Three years before Jack Saunderson represented the United States in the World University Games, he helped the Towson University men's swimming and diving team rally from a 39-point deficit to beat George Mason, 177-174, in November 2016.
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The dual meet, held over a two-day period in Fairfax, Virginia, featured three sessions. On Friday afternoon, the Tigers won just one event and trailed 68-41. The Patriots extended the lead to 83-44 after the first event Saturday morning.
Then Towson narrowed the gap to 10 points as senior Brandon Ress (200-yard freestyle), Saunderson (100-yard butterfly), freshman Ryan O'Leary (100-yard breaststroke) and senior Nick Breschi (100-yard backstroke) won the next four races.
"It was one of those meets where every single place mattered," said Jake Shrum, then in his first full season as head coach. "By putting your foot down in that first session of the second day, getting a win like that from Ryan O'Leary was huge. There were some swims in that earlier session on Saturday that put us in position to make the move that we thought we might be able to do."
Shrum had served as acting head coach for both swimming programs during the 2015-16 season before being promoted. Under his guidance, the men's and women's programs both finished in third-place at the 2016 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Swimming and Diving Championships. During the 2015-16 season, the Tigers set a combined 12 school records.Â
Saunderson was named 2016 CAA Men's Rookie Swimmer of the Year, becoming the first Tiger in program history to earn that award. During his freshman campaign, he set five school records and a CAA Meet record, after winning the 200-yard butterfly at the conference meet.
The 2015-16 team also featured senior Matt McKenney, the defending 200 fly champion and previous conference record holder. Shrum recalls practices where McKenney and Saunderson went head-to-head.
"Those were not battles that Jack was not winning. It was Matt McKenney all the time," Shrum said. "Unfortunately, Matt got really sick in January and that put a damper on the end of his year, but he still swam really well considering he was out of the pool for a month."
During the 2016-17 season, Shrum leaned on Saunderson, then a 19-year-old sophomore, to take it to another level. The Laurel, MD native responded, becoming just the second member in men's program history to qualify for the NCAA Championships. He was the first male Tiger ever to qualify for an event finals at NCAA's and earn All-America honors after a 16th place finish in the 200-yard butterfly. He also earned the first of three consecutive CAA Swimmer of the Year honors that season.
"His sophomore year, we needed him to send a message (to other teams) that this wasn't an event you have a chance of winning," Shrum added. "Those can be the kind of swims that can enlighten your team. Those can be the swims that make someone else swim a tenth or two faster in their individual race and that ends up moving you up a point and them down a point and those things add up."
Heading into Saturday's afternoon session, the Tigers were down 10 points. Ress and sophomore Will Dougherty finished 1-2 in the 500 free, narrowing the gap to 129-128.
Breschi gave Towson its first lead after winning the 200 back. Mason regained the advantage after finishing first and second in the 100 free. With three races remaining, O'Leary gave the Tigers the lead for good with a two-second victory in the 200 breast.
"That is the beautiful thing about dual meets and one of the biggest things I miss about it, too" Saunderson said. "That kind of moment where we see our teammates doing well. It makes it exciting, fun and it shows up in results with your own performance. It is contagious."
Towson then clinched the victory in the 200 fly as Saunderson won in dominating fashion, finishing in 1:47.90, four and a half seconds ahead of senior teammate Noah Pritchard.
"Noah was a really great friend of mine before Towson. He was part of my club team (Columbia Aquatics) growing up," added Saunderson. "I looked up to him a lot. We swam the same events and kind of fed off each other."
Saunderson, one of the most decorated student-athletes in Towson University history, now swims professionally for Wolfpack Elite in Raleigh, NC and is currently training for next year's Olympic Trials.Â
"My sophomore year, I was still adjusting to the college training," Saunderson said. "Jake and all the other coaches put me on the right path to get me to where I am. I always had the vision to come to this pinnacle part of my swimming career. I knew it was going to take a lot of time, patience, a lot of hard work, a lot of consistent dedication."
"It is so cool that what I have seen from Jack and my interactions with him since he has gotten down to NC State," added Shrum. "It is like it was when he was a sophomore, junior, senior. There has been another level of passion that has come back into play with him and as a coach, that is what you want. It doesn't have to be about the swimmer, you just want your kids to be excited about the next step and for him it is still swimming."
