Swimming teams perform well at invitational tournament
Sarah KliffThe Wash. U. swimming and diving teams finished off their home schedule with a bang this weekend at the Washington University Invitational.
In addition to turning in some strong individual performances, the Bear women took first out of seven teams with 958 points, beating out second place finisher DePauw University by 198 points. The men’s team finished second to the University of Missouri-Rolla with a final point total of 757.
Coming off a dual meet victory over Lindenwood University last weekend, the Bears were pleased with their performance.
“After our training trip we’re still kind of broken down, and it’s very encouraging to see that people are still swimming fast,” said junior co-captain Meredith Nordbrock.
Nordbrock had a strong meet, clocking season-best times in the 200-yard backstroke and the 400-yard individual medley. She improved her NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 200 backstroke to 2:07.76 and qualified in the 400 IM as well with a time of 4:33.88, taking first in both events.
Sophomore Kelly Kono also had a pair of impressive swims, winning both the 500-yard freestyle and the 1650-yard freestyle with NCAA provisional marks of 5:05.82 and 17:40.58, respectively.
Junior diver Priya Srikanth turned in season-high performances in both the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions. She scored 421.15 points in the 1-meter event, just four points shy of the school record, and 491.05 points in the 3-meter contest.
The men were led by junior Perry Bullock, who won the 200-yard individual medley in 1:56.81 and the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:10.28.
Sophomore Julian Beattie also contributed a second place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke and a third-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle. Beattie’s time of 16:25.09 in the 1650 free was just two seconds short of the provisional qualifying time for national competition.
With their last home meet behind them, the Bears now turn their focus to the UAA Championship meet in three weeks. Going into the resting period of their training, the teams will be able to feed off their successes of the last two weeks as they prepare for the final meets of the season.
“It kind of picks everyone up and makes everyone look forward to [the] conference [meet],” said Nordbrock. “It really helps to know that we’re that well-prepared, that once we’re rested we’ll be swimming even faster.”
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