Nathaniel Margolies | BearMoments.com

Sophomore John Hagemann (28) dives for a touchdown with 9:36 remaining in the second quarter against Rhodes College on Saturday. After gathering only 18 yards last season, Hagemann has 125 yards already in 2010 and is averaging 5 yards per carry.

Going into Thursday, the volleyball, football and women’s and men’s soccer teams have played in a total of 22 games and/or matches, in which they have combined for a 22-0 record.

All four teams had a number of returning athletes that made an impact in 2010 and were expected to do so again, and freshmen have made their own positive first impressions on the teams. But some returning players have made an increased impact in the early stages of the season.

Here are four returning players who have made their presences felt:

Volleyball: Kaia Schwartz, sophomore

Key Stat: 28 blocks

Despite a lineup nearly identical to that of last season’s, Schwartz has seen a spike in her playing time, as she has played in all but two of the team’s 30 sets so far. Her efficiency on offense has helped—she currently has a hitting percentage of .383—but it’s the 6’1” sophomore’s defense up front that has been huge for the Bears. Schwartz has a team-high 13 solo blocks and another 15 block assists, meaning she has been involved in nearly half of the Bears’ 62 total blocks. The team as a whole has improved from 1.82 blocks per set last year to 2.07 this year, and Schwartz’s presence has been a huge contribution to that.

Men’s Soccer: Dylan Roman, senior

Key Stat: three goals

Roman came into 16 games last season off the bench and contributed two goals and an assist to the Bears. This year, as a starter in all four games thus far, the senior forward has been one of the team’s best players. He already has more goals (three) and points (six) than he did all of last season, and leads the team as well in both categories. Roman has kept constant pressure on the net as well; he has fired 10 shots (compared to 13 all of last season) and has put nine of them on the net, for a shots on goal percentage of 0.900, wich is the best among Bears with at least two shots. And he’s been clutch: two of his goals—including an overtime score against Principia—have been game-winners.

Women’s Soccer: Lauren Steimle, sophomore

Key Stats: two goals, one assist

Considering an influx of freshman talent (10 of the team’s 24 goals have been scored by freshmen), Steimle has been one of a few upperclassmen with a significantly increased workload. She certainly has made the most of it. Her five points so far are tied for the fourth-best mark on the team, and she has put seven of her 10 shots on target for a 0.700 shots on goal percentage, third-best on the team. Steimle played well in limited time last season; she made her way into 11 of the Bears’ 21, starting one. She finished the 2010 campaign with seven points on three goals and an assist. She has continued that success this season as a starter in four of the team’s six matches, with two goals and an assist in the early going.

Football: John Hagemann, sophomore

Key Stat: 25 carries for 125 yards, two catches for eight yards, two total TD

Replacing its all-time leading rusher, Jim O’Brien, is no small task for the Wash. U. football program, but Hagemann has been one half of a key backfield duo that has helped fuel the Bears to 76 points in its first two games. His team-high 25 carries through two games easily eclipses the five total touches he had in 2010. Hagemann has held a 5.0 yards per carry in the early going, and he and junior Chris Castelluccio have combined to head a rushing attack that has racked up 374 yards in the first two games.

Eric Chalifour | Student Life

Right: Junior Dani Hoover looks to pass against Case Western Reserve University on Jan. 30. Left: Co-captain Alex Hoover, a senior, brings the ball to the frontcourt against Case Western.

Their father’s “dream house,” deep in the heart of Kansas basketball country, contains a regulation-sized indoor basketball court on the property, complete with a scoreboard and banners in the rafters.

While the court has served other purposes, such as soccer, hockey and Nerf gun battles, it certainly has been advantageous to the Hoovers’ basketball development.

“[The court] makes it really easy to practice,” Alex said. “Like when we went home over Christmas break and some of our teammates were having trouble finding gyms that were open, it’s great to be able to go whenever you want.”

Dani added that the gym is rarely empty, as it is also used by their older brother, a player on the Kansas University women’s scout team, and by their dad, a local high school coach.

The Hoovers’ practice has shown. Dani, just ahead of her sister, leads the Bears in free throw percentage (.900) while Alex leads in three-point field goal percentage (.458).

