With a final score of 145-79, the women’s team fell to the Salukis but ended the meet with eight second-place and eight third-place finishes. The men lost 144-73 while claiming seven second-place and 10 third-place finishes.

The Bears swam back-to-back meets as the team swept Principia College in Elsah, Ill., on Friday night, with the men winning 130-27 and the women 139-38. The teams knew that the SIU meet would be a mentally and physically challenging task.

“They’re a scary Division I team,” head coach Brad Shively said. “It isn’t an everyday current to have a Division III program against a Division I. We knew it would be a hard challenge. I thought our distance swims were very strong.”

Some highlights on the men’s side included senior Chris Valach, who led the team with three second-place finishes, two individuals and one relay. In the 200-yard backstroke, Valach put together a strong race, finishing with a time of 1:58.87, only 2.93 seconds off the pace. He also earned second-place in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:53.24, 10.26 seconds behind first-place.

Sophomore Brian Carpenter swam strongly in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:11.84, only 3.44 seconds behind first place, while junior Mark Minowitz raced well in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing in 49.09 seconds and only 0.14 seconds off the pace.

In the 400-yard freestyle, the Bears team of Valach, freshman Matt Nutter, sophomore Jack Walker and freshman Luke Dobben put together a great performance, finishing only 9.2 seconds behind SIU’s first-place team.

Freshman Zane Turpin also swam well for the Bears as he finished the meet with two second-place finishes: the 200-yard butterfly in 1:57.27 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:51.47.

On the women’s side, sophomore Chi Pham had two second-place finishes. Pham swam the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:31.64 and the 100-yard freestyle in 55.05, only 0.99 seconds away from first.

Freshman Sara Taege also performed impressively at the meet, ending the meet with two second-place finishes. She was only 3.04 seconds away from first place in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:13.37. She also competed well in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing the race in 1:58.95, 3.60 seconds off her pace.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Taege, sophomore Allison Siegel, freshman Katie Crist and junior Veronica Tse finished second in 3:47.10. Sophomore Meghan Lam also had a second-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:10.01 as did sophomore Paige VanTassell in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:24.20.

Coach Shively believes that swimming against strong teams like SIU will keep his team in the perfect mindset for the University Athletic Association Championship, which takes place in Cleveland, Ohio, from Feb. 15-18.

“We’ve had a tough season swimming against really fast swimmers,” Shively said. “But since we’ve seen what’s hard, I believe our team is ready for the UAA Championship, and I’m confident our team will be excellent.”

In the annual Show-Me Showdown on Oct. 8, hosted by the University of Missouri on Oct. 8, the Bears faced six other in-state teams.

“It is a very competitive meet,” head coach Brad Shively said. “University of Missouri started it about half a dozen years ago to bring all of the schools together for a meet. It always has unusual distances and a ton of relays, but it’s a great opportunity to race and get some swims in.”

William Jewell College, Lindenwood University, Drury University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Wash. U., Missouri State University and the University of Missouri all participated as a way to promote college swimming across the state.

“There are really tough schools from Division I and II who are out of our league, but its more about getting racing experience and trying to finish well,” sophomore Chi Pham said.

The lineup of schools was highly competitive, with many non-Division III colleges. Mizzou is a top Division I program, and Drury is a prime Division II team.

“We didn’t go in trying to win but we wanted to get some more races in,” Shively said. “We are looking for more swimming and how we are swimming. We are trying to get the competitive juices flowing.”

The NCAA regulates 50, 100, 200 and 1,000-yard events; however, the Show-Me Showdown featured 75-yard and 150-yard swims. The difference changed the swimmers’ times drastically, and are therefore less helpful in evaluating how the team did.

“We didn’t look at results to see where we finished,” Shively said. “We didn’t learn anything from how we placed, but we did from how we swam and our pacing. We aren’t going to judge it on stats, but we will judge on intensity and work ethic, which were both great.”

Even with the stiff competition, the Bears proved their worth in freestyle, butterfly and the relays. Pham captured seventh place in butterfly and junior Brendan Morin took eighth.

“A lot of people stepped up and had some swims that were much better than the week before,” Shively said.

This tournament featured more relays than the team normally swims, with three or four happening at a time. Most swimmers competed in more than seven events this week.

“All of our relay events went really well,” Pham said. “In the 400-yard relay, freshmen Luke Dobben and Adam Seroka did really well.”

The entire team was extremely happy with its intensity at the tournament.

“The spirit or sense of comradery has the opportunity to help galvanize and get everyone on the same page,” Shively said. “I thought the spirit and intensity was just great.”

The Bears’ are on a three-week break before their next meet, an Oct. 29 matchup with DePauw University at home.

