Williams wins national championship in 100 backstroke; Stags in ninth
(Watch Williams Postmeet Interview)
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Individual events moved to the forefront for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's swimmers on the third day of the NCAA Championships, as junior Matthew Williams (CMC) won the national championship in the 100-yard backstroke. Overall, the Stags remain in ninth place (100.50) with one day of competition left in the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatics Center.
The individual title is the first for the Stags since 2005 (Andrew Cox – 50 free) and first in the 100 back since 1983 (Doug Jones). The CMS men's program now has 24 individual national titles in its history to go along with one relay championship and one team national championship (Claremont-Mudd, NAIA – 1967).
Williams' time of 47.57 bested his previous CMS and SCIAC record (47.94) which he set in 2014 at the SCIAC Championships. He edged out NCAA record holder and defending national champion Ben Lin for the first-place finish on Friday. The finals time for Williams was a half second better than his prelim time (48.09) from the morning.
Senior Matthew Valentine (HMC) joined Williams with All-America accolades on Day 3. Valentine opened the day by beating his previous CMS record in the 200 butterfly (1:48.71) in the preliminaries. Then in the championship finals, he beat his CMS record again (1:48.70), this time by one-one hundredth of a second for an All-America, sixth-place finish.
Time trials start each day at 10 a.m. and the finals are scheduled for 6 p.m. EST. Live video and live scoring is available throughout the week at the NCAA Championships. A schedule of events and other meet information can be found in the Championships Program.
Results (Day 3)
Watch Live
Championships Program
By Chris Watts
Director of Athletics Communication
Claremont McKenna College
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