Mary Washington Men and Women Grab Early Lead at CAC Swimming Championships; Five Records Broken On Day 1
The Mary Washington men's and women's swimming teams broke a total of five CAC records and captured first place in nine of 10 events to grab the early lead on day one of the CAC Swimming Championships at St. Mary's on Friday.
On the women's side, UMW totaled 296 points to take control of first place in the team standings, followed by St. Mary's (127), Marymount (122), York (111), Salisbury (106) and Frostburg State (83).
The UMW men posted a first-day total of 297 points to take the lead over St. Mary's (136), Salisbury (121), York (118), Marymount (100) and Frostburg State (73).
The UMW women posted CAC and championship record times in the 200 freestyle and 400 medley relays for the second straight year, while Anna Corley raced to a CAC and championship record in the 200 IM and Stephanie Hallock broke her own championship record in the 50 freestyle.
The 200 freestyle team of Katie Fago, Shannon Coryell, Hannah Hagy and Hallock broke their own record that they set at last year's championship with a time of 1:35.06. The same foursome secured new conference and championship records in the 400 medley, posting a mark of 3:50.42
Corley set new CAC and championship records in the 200 IM, breaking her own records with a time of 2:04.00, while Hallock raced to first place in the 50 freestyle at 23.92. In Friday's prelims, Hallock broke her own 50 freestyle championship record, touching in 23.68.
UMW's Ashley Walnut made it five-for-five in gold medals on day one for the Eagles, taking first in the 500 freestyle at 5:03.81.
The Eagle men captured four of five first-place finishes on day one, including a record-breaking performance from Tyler Gimple in the 500 freestyle. Gimple set a CAC championship record in the 500 free with a mark of 4:34.81.
The UMW 200 freestyle relay of Dallas Tarkenton, Matthew Garska, Ricardo Bonilla-Vazquez and Vance Solseth opened the evening with a winning time of 1:24.74, while the 400 medley relay of Sean Mayer, Kenyon Huber-Wilker, Tarkenton and Bonilla-Vazquez closed out day one with a winning time of 3:23.49.
Tarkenton took first in the 200 IM at 1:51.88 for UMW, while Salisbury's Will Gough was the lone non-UMW gold-medal finisher on day one with a time of 20.74 in the 50 freestyle.