The girls’ on-court relationship is truly remarkable. Alex, who said that she definitely has a better feel for Dani’s tendencies than she does for most of her teammates, leads the team in assists. Not surprisingly, Dani is the second most frequent recipient of those assists behind senior forward Kathryn Berger.

“If I passed to [Dani] any more, people might get kind of suspicious about a sister-sister bias,” Alex said.

Berger wasn’t surprised by the team’s assist breakdown and thought that the main reason that she capitalized on more passes from Alex was that she played more minutes than Dani to this point in the season.

What is more noteworthy, however, is how well the sisters get along off of the court. Despite constant prodding, they’ll never admit to a sibling rivalry, and they’ve never played against each other.

The Hoover sisters are what you might call a two-for-one deal. They live together, they answer questions for each other, they both played the same three sports in high school and they both came to Wash. U. When it comes to pick-up basketball games, they prefer to take on their older brother together.

“Their relationship is really, really impressive,” Berger said. “It’s really interesting that they can live together and get along so well. Alex definitely watches out for [Dani]…I have a younger brother, and it’s definitely a cat and dog thing. That’s why I’m really impressed.”

Nevertheless, as the season draws to a close, the basketball chapter of this sisterhood will also come to an end. Alex will graduate in May and, as was the case in high school, Dani will lose her wingman for her senior season.

“I don’t want to get all sentimental,” Dani said, “but [Alex is] a senior, so she’s going to be graduating. So I’m just really trying to enjoy this year, especially since last year was kind of cut short by my broken hand, and we’re just trying to make it the best year we can. I wouldn’t want to play with anybody else.”

Senior Zoë Unruh looks to pass against the University of Rochester on Friday in a 68-40 win. Unruh scored 14 points in the game. (Cedric Xia | Student Life)

Senior Zoë Unruh faced a dilemma in the game against Emory University on Jan. 31. Down 13 points in the first half, the Bears faced their second loss in just as many University Athletic Association conference games. That’s when Unruh, a co-captain, caught fire, scoring 11 of a career-high 25 points in the 70-60 victory. Her actions have earned her Student Life’s Athlete of the Week award.

Student Life: What was going on when you had a career-high of 25 points?

Zoë Unruh: I can’t say if there’s a difference in mentality between one game and the next. There’s definitely a gain in confidence felt when making shots. Nothing felt different in my shot. Part of it was coming off a loss on Friday. Once we got down 13, I thought this could go one of two ways. This could be a repeat of Friday or we could do something about it.

SL: How has it changed your perspective now that you are a captain?

ZU: It definitely changes the mentality of just about everything. You have to be on top of yourself at all times. You almost always have to be an example in terms of just being present in practice, really being involved in everything, talking a lot. There’s not much room for error.

Games also, you definitely feel more responsible with a loss. You feel, if only I could have led my team through the difficulties in the game, things could be different. Part of that is being a senior. Knowing that it’s probably your last game at that certain arena. It’s a little sentimental.

SL: How do you feel leading the team in points?

ZU: The beauty of the team we have, and this is the same last year too, there’s such a balance in scoring. You can call me the leading scorer last year, but that was by 0.1 points. It wasn’t even worth the title. That’s what makes our team so dangerous. I’m really happy to be part of that balanced attack. What that also does is it takes away pressure. We’re not relying on one person to do it all for you. As great as it is for me to score 25 points in a game, not everyone’s relying on me. When I shoot a shot, I don’t feel that intense amount of pressure.

During a game, we know who’s on fire. Part of why I scored so much was because I got a lot of shots and that was all created by my teammates. I do the same thing if [Jaimie McFarlin]’s on fire. Same with Janice [Evans], Alex [Hoover], anyone…it really is having so many different points of attack. It really helps us know where to go and also frees up other things as well.

SL: How did you start playing basketball?

ZU: I was always a huge soccer player actually. I started playing soccer in kindergarten and wanted to be a professional soccer player. That’s what I was going to do. I knew it. I picked up basketball because of my height in sixth grade. I went to two summer camps one year: One was soccer, and one was basketball. I wound up getting an award in the basketball camp and not at the soccer camp. That kind of made me think maybe I should look at basketball.

