GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Washington and Lee men's swimming team was crowned the 2022 ODAC champions on Sunday evening, following the fourth day of finals events in Greensboro.
Highlights from the meet:
-W&L tallied a meet-high 933.5 points to earn their seventh all-time ODAC title. The Generals were followed by Roanoke with 743.5 points in second and Lynchburg to round out the Top 3 with 536 points.
-Senior
Steve Warren (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) and first-year
Stephen Ewing (Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces) led the way on day four. Warren won the 200 breast and set a new program record with a time of 2:03.48, which was also an NCAA B-cut mark. Ewing topped the field in the 1650 free with an ODAC and meet record and NCAA B-cut time of 16:12.81.
-First-year
Baxter Smelzer (Greensboro, N.C./Page) won the 100 free (45.55) and helped the 400 free relay (3:03.63) to a win, along with first-year
Matt Snyder (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernards), sophomore
Will Hughes (Fairfax, Va./James W. Robinson Secondary) and junior
Dawson Kramer (Taylors, S.C./Eastside).
-Snyder and Hughes added a runner-up individual finish each, as Snyder was second in the 200 free (46.22) and Hughes in the 200 back (1:53.73).
-At the conclusion of the meet, Snyder was named the ODAC Rookie of the Meet, while Head Coach
Kami Gardner collected Coach of the Year honors.
-W&L claimed four of the top-six point scorers across the four-day meet and 12 of the Top 16.
Top-three finishes:
-Smelzer, Snyder, Hughes, Kramer – 1st place 400 free relay (3:03.63)
-
Stephen Ewing – 1st place 1650 free (16:12.81; ODAC & meet record; NCAA B-cut)
-
Will Hughes – 2nd place 200 back (1:53.73)
-
Matt Fritz – 3rd place 200 back (1:53.77)
-
Baxter Smelzer – 1st place 100 free (45.55)
-
Matt Snyder – 2nd place 200 free (46.22)
-
Steve Warren – 1st place 200 breast (2:03.48; program record; NCAA B-cut)
-
Todd Echols – 3rd place 200 breast (2:06.66)
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Reese Nelson – 2nd place 200 fly (1:53.18)
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Colin Whiting – 3rd place 200 fly (1:54.08)
Up next:
W&L will now wait to see if the provisional qualifying times hold up for the NCAA Division III Championships, which will be held March 16-19 at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis.
