Washington U./St. Louis
The Washington University in St. Louis men's and women's swimming & diving teams claimed three more individual titles on the final day of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships hosted by the University of Rochester Saturday at the Webster Aquatic Center.
The WashU men and women both finished as the runner-up in the final team standings. The men's team scored 1,444 points to finish second behind Emory University (1,595). Head coach Brad Shively and assistant coach Nicole Kaupp were selected as the UAA Men's Swimming Coaching Staff of the Year. It was Shively's second time earning the honor after also leading the men to a runner-up finish in 2002-03.
The WashU women also finished second to Emory. The Eagles won the team title with 2,015 points, while WashU (1,329.5) overtook the University of Chicago (1,319) for the runner-up spot. It was the Bears' third straight runner-up finish at the UAA Championships.
Freshman Brandon Lum was selected as the UAA Men's Swimming Rookie of the Year after posting three individual top-six finishes at the meet. During Saturday's competition, Lum set a UAA record with a season-best and B-cut time of 1:48.94 to win the conference title in the 200 butterfly. He also finished fourth in the 100 fly and won the B Final of the 100 backstroke at the meet.
Freshman Jordan Wheeler (1:51.42) and senior Reed Dalton (1:51.73) both posted B-cut times to finish fifth and sixth, respectively in the 200 fly. Freshman Jason Hsu also had a B-cut in the B Final with a season-best time of 1:51.43.
In the women's 200 fly, senior Amanda Stadermann broke her own school record during the prelims, only to better that time in the event final. She won her first individual UAA title with a school-record and B-cut time of 2:01.54.
Junior Michael Lagieski completed his sweep of the men's breaststroke events by winning the 200 breast in a B-cut time of 2:01.68. Junior Reese Frerichs was sixth in a B-cut time of 2:04.97.
The WashU men also had three runner-up finishes during Saturday's events. Freshman Kevin Van Cleave broke the school record in the 200 backstroke, finishing second in a season-best and B-cut time of 1:49.54. Senior Luke Dobben clocked a season-best and B-cut time of 15:38.35 to place second in the men's 1,650 free. Junior Andrew Ellison was fourth in a season-best and B-cut time of 16:00.06. the men's 400-free relay team of junior Justin Morrell, Dalton, freshman Andrew Pek and sophomore Ross Brown placed second in a B-cut time of 3:02.06.
Sophomore Nicole Zanolli swam a season-best and B-cut time of 16:59.73 to finish as the runner-up in the women's 1,650 free. Zanolli also posted a season-best and B-cut in a 200 backstroke time trial, finishing in 2:02.43.
Senior Sophie Gan added all-UAA honors with a third-place finish in the 200 breaststroke, clocking a season-best and B-cut time of 2:19.61. The women's 400-free relay also had a third-place finish for the Bears Saturday. The team of junior MariMac Collins, Zanolli, senior Kristalyn McAfee and freshman Lauren Sapp finished third in a B-cut time of 3:26.84. On her lead leg, Collins posted a season-best and B-cut time of 51.80. Sapp added a B-cut in finishing sixth in the 100 free (52.03), while Collins was seventh (52.24).
Senior Katie Anderson just missed all-UAA honors in the women's 200 backstroke, finishing fourth in 2:02.70. In the men's 100 free, Brown finished fourth in a season-best and B-cut time of 45.46, while Morrell was seventh in 45.72. Sophomore Ryan Nathenson added a career-best score of 393.55 to place sixth in the men's one-meter diving.
Overall, the WashU teams finished the UAA Championships with seven school records, nine event titles, 27 all-UAA finishes and 47 B-cuts. The Bears finish their season at the NCAA Championships March 16-19 in Greensboro, N.C. The unofficial announcement of qualifiers will be released in a press release on NCAA.com Wednesday, Feb. 24, with the official qualifiers released Monday, Feb. 29.
