College of William and Mary
June 19, 2012
For the first time ever, the William & Mary men's swimming program will be represented at the U.S. Olympic Trials this summer after two upperclassmen swam their way into history this past weekend in Richmond.
Competing at the PSDN Last Chance meet, Sidney Glass ’13, from Mechanicsville, Va., and Andrew Strait ’14, from Henrico, Va., both smashed the Trials qualifying standards to earn the right to compete in Omaha, Neb., June 25-July 2. Strait led off on Friday night with a 2:05.68 showing in the 200m individual medley, becoming the first men's swimmer in College history to qualify for the Olympic Trials. His performance was 7.3 seconds faster than his previous best in a 50-meter pool, an almost-unheard of improvement at this level of swimming, and was more than a second better than the qualifying standard.
Strait then followed with two more qualifications on Saturday and Sunday, swimming 1:04.40 in the 100m breast and 2:19.99 in the 200m breast, to become the first Tribe swimmer (men or women) to qualify for three Trials events. He had previously gone 1:06 in the 100 breast and 2:24 in the 200, both times coming from before his freshman year at the College. Meanwhile, on Saturday, Glass earned the breakthrough he had been seeking all spring since the end of the NCAA season. The rising senior touched the wall in the 100m back in 57.54 seconds, just under the standard of 57.59. His previous best times in the event both came this March at the Speedo Champions meet at George Mason, when Glass had swims of 58.47 and 58.39 seconds. The two Tribe record-holders will be joined in Omaha by two more members of the Green and Gold family.