“Our next meet isn’t for a few weeks so we have some time to improve right now,” Shively said. “We are going to look at the film and see what each player needs to work on. We are looking at the meets down the road a few months so we need to put in some hard work.”

“The fact that eight people came and eight people are All-Americans is a big deal,” head coach Brad Shively said. “You take for granted that you are a good swimmer, but the fact is that every swimmer here is a good swimmer. It is difficult to [be an All-American]. You can’t take for granted an All-America performance. It is probably the thing that makes me proudest.”

The men’s side finished in 16th place Knoxville, Tenn., their ninth straight top-20 finish, while the women finished in 24th place, their ninth straight top-25 finish.

“I am proud that we have been able to get people to the actual meet,” Shively said. “The girls only had two swimmers and still made the top-25. The point is that you have to score. It’s a testament to them that they did so well. We’ve got to get more people here, and we need to do better, but I’m not disappointed. I think we did our very best.”

The men opened the Championships with a bang, earning seventh-place in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of senior Kartik Anjur, freshman Brian Carpenter, sophomore Brendan Morin and senior David Chao posted a time of 1:31.95, good for a new Wash. U. record.

Morin shined the next day, shaving .15 seconds off his school-record time in the 100-yard butterfly. He posted a time of 49.72, good for 13th place, to become the first men’s swimmer in Wash. U. history to earn All-America honors in the event.

Anjur was the star on day three, earning two All-America honors on the day. He broke his own school record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 49.85 and finished tenth overall. The 800-yard freestyle relay team of Chao, Anjur, sophomore Mark Minowitz and junior Chris Valach finished ninth overall with a time of 6:42.62, the ninth-straight All-America finish in the event for the Bears.

The fourth day belonged to Chao who ended his tenure at Wash. U. with 14 All-America distinction after a 12th place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 45.28.

Chao then closed out the meet for the Red and Green by swimming as the anchor of the 400-yard freestyle relay. Minowitz, Anjur and Morin kept the Bears neck and neck with Middlebury College until Chao swam a 44.54-second anchor leg to win the consolation final.

“Winning the consolation final in the relay last night, the guys getting really into their heats, Kartik Anjur having the great 100-back, Chao with the lifetime bests, each one of those is a big deal,” Shively said.

The women were led once again by freshman Chi Pham, who earned two All-America honors. Her first came with a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, where her school-record-breaking time of 56.09 seconds was only .88 seconds behind the winner.

“That morning, I had already had a [personal]-best time, so I was pretty stoked,” Pham said. “I was going out pretty slow in the morning, so in the finals, I tried to fix what was going on in the morning. I was just pumped to be in the top eight.”

Pham’s second All-America swim came when she won the consolation final in the 200-yard individual medley. Although she swam the seventh-best time in the final round, Pham finished ninth overall.

Freshman Grace Murray was the only other competitor for the Wash. U. women at the meet, and she earned All-America honors in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Murray’s time of 17:12.99 was a personal best and good for 10th place.

“It was going into my last race of the season, and I got seeded in a good lane. My goal was to do better than I did at conference, and it worked out well,” Murray said.

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams finished their seasons ranked 13th and 12th in the nation, respectively.

Senior Alex Beyer competes in the 200 breaststroke. Beyer took first in this event, the 400 IM and was part of the first place 400 freestyle relay team. The men defeated DePauw 151-147. (Jared Bullock | Student Life)

With a first-place finish in Saturday’s last event, the 400 freestyle relay, the men secured a 151-147 win, while the women’s squad bested the Tigers, 155-129.

“The guys came through with a really solid swim. That’s a good way to finish it,” head coach Brad Shively said. “[There was] competitiveness in the relays. I liked seeing the relays out there fighting and scrapping, getting a little down and dirty. I think that’s the sign of a team that’s got some grit.”

The relay, comprised of senior Dan Arteaga, freshman Mark Minowitz, senior Alex Beyer and junior David Chao, finished the close race less than one second ahead of DePauw’s ‘A’ relay in 3:10.07.

“I’m a huge relay swimmer; I get really pumped up especially on anchor leg,” Chao said. “We had to win that relay to win the meet, so I kind of like the pressure.”

The men’s team took first place in seven events in addition to the winning relay and the 200 medley relay. Sophomore Chris Valach won the 1,000 and 500 freestyles. Seniors Beyer and Dima Galkin claimed first and second place in the 200 breaststroke.

Beyer also won the 400 individual medley. Chao took the top spot in the 200 freestyle, and fellow junior Michael Flanagan swept the butterfly events. Chao was also the lone Wash. U. swimmer to win an event against SIUC, taking the 100 freestyle in 47.40.

“We got a couple of victories against two very good teams…I thought it was great. We swam a meet last night, and [the team] didn’t make any excuses,” Shively said. “I thought we swam a lot tougher today than we did [against SIUC]. I just thought we were really competitive, really combative out there.”

