The Washington University in St. Louis women’s swimming & diving team won 10 event titles on its way to capturing the team title at the WU Invite for the fifth time in the last seven years, while the Washington U. men finished as the runner-up at the 30th Annual WU Invite held Friday and Saturday at Millstone Pool.
The Washington U. women scored 1,139 points to win the team title over NCAA Division II Lindenwood University, who finished second with 855. DePauw University was third in the women’s team standings with 760 points. Lindenwood claimed the men’s team title with 894.5 points, while the WUSTL men finished second with 740 and NCAA Division II Missouri University of Science & Technology place third with 698.
Sophomore Sophie Gan won a pair of individual events and raced on two winning relays for the Washington U. women at the two-day meet. She won both the 100 (1:07.43) and 200 breaststrokes (2:23.20), and added a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:14.21). Senior Chi Pham won the event in 2:13.33, while freshman Lauren Carlos finished fourth in 2:14.24. Gan also teamed up with sophomore Katie Anderson, Carlos and sophomore Kristalyn McAfee to win both the 200-medley relay (1:49.99) and the 400-medley relay (4:02.25).
Carlos also had an individual title for the Washington U. women, finishing first in the 100 butterfly in 59.30. Freshman Connie Gan placed second (1:00.36) and sophomore Amanda Stadermann was fourth (1:00.70). Stadermann added a first-place finish in the 200 butterfly in 2:09.56 for the Bears. The 200-freestyle relay team of Anderson, Pham and freshmen MariMac Collins and Claire Savage finished first in 1:40.24, and the 400-free relay of Collins, junior Sara Taege, McAfee and Connie Gan swam to first place in 3:36.22, more than five seconds faster than the runner-up team.
Freshman Emily Ramos was the final individual winner for the Washington U. women, finishing first in the three-meter diving with a score of 374.00. She also placed second in the one-meter diving (356.10) during Saturday’s action. Freshman Michael Lagieski was the lone event-winner for the Washington U. men, swimming to first in the 100 breaststroke in 58.15.
Freshman Matt Liu (200 IM – 1:57.36), and sophomores RJ Petrella (200 backstroke – 1:59.07) and Reed Dalton (100 butterfly – 52.80) each had runner-up finishes for the WUSTL men. Liu also added a third-place finish in the 400 IM (4:18.04). Junior Luke Dobben, Petrella, and juniors Will Miller and Matt Nutter teamed up to finish second in the 800-free relay (7:07.55). Dobben also placed third in the 500 free (4:40.25), and junior Zane Turpin was third in the 1,650 free (16:26.44). The 200-medley relay team of sophomore Kaisen Yao, senior Brian Carpenter, Dalton and Nutter posted a third-place finish in 1:36.05.
Anderson led a second- through fourth-place sweep for the WUSTL women in the 100 backstroke, placing second in 1:01.08, while sophomore Hannah Lillioja (1:01.66) and Pham (1:01.80) were third and fourth, respectively. Anderson also placed third in the 200 backstroke in 2:11.57. Taege added runner-up finishes in the 500 free (5:12.76) and the 400 IM (4:43.92), while McAfee swam a season-best 4:45.35 to finish fourth in the 400 IM. McAfee also finished as the runner-up in the 100 free in 53.77. Taege, Collins, McAfee and sophomore Toireasa Rafferty-Millett swam to a runner-up finish in the 800-free relay in 7:49.73, and Rafferty-Millett also finished third in the 200 free (1:58.91).
The Washington University men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams return to action with a dual meet at Principia College at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17.