My high school had soccer and basketball in the same season…The basketball coach talked to me before the season. It was a coach I never had contact with. That kind of also led me on that path as well. I just always wanted to play some sport at a higher level. I also ran cross country, and I pretty much hit a wall sophomore/junior year.

SL: Who were your basketball idols growing up?

ZU: I didn’t have any pro athlete I idolized. When I was into soccer, Mia Hamm was my idol. In terms of basketball, I shot a lot with my dad. He had this great sky hook. He couldn’t shoot normally. He could only shoot a hook shot. He would shoot a hook shot from the free-throw line and beyond. Part of the reason I continued to play was he could relate to the game. He could give me good teaching pointers and helped me solidify my game.

SL: What advice have you given to underclassmen?

ZU: As cheesy as it is, just enjoy the ride. That was on the back of my shooting shirt my freshman year. You don’t really think about that freshman year. One thing I wish I had known and I really hadn’t said this to anyone: The intensity of the games senior year, it should be like that every year. I don’t know how you would do this, but approach every game like it’s the championship game or it could be your last game. That’s how you should approach every game. I wish I had captured that intensity and feeling every game.

Student Life: How did it feel to qualify for nationals so early in the season?

Dan Davis: It was really great in the sense that I was happy to get it out of the way, so I could move forward. Because meeting provisional time doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to nationals, it means that you’re in the pool of people who are considered to go to nationals…It’s nice, because it took me until the end of the year last year, and so it’s like I’m starting off where I finished last year, and most of the time it takes a while to shake off the rust.

SL: What are your typical races, and why do you like those events?

DD: Any given meet I’ll probably run the hurdles and either the 55 dash or the 200 dash, and always the 4×400 [relay]. Hurdles are my favorite event, just because I’ve been doing them forever and they’re my best event. 200 and 55 I enjoy, they’re mostly just speed work for me to develop to help my hurdling, and 4×4 is a lot of fun…It’s always the last race on the track and so you get everybody out there. Everybody’s done with their events, they’re all standing on the track, cheering all four legs around, guys and girls. I think it’s the most fun event in a team sense.

SL: How long have you been running? How did you get involved with track?

DD: My dad is a track coach, so I guess I’ve been running since I was 9 or 10 years old…I definitely really got into it because my dad was a coach and I stuck with it because my dad was a coach. Throughout junior high and freshman year of high school, I was little. I hadn’t hit my growth spurt yet, but then sophomore year I gained like 6 inches, which was perfect for the hurdles. But the fact that I was so small and wasn’t the fastest guy on the team really helped in preparation, because I guess I focused on technique more because that was all I really had.

SL: Do you have any pre-meet rituals? How do you get pumped up to race?

DD: I guess everybody sort of has their own thing. Once I’m at the meet, getting pumped up for the race, I slap myself. Everybody looks at me really funny, every meet, regardless of where I am or who I’m running against. I slap myself, wake myself up. It releases adrenaline. But then once I’m by the blocks I usually like to stay calm. Everybody has their own little blocks routine, once you’ve been running for a while you get into the blocks a certain way every time. I guess what I do I’ve heard as “spider-ing” back into the blocks.

SL: What kind of goals do you have for the rest of the season?

DD: I would say at this point, on a small increment level, I would like to drop my time indoors long enough to secure going to nationals. After that I’m going to be excited if I get the opportunity to compete at nationals, because it’s invaluable for future competition, whether at nationals or local competition. I guess my ultimate goal as an athlete at this point would be to become an All-American in the high hurdles.

Davis and the Bears return to action at the Monmouth Fighting Scots Invitational on Feb. 13.

Student Life: How different have you found high school track and field to be from college track and field?

Anne Diaz-Arrastia: For basketball and baseball and sports like that, there’s definitely a more intense level of competition, but for track and field, I really haven’t seen that much of a difference. The only difference I’ve seen is in practice. Workouts are a little more intense, and coaches leave it up to the athletes to get stuff done.

SL: With all that intensity, were you nervous for your first event?