The women’s team had victories in 10 events, and several swimmers claimed two individual races. Senior captain Jessie Lodewyk took both distance freestyle events, and sophomore Karina Stridh won the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle. Three new Bears won events: Freshman Meg Powers swept the butterfly events, Sarah Paleg won the 1-meter diving, and Veronica Tse won the 200 freestyle. Powers expressed excitement for the team’s future events.

“I’m pumped. This is really fun,” Powers said. “We’re definitely very good at getting pumped up…We’re really good at having men’s and women’s [teams] working together.”

Shively noted the teams’ consistency as a key to the wins. With two dual meets in two days, the team worked on moving swimmers in different events to test its strengths.

“I don’t think there’s an event that we have where we are great, and we’re trying to make sure that any event that we’re pretty good at, if it’s a strength, it stays a strength,” Shively said. “We’re also trying to shore up, and we swam people in a lot of different things between [SIUC] and [DePauw] to try and figure out what we have.”

The Bears continue competition on Nov. 21 at the Washington University Thanksgiving Invitational.

“I thought they did a great job. What you try to do in a meet like this is try to gauge the effectiveness of your training and their intensity throughout the first semester. You hope that you put it together well enough that at least you give them the opportunity to go out and swim fast, and I thought we did,” Head Coach Brad Shively said.

Junior Alex Beyer continued his strong season by breaking three school records and automatically qualifying for nationals in the 500-yard freestyle, 800-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard individual medley. Beyer broke his own record in the 500-free and IM, while his leading leg of the 800-free relay also broke a Wash. U. record.

Freshman Karina Stridh broke a school record and automatically qualified for the NCAAs with a time of 51.19 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, breaking the school record by .64 seconds. Stridh also broke the school record in 50-yard freestyle and qualified for NCAAs in the 50-free and the 100-yard backstroke.

“He [Shively] was giving us a little bit of a pep talk, and he was saying, ‘Don’t be surprised by greatness.’ I guess that kind of summed up how I felt about a lot of it because I really was surprised by how well I did, but most other people, especially the upperclassmen, know that this is an important meet and get really good times,” Stridh said.

Aside from Beyer and Stridh, all other NCAA-qualifying times were provisional.

On Friday, junior Brian Kushner, freshman Chris Valach, senior Kelly Kono and junior Jessie Lodewyk all provisionally qualified in the 500-freestyle, with Kushner and Lodewyk finishing second in their respective races.

Senior Kevin Leckey and sophomore David Chao took first and second in the 100-freestyle, and junior Dima Galkin and sophomore Michael Flanagan finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard butterfly respectively to also provisionally qualify for nationals, on Friday.

The women saw two other swimmers provisionally qualify for nationals, as sophomores Claire Henderson and Karin Underwood took first and second respectively in the 200-yard backstroke.

The Wash. U. men provisionally qualified in nine more events on Saturday. Leckey won the 50 and 200-freestyle, Chao came in second in both events and Beyer and senior Julian Beattie finished first and second in the 200-breaststroke, respectively. Junior Dan Arteaga and Flanagan also qualified in the 50-freestyle. The last individual qualifier for the men was Valach with a win in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

Three women individually qualified on Saturday, with Kono, Lodewyk and freshman Samantha Schulte taking first, second and third in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Kono also won the 200-yard freestyle, and Henderson took second in the 100-yard backstroke.

The Wash. U. relay teams also made their pushes for nationals this weekend, with teams making the provisional cut. Both the men and women provisionally qualified in the 800-free relay and 400-medly relay. The men and women also qualified in the 400-freestyle relay.

“Their competitive fire really showed. You just can’t prepare for that,” Shively said.

“[For] people who made A cuts, it was quite impressive this year. As far as B cuts go, we always aim to get a couple of relays and individuals, so it’s very good that we did get what we did,” Leckey, a co-captain, said. Leckey explained that in order to gain more control over nationals, the NCAA decreased the automatic qualifying times this season.

While team results at Wheaton were of secondary importance to the team after qualifying individuals for nationals, the Red and Green took second on both the men and women’s sides, losing only to Div. II Grand Valley State University in the seven-team field. Shively explained that since national qualifying times are very fast, the team uses this meet and the UAA Championships as qualifying meets since they have ample time to prepare.

The team will next be in action on Jan. 9 when Wash. U. hosts Lindenwood University in the first of four meets before UAAs. In these meets, the team will look to improve on race strategy and competition level before the UAA Championships on Feb. 11-14.

“We’re going to be in really tough training for the next two months. It’s great because you can still swim fast in season, and it can be very motivating if you do swim fast, but they’re all kind of benchmark meets as you move toward conferences to make sure that you are where you want to be,” Leckey said.