Following a successful meet last weekend at the Maroon Invitational in Chicago, where the men’s team won and the women’s placed second, the swimming and diving teams have a lot to be thankful for.

In another strong showing this weekend, the men’s and women’s teams both took second place to Lindenwood University in the annual WU Thanksgiving Invitational. In addition, junior Julian Beattie, senior Meredith Nordbrock and senior diver Priya Srikanth all achieved marks to qualify them for the NCAA Championship meet in March.

Despite having fewer swimmers per event than the other teams, the Bears managed to hold their own in the competition, with the women tallying 12 first-place finishes and the men putting up 11.

The men were led by Beattie, whose time of 2:08.34 in the 200-yard breaststroke earned him a provisional qualification for the NCAA Championships. Beattie also placed second in both the 400-yard individual medley, finishing behind teammate junior Perry Bullock, and the 500-yard freestyle, behind sophomore Alex Beyer.

The men dominated the individual freestyle events, taking first in each race. Junior Kevin Leckey won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.64, freshman David Chao took the 100-yard race in 48.27, junior Kyle Ota won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:49.69 and junior Andy Flick placed first in the 1650-free with a time of 17:20.07. The men also swept the relay events, placing first in all four.

The women performed similarly well, led by Nordbrock. She added to her previous nationals qualification in the 400-individual medley with her win in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing in 2:08.97, a full half-second under the provisional cut. Nordbrock also won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:09.37.

Diver Priya Srikanth also had a solid meet, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving competitions. Her scores of 468.50 in the 1-meter and 467.20 in the 3-meter were good enough to qualify her for nationals in both events.

Sophomore Jessie Lodewyk gave an impressive showing as well, winning all three of her individual events. She placed first in the 200-yard individual medley (2:16.85), the 500-yard freestyle (5:19.30) and the 1650-yard freestyle (18:09.39). Like the men, the women also swept all four relay events.

After having next weekend off, the swim and dive teams now look ahead to their mid-season championship meet, the Wheaton Invitational, where they hope to qualify a number of swimmers for the NCAA Championship meet. The action begins Friday, Nov. 30 at 9 a.m. in Wheaton, Ill.

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