in the 100-yard (57.78) and 200-yard (2:07.50) breast. Payne started his collegiate career in a strong fashion, bolstering eight top-place finishes in his freestyle and IM events, and setting a new program record for Marymount in the 400-yard IM (4:14.39). The men look forward to kicking the Championships off in the 200-freestyle relay, an event they have traditionally done well in this season, notching three top-place finishes.

ST. MARY'S comes into championships ready to showcase its improvements throughout the season. Seahawks look to showcase skills obtained from their Florida training trip. Coach Brandt describes the trip as very successful. Seniors Matt Walchuck, Andrew Braun, and Andrew Braker are looking to beat times and lead the Seahawks during the conference championship.

SALISBURY will be led by senior Okan Eyigor and sophomores Peter Moyer and Andrew Ward. Eyigor leads the men's side with 17 first-place finishes this season and was a Second-Team All-CAC selection last season. Eyigor was also credited this season with breaking the record in the 100-meter backstroke, posting a blistering time of 59.33 seconds. Moyer, also had a prosperous second year for the Sea Gulls, notching 16 individual victories and recording a personal new pool record in the 200-meter freestyle, posting a time of 1:58.08. Ward, a Second-Team All-CAC winner in 2016 built on his success from last season notching six first-place and three second-place finishes for the year.

YORK enters the 2017 CAC Championships looking to challenge for a spot in the top three as the Spartans concluded the regular season with a record of 12-2. The Green and White won 12 straight meets to establish a new school record for consecutive wins. The Spartans are led by Morgan Schreiber as the junior will attempt to defend his 100 and 200 backstroke titles. Schreiber has won a team-high 16 events this season. Freshman Jesse Tate has made a significant impact on the squad as he has earned 13 individual wins for the season. Senior Ian Kruper is another Spartan who is expected to have an opportunity to score significant points for York.