The Washington University in St. Louis men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams combined to post seven school records, one A-cut and 21 B-cuts on the first day of action at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships hosted by Emory University Friday.
Due to inclement weather and travel issues for some of the teams, final results and team scoring will not be available until late Sunday night or Monday morning. Five of the eight UAA schools are competing at Emory Friday-Saturday, while Case Western Reserve University, the University of Chicago and the University of Rochester are competing in a satellite UAA Championship at Case Saturday-Sunday.
Freshman Michael Lagieski highlighted the day for the Bears, posting an A-cut and school-record time of 54.42 in the finals of the 100 breaststroke. His time was 1.43 seconds ahead of the second-fastest swimmer in Atlanta. Senior Brian Carpenter (57.63) and freshman Reese Frerichs (57.68) also posted B-cuts in the 100 breaststroke prelims. Lagieski also teamed up with junior Matt Nutter, sophomore Reed Dalton and freshman Justin Morrell to set a school record with a B-cut time of 3:19.05 in the 400-medley relay.
Nutter bettered his own school record with a B-cut time of 1:50.66 in the final of the 200 backstroke. He also led off the 800-free relay that posted a B-cut of 6:47.60, joining junior Zane Turpin, sophomore RJ Petrella and junior Luke Dobben in the race. Dobben set a school record in the 200 butterfly with a B-cut time of 1:50.16 in the prelims, before posting the fastest time in the finals in Atlanta with a B-cut of 1:50.42. He also posted a season-best and B-cut time of 4:27.41 in the prelims of the 500 freestyle, and had the fastest time in the final with a B-cut of 4:27.89. Turpin (4:28.53) and freshman Andrew Ellison (4:36.32) also posted season-bests and B-cut times in the event final.
On the women’s side, sophomore Sophie Gan broke the school record with a B-cut time of 1:05.35 in the prelims of the 100 breaststroke. She also joined sophomore Katie Anderson, freshman Lauren Carlos and sophomore Kristalyn McAfee to set a school record in the 400-medley relay with a B-cut time of 3:50.54. Sophomore Hannah Lillioja, senior Chi Pham, freshman Connie Gan and junior Sara Taege also posted a B-cut in the 400-medley relay with a time of 3:53.38.
Taege also broke a school record with a B-cut time of 4:58.63 in the 500 freestyle. Pham (2:05.93) and McAfee (2:06.96) each posted B-cuts in the 200 individual medley prelims. McAfee added a B-cut time of 52.03 in the 100 freestyle prelims, and Anderson had a season-best and B-cut time of 2:02.30 in the 200 backstroke.
Sophomore Amanda Stadermann (2:05.75), sophomore Toireasa Rafferty-Millett (2:05.92), and Taege (2:06.53) all recorded B-cut times in the 200 butterfly. Taege, freshman MariMac Collins, McAfee and Rafferty-Millett teamed up for a B-cut in the 800 free-relay with a time of 7:31.64.
Day two of prelims in Atlanta are set to begin at 9 a.m. (ET) Saturday. Diving preliminaries begin at 11:45 a.m., with finals for both swimming and diving beginning at 5:30 p.m.