AD: The first meet we had I was definitely nervous, but all my teammates, the seniors, juniors and sophomores, were like ‘Anne, you really have nothing to worry about. It’s just like everything you prepare for in practice.’

SL: With your early success, what are your goals going forward, and how have they changed since the season began?

AD: My goal right now is to do well at conference, and to do that I just need to continue to go into each meet looking to do my best…Every athlete is definitely going for the [NCAA] indoor and outdoor championships as well, but those [goals] really haven’t changed in the past couple of weeks. It’s just kind of my expectations to attaining those goals have changed, because now I see what the playing field is like.

SL: How did you get into track and field in the first place?

AD: There was this weird one meet thing in third grade that my PE teacher was like, ‘Anne, I think you should try it,’ so I ran the 75-meter, which isn’t even a real event at all, the 100-meter and the long jump. Then in fourth grade, I tried playing soccer and there was a coach from a local club soccer team and he came up to me and said, ‘You look like a really good athlete, I would like to recruit you for our team.’ I looked at him and I was like, ‘I’m sorry sir, I can’t join your club soccer team. Next year, I’ll be able to run track in school and I have to do that. I’m much better at that.’ So, that’s how I got started and I’ve been running ever since fifth grade…through my school and through a summer program.

SL: How do you feel about the way the team looks so far?

AD: Our guys’ team is actually, really strong this year. We’ve already had several lifetime bests like [sophomore] Dan Davis and [senior] Chris Malaya. The girls’ team is actually really small this year. We graduated 22 seniors, so we’re definitely suffering from that this year. But I think, we’re still really strong, there’s a ton of talent in what’s still left, and we have a lot of new blood to look forward to…There’s definitely more pressure, because each individual girl carries more weight from what was lost, but by no means is it overwhelming, because we’re more than capable.

SL: NBC, in a desperate attempt to settle the “Tonight Show” scandal, has a jump-off between Conan and Leno. Who wins?

AD: I think definitely Leno. He’s got more guts, and that’s what it really takes in the long jump.

Senior Dan Arteaga swims the butterfly at a meet. Arteaga is one of Student Life’s Athletes of the Week. (Courtesy Of Wash U Sports Information)

Senior Dan Arteaga, co-captain of the men’s swim team, has been an important part of his No. 6 team’s success. In the Bears’ most recent meet, a 134-76 rout of the Principia College Panthers, Arteaga claimed first in the 200 freestyle—an event outside his specialty—and was part of a first-place 200  medley relay team. Arteaga is one of Student Life’s Athletes of the Week.

Student Life: How do you feel about your times so far?

Dan Arteaga: Overall, I definitely had a great first half of the season. Starting with the second or third meet, I had a meet at Mizzou, and did pretty well there. [My swims] were pretty consistent the entire first half. Right after training trip, I was really sore, really stiff. I didn’t have a great first two meets of 2010. But then the last meet, Principia, was actually a pretty good meet for me. I swam some events that I usually don’t swim, the 200 freestyle and 100 back, and actually did pretty well in the 200 freestyle at least. I was happy with that, and it was definitely a confidence booster. I do plan on going faster at conference in three and a half weeks.

SL: What goals do you have individually, and for your team, for the rest of the season?

DA: We want to get second place at conference. Our biggest competition right now is NYU and Carnegie Mellon. Emory has too much depth [and] is way too good. They pretty much automatically win. But we want to beat NYU, which has a lot of depth, a lot of guys. We also want to make a lot of relays for nationals, get a lot of guys going to nationals who have never gone before. Our goal is to be a top-five team. Individually, I want to at least get a ‘B’ cut in my three main events; the 100 freestyle, the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly, and I want to go best times in all of those events. I hope to score, at least get top 16 in all of those. I want to have very fast swims on relays at conference.

SL: Have any races in particular stood out to you this year?

DA: Definitely the 400 freestyle relay at Principia. David Chao had some amazing races…The one where he beat John Cook [of DePauw] in the 100 freestyle at our invite was a pretty good one. He also had two good 200 freestyle races, one at the beginning of the season at the DePauw Invite and his relay split in the 800 freestyle relay at the Wash. U. invite had an amazing time. My best swim so far was at Wheaton on the 400 freestyle relay, where I was the second leg and split a 45.8 and we had an overall time of 4:04.0. It was an exciting race all the way through the relay, and it concluded the meet on a high note for me.

