TOWSON, Md. - The Towson men's swimming and diving team will embark on the 2013 Colonial Athletic Association Championships beginning Wednesday at the Jim McKay Natatorium on the campus of George Mason.

The Tigers are coming off its second consecutive season with three dual meet victories and have vastly improved as the season has drawn on. After a seventh place finish in last year's CAA Championships, Tiger head coach Pat Mead has established a clear set of goals for his team to achieve in the coming days.

"We are looking for the men to achieve lifetime best performances," Mead  said. "If we do that, then the year will have been a success. Moving up a spot from last year and scoring more points than last year is also a goal for the weekend."

Towson has developed a talented group of underclassmen, led by sophomores Matt Lowe, Matt Collingwood and freshman Matt McKenney.

Lowe has established himself as an outstanding distance swimmer and holds the fastest time of the season by a Tiger in both the 1,000-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle events. His time of 9:32.47 sets the bar in the 1,000-yard event and his swim of 16:00.70 in the 1,650-yard freestyle is the fifth fastest time in Towson history in the event.

Collingwood has built on a strong freshman season and leads Towson in the 500-yard freestyle, timing 4:39.94 in the event at the POD meet in his fastest swim of the year.

McKenney has come on strong as a freshman and has re-written the Towson history books as a result. He has set new Towson men's freshman records in the 50-yard freestyle (21.20), the 100-yard butterfly (50.26) and the 200-yard butterfly (1:52.59).

On the diving boards, the team returns junior Alex Cohen, who set the school record in the one and three meter diving competitions last year. Cohen will look to build on last year's success and has done an admirable job this season. He has won the CAA Men's Diver of the Week award five times this season.