The lessons and efforts from the spring postseason will not be forgotten soon at Washington University. Men’s tennis finished fourth in NCAA action as Wash. U. came in fourth in the Learfield Director’s Cup. The Director’s Cup compares the athletic programs of all Division III schools.

Here’s a look back at some of the other heartaches and successes in the spring postseason:

Track and Field

The Washington University track and field teams are no strangers to overcoming adversity. Down three points in the team standings, the meet came down to the final event: the 4×400-meter relay.
The Wash. U. squad of 2009 graduates Erika Wade, Alli Alberts, Krystyn Stowe and Danielle Wadlington weren’t supposed to be in the finals. The No. 12 seed surprised their opponents as Wade placed the Bears in second after the first leg. But a missed hand-off between Wade and Alberts dropped Wash. U. to the middle of the pack. Stowe maintained the pace before Wadlington began the comeback.
“Dani Wadlington ran the best race I’ve ever seen someone run. We went from like sixth place…to .01 seconds away from third place,” Alberts said via e-mail. “She couldn’t walk after the race…she was vomiting all over the place…she’s just a fighter…the best anchor leg we could ever ask for.”
The strong performance gave the Bears fifth overall, the best in school history and a one point cushion over sixth place Gustavus Adolphus College.
According to Alberts, she normally jumps 5’6’’ but didn’t even clear five feet in the high jump. “After high jump the first day…I barely thought I’d make the stand,” Alberts said. Ranked seventh entering the final day of competition, Alberts finished fourth in the long jump and then first in the javelin throw and 800-meter run. The second day vaulted Alberts to second overall.
Junior Taryn Surtees came in third in the 10,000 meter and sixth in the 5,000 meter. Senior Molly Schlamb finished 10th in the 1,500-meter run.
The two men’s competitors had All-American performances as the team tied for 44th place with seven points. Junior Ben Harmon took fourth in the decathlon, winning the long jump and pole vault events.  Tanner Coghill, a 2009 graduate, finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles.

Women’s tennis

Wash. U. cruised to a 6-0 victory over Manchester College in the NCAA Regional Quarterfinals bringing a familiar foe in No. 12 DePauw University in the Semifinals. Earlier in the spring the Bears defeated host DePauw 5-4. But No. 14 Wash. U. fell by the same margin despite staking a 2-1 lead in doubles. “We knew we could pull the match out,” Head Coach Kelly Stahlhuth said. “That’s the first time we’ve been up and didn’t pull it out.”
Juniors Jaclyn Bild and Elise Sambol earned a hard fought 9-7 victory at the No. 3 spot while senior Allison Dender and junior Alex Cassady came away with an 8-2 win at the No. 2 slot. Junior Karina Kocemba and 2009 graduate Erin Swaller took DePauw to match point. But the pair fell 9-8 (8-6).
Singles continued to be competitive as Wash. U. was defeated at the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5. spots. Bild pulled out a 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory at the No. 2 spot while Swaller prevailed 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3. It came down to the final set at the No. 6 spot. Dender dropped the first set 1-6 but rebounded with a 6-3 win in the second.
According to Stahlhuth, Dender started to cramp up at that point. “She’s tough when she’s 100 percent and still tough when she’s cramping. She’s a fighter,” Stahlhuth said. “She said I’m going to fight to the end and keep standing.” Dender fell 0-6 ending the Bears’ tournament run.
“This has been the best year for our team since I’ve been here,” Stahlhuth said. “We improved in doubles. What we didn’t accomplish we’re going to put back down on our goal sheet for next year.”

Softball

Neither Washington University nor Luther College could score as junior Claire Voris and two Luther pitchers shut down both offenses. The scoreless tie ended on a bloop single in the tenth inning as Luther prevailed 1-0.
“Losses like those are frustrating, but I think it helped to motivate us for the rest of our run at regionals,” Voris said in an e-mail. “We came out hard, and played for each other. Couldn’t ask for anything more.”
The Bears ended a 28 consecutive scoreless inning streak with 35 hits spread over three straight wins. The No. 22 Bears defeated No. 3 Central College 5-0, No. 12 Wartburg College 5-1 and Luther College 9-0 to reach the regional final.
The hits stopped coming as the Bears fell 7-2 to Webster University. Wash. U. was limited to four hits in the loss.
Voris, senior Carter Malouf, sophomore Alyssa Abramoski and 2009 graduate Lindsay Cavarra were named to the Midwest Regional All-Tournament Team. Voris, who pitched in all five regional games, was named a Second Team All-American.

Baseball

Baseball wasn’t even guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament but earned the No. 4 seed at the Central Regional. Wash. U. led the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 2-1 in the final inning. Brian Williams, a 2009 alum, had allowed zero earned runs while his Whitewater counterpart, Aaron Dott, gave up one to this point. Dott was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays this summer.
That’s when things fell apart. “I guess some combination of nerves and bad luck plagued us,” Williams wrote in an e-mail. Three errors later, Whitewater scored two runs and won the game.
“It was a heartbreaking loss for the whole team,” co-captain Williams said. “As soon as possible after the game, the whole team had to re-group and focus up for our next game against Carthage, so we tried to forget it as soon as possible.”
Carthage proved too much for the Bears as the third ranked team raced to a 21-3 victory. Junior Adam Merzel took the loss on the mound as the season ended with a 25-12 record.
Williams, who recorded his 200th career strikeout, was named to the All-Central Region third team. Classmate and co-captain Zander Lehmann was named to the first team.