SL: What is the most challenging part of practice for you?

DA: Honestly one of the most challenging parts is just getting in the water in the first place because it’s always so cold. It’s always so nice and comfortable outside on the deck, warm and relaxed, you don’t want to get in the water—sometimes, not all the time. Besides that, I’m a sprinter, so the longer sets we have, especially Mondays are sometimes a challenge for me because they’re just continuous and long and that’s not really my specialty. My specialty is just short, quick stuff. Wednesdays are always a challenge. It’s quick stuff—to go fast times and keep swimming throughout the entire set is fun though, too, just racing your teammates.

Student Life: You were seeded at 50.62 behind Terrell Shannon at 50.28 heading into the 400-meter dash. What were you thinking in the run up to the event?

Chris Malaya: I’d actually put a lot of pressure on myself for that race because I’m in uncharted territory: I’ve never run this fast before. I was actually really excited to see that there was someone seeded ahead of me. It means that if he is that fast, it means you can follow him through. Seeding is important in the way that you can go in and say that this is the person I need to watch.

SL: What’s your strategy for your races?

CM: You generally divide the race into phases. Come out of the blocks hard, coast through the turns, and accelerate down the stretch. Make sure not to get packed. It depends on the track. Run hard through the straights and glide through the turns.

SL: You run both the 400-meter dash and the 4×400. Which do you prefer?

CM: Personally I like the 4 by 4 the most. It’s my favorite event because you do have a team involved. When you have a good team, everyone’s focused, everyone’s working hard. What would normally be a liability of saying, ‘These people are all depending on me,’ makes you 10 times stronger because everyone says, ‘We’re there for each other, and we’re running hard.’

SL: How did you wind up competing in track?

CM:I had been told I should run in high school, and I never did because I played soccer and track was punishment for soccer. My sophomore year I was going out for the soccer team and I was playing a pickup game on Mudd Field, stuck my foot in a divot, and tore my ankle in half. I tried playing over the summer but I couldn’t run on it. I needed to be playing a varsity sport. I tried out for track right after Christmas last year.

SL: What’s an interesting fact about you?

CM: I’m from rural Texas. I live on a ranch outside of Austin, and most people don’t really find me sort of country that way. It’s not a working ranch that we breed horses or cattle. We have six quarter horses that we used for team roping back when my parents were younger. Sort of a sport ranch.

SL: What advice do you have for underclassmen?

CM: Undergrad sort of in the general scheme of things doesn’t really mean too much. Grad school’s increasingly important and everything. Generally I just say, have a good time. The biggest thing I would say, as cheesy as it sounds, is sort of find yourself. Find out what you like and really explore. Make the most of having such a diversified education.

The track and field team competes at the Rose-Hulman Engineer Indoor Invitational at Terre Haute, Ind., on Jan. 30.

On Tuesday, about twenty athletes sacrificed a few hours of finals studying to go to the Build-A-Bear Workshop in the Galleria Mall, where they stuffed bears for the St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The event was organized by the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC). . Build-A-Bear Workshop donated the 50 bears athletes created and an additional 50 bears that had already been stuffed.

According to the athletes present, SAAC’s mission is to foster a tighter athletic community within Wash. U by making events for athletes to participate within the university and out. Stacey Niese, a senior co-captain on the women’s basketball team and a member of SAAC, said that one of the most important aspects of SAAC is “promoting sport to sport cohesion”.

As part of the teddy bear drive, SAAC completed an inter-sport competition to see which athletic team could donate the most amount of stuffed animal bears. The softball team succeeded by a large margin, obtaining over 100 bears, and will be receiving some sort of “surprise”, according to sophomore Emma Brown, a member of SAAC and the women’s soccer team.

