Washington University dove into the pool for its first full meet of the season and came out with a strong showing. The men’s team scored 1,004.5 points with its first place finish while the women’s squad pulled in 821 points, finishing second to host University of Chicago at the Maroon Invitational.
“It comes down to Wash. U. Swimming and Diving performing the best we can,” Head Coach Brad Shively said.
The last race determined the outcome for Wash. U. men, as the 400-yard freestyle relay squad of senior Kevin Leckey, junior Dan Arteaga, junior Alex Beyer and sophomore David Chao powered the team to first by defeating the University of Chicago by 16 points. The same group captured first in the 200-medley relay.
Beyer and Chao continued to have great swims in team events, pairing with freshman Billy Griffitts and senior Julian Beattie in their first-place finish in the 400-medley relay and winning the 800-freestyle relay with sophomore Kartik Anjur and junior Brian Kushner. According to Beyer, the Bears would have won the 200-freestyle relay had they not been disqualified for a false start. “We have some really fast relay swimmers,” Beyer said.
Beyer paced the Bears, notching three individual first-place finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard freestyle while provisionally qualifying for NCAAs in the 400-yard individual medley. Beyer is the first Bear to exceed NCAA standards this season with his time of 4:07.52.
Beyer was also recognized as the UAA and CollegeSwimming.com Athlete of the Week. He is the first Wash. U. swimmer since Meredith Nordbrock on Nov. 17, 2004 to garner the accolade.
Wash. U. victories in other events also played a large part in the win. Leckey swam into first in the 100-backstroke, and sophomore Michael Flanagan won the 200-butterfly. Freshman Chris Valach grabbed some key points for the Bears by taking first in the 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle events.
On the women’s side, freshman Karina Stridh won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events, missing provisionally qualifying for NCAAs in the 50-yard race by 10 milliseconds. “I don’t look at them as being freshmen,” Shively said. “They can only get better and stronger.”
Wash. U. dominated many of the freestyle events. Junior Jessie Lodewyk won the 1,650-freestyle and partnered with freshmen Samantha Schulte and Stridh and sophomore Karin Underwood to take the 400-freestyle relay. Lodewyk, Underwood and Schulte joined freshman Amy Vanlishout in capturing second in the 800-freestyle relay. Junior Kelly Kono and Schulte took second and third, respectively, in the 500-freestyle.
“Every member of the team is a contributor to our success, and that builds team bonds,” Lodewyk said.
The Red and Green will host the WU Thanksgiving Invitational Meet on November 22 and 23 in the Millstone Pool. Competing at the meet will be the reigning national runner-up in D-II, Missouri University of Science & Technology, and a host of other squads.
According to Shively, the Bears will be focusing on the little things such as starts and turns.
“The team will be focused on performing well in our home pool and we will be focused on putting up some fast times before we get to Wheaton,” Lodewyk said. “It is all about preparation for our first big taper meet of the season.”
Swimming: Bears step up to Chicago’s challenge
Published: Friday, November 14, 2008
Updated: Friday, November 14, 2008
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