(L-R) Freshmen Sondra Polonsky, Claire Downs, sophomore Corissa Santos and junior Claire Voris of the Washington University softball team rub hearts on their noses as they created bears for the St. Louis Children's Hospital. Athletes stuffed 50 bears on December 8 at the Build-A-Bear Workshop in the Galleria Mall. (Johann Qua Hiansen | Student Life)

Isaac Stein, a member of the men’s tennis team and the SAAC executive board, was the lone male athlete at the event. “One of the biggest goals of SAAC is to promote interaction between the teams, “ Stein said. “You know your teammates well enough, but one of the goals is to encourage interaction between sports.”

Even though Stein was the only male athlete at the event, Build-A-Bear employee and Fontbonne junior Jessi Rowan said that he “did well” with the heart ceremony, which boys sometimes have trouble with.

The heart ceremony includes rubbing the heart on your forehead so the bear is “super smart like you”,  putting it on your cheek “for lots of smiles” and kissing the heart to “seal in your wish” inside the bear. These hearts are then placed inside the bear before they are stuffed.

(L-R) Sophomore Emma Brown, junior Julie Tembunkiart, freshman Emily Gosché and junior Katy Southworth of the Washington University women's soccer team rub hearts on their ears as they stuff bears bound for the St. Louis Children's Hospital. (Johann Qua Hiansen | Student Life)

The bear drive is a relatively new charity event, as it was just started two years ago. Junior Katy Southworth, who organized Tuesday’s event at Build-A-Bear and is a member of the women’s soccer team, appreciated the brief break from studying for finals. “It’s exciting to do something that’s not sports related with all of us athletes together,” Southworth said. “It’s fun to do it during exam week, cause then we have a de-stress moment that is helpful to everyone else, because all the bears are going to  [the] Children’s Hospital.”

Sophomore Liz Phillips, a member of the track and field and cross country teams, was able to take a break from studying to come down to the store.

“It’s really exciting, and it’s really great that Build-A-Bear has agreed to donate so many bears,” Phillips said. “[It's] a great opportunity for us to help out in the community and help the kids.”

Members from the women’s basketball, women’s tennis and softball teams were represented as well.  At one point during the stuffing, Santa Claus made an appearance making sure everyone there had been nice during the past year.

The drive opens up to the Wash. U. community this Saturday as Red Alert sponsors a half time shooting contest. Fans who bring any type of stuffed teddy bear to the men’s basketball game against No. 15 Augustana at 7 p.m. will be eligible to compete.  The No. 1 Wash. U. Men’s basketball team escaped with a 64-62 win over No. 8 Wheaton on Wednesday evening.

Sophomore Michael Burnstein races at the Big River Running Early Bird on Sept. 5. Burnstein led the Bears to a third-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional and a berth in the NCAA Championship in Cleveland on Nov. 21. (Johann Qua Hiansen | Student Life)

Major: Urban studies
Hometown: Brookline, Mass.

After coming off bouts of both the flu and pneumonia, sophomore Michael Burnstein led the Washington University men’s cross country team to a third-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional championships this past weekend. At his first race in nearly a month, Burnstein finished 16th out of 282 runners with a time of 24:52.4. The Bears’ third-place finish earned them an at-large bid to the national championship meet.

Student Life: Take us back through regionals this past weekend.

Michael Burnstein: I wasn’t really sure how we were doing. I knew we were all running as a huge pack, which we had never really done before. Normally, we are all spread out, 15 seconds apart from each other, but this time, our whole top four was running next to each other. We ran by our coach with about two miles to go, and our coach told us that we had six [runners] in the top 40. That’s when I knew that we were doing big things, because we did not expect to be that far up.

SL: How big of a race was this for you, coming off pneumonia and leading your team to successful results?

MB: It really meant a lot to me. I did not know what to expect before the race. I figured…I’d either feel great or I was still going to be sick, and I was just going to bomb, but after a couple of miles, and I still felt pretty good, I knew I was healthy, and it ended up working out.

SL: What does this performance at the regional championships do for the team?

MB: It’s huge, I think. The team hasn’t made nationals in three or four years, and we’ve never been third in our region. This is the [highest] we’ve ever finished. We really have a chance to prove that we’re the best team to come out of Wash. U. ever, which is pretty incredible.

SL: Your team faced both the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country this past weekend (North Central College and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse). What kind of confidence does this generate, heading into nationals?

MB:  Just the fact that we were only 13 points, which isn’t very many, behind La Crosse University was just a huge confidence booster. Before the race, we pretty much discounted the possibility of us beating them. We figured, “All right, the best we can do is fourth,” and we ended up getting third and almost getting second. We have a lot of momentum coming into nationals.

SL: Regardless of how the team does at nationals, what does the future hold for this team?

MB: Things are looking really good. Not only do we have a ton of guys from varsity returning next year, but the great thing about Wash. U. is that we just have a huge program of guys that are all committed. We have 40 guys on the team. They could be on varsity on most teams around the country…so I think the team’s just going to continue to get better and better every year.

SL: What do you see as your own outlook?

MB: Personally, I hope I can continue to improve. I think I should. My goal is to get All-American this weekend.

The men’s national championship meet begins at noon (ET) on Saturday, Nov. 21, in Highland Hills, Ohio.

Junior David Chao gazes at the scoreboard after winning the 400 freestyle relay, giving the Bears the overall victory at Saturday’s meet versus Southern Illinois University Carbondale. (Jared Bullock | Student Life)

Hometown: Paoli, Pa.
Major: Mechanical Engineering

Junior David Chao was the lone Washington University swimmer to win an individual event against Division I SIU-Carbondale on Oct. 30. Chao won the 200-yard freestyle against DePauw and swam the anchor leg in a 400 free relay that was decided by a second on Oct. 31. His accomplishments in the pool have earned him Athlete of the Week honors.

Student Life: Talk about the 400 free relay against DePauw.

David Chao: We knew it was going to come down to that relay. We all got in a huddle and said how we had to win this. When the third guy jumped in, I was already pretty excited. My adrenaline was pumping. When I get on the blocks, I usually look to the guys next to me just to get me more pumped up and saying ‘This is the guy I need to beat.”

Marc (Minowitz, Wash. U. freshman) got a good lead for me. I’m sure I would have been even more excited if it was close. I was actually kind of worried [DePauw’s John Cook] would have caught me. His best time is probably a second faster than mine. He should have won the race. I guess I stepped it up more than him. I love swimming under pressure.

When I dove in, it was no problem. My arms were turning really fast. My adrenaline was pumping. My leg started dying on the last 25. I was like ‘I better not lose this’. I was gritting my teeth and holding on for dear life. I looked up at the scoreboard and everyone was cheering.

SL: What are the season goals?

DC: Top two at UAAs, top four at NCAAs and top GPA in the nation. A big one was when one person is on the blocks, everyone is on the blocks. When one person is on the blocks, everyone’s cheering. We’re trying to do everything to succeed as a team.

SL: What do students miss out on by not going to Wash. U. meets?

DC: They’re missing out on seeing how excited part of the Wash. U. community that is the swimmers gets so excited for each other. They’ll be surprised to see how close some meets come down especially the last event. You’ll be winning one time losing the other time.

I got a text from one of my friends who lived on my freshman floor. She was like ‘that was my first time at a Wash. U. swim meet. I never expected it to be that crazy or intense’. You wouldn’t expect a swim meet to be that intense. A lot of the races are pretty close. That just makes for a very exciting and loud atmosphere in the pool.

SL: What would be your fun event?

DC: My fun event is definitely the 100 breast. Brad [Shively, head coach] and the entire team know that the breaststroke is definitely my weakest stroke and they all make fun of me for it. Last year in one of our meets against Principia, he put me in the 100 breast and I actually did pretty well. I won it. Everyone started kidding around saying I should start training. My goal is to break a minute the next time I swim it.

SL: What’s been your most memorable race?

DC: The 800 free relay at Nationals last year. Kevin Leckey was the anchor. When he dove in, we weren’t in third. I think we were fifth or sixth. The other guys on the team were Alex Beyer and Chris Valach. We were all so pumped. Even though we were so tired from swimming our part of the race, we had enough energy to go all out and cheer for him. When he touched and we saw that we got third, that was one of the best feelings that I’ve had in a Wash. U. race.

The Bears’ next meet is the Washington University Thanksgiving Invitational on Nov. 21.