“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.

The Bears produced two NCAA automatic qualifying cuts and 20 NCAA provisionally qualifying cuts, nine of which would have qualified for the 2010 NCAA Championships.

The official qualifying times for the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships will be relased on Mar. 8.

Even though the women finished fourth and the men finished fifth out of seven teams in the UAA and watched rival Emory University run away with the meet on both sides, the teams looked on the brighter side in their evaluation.

“We weren’t disappointed, far from disappointed actually,” senior David Chao said. “Every guy gave it his all….We wanted to [finish in the] top two, but we were the smallest team in the UAA, and depth really matters here. Having the smallest team is a disadvantage here, but I think everyone brought something to the table, and we were really happy.”

Like he has all season, Chao shined for the Bears. He tied for second in the 50-yard freestyle and was a part of the second-place 200 freestyle relay on Thursday. On Friday, he followed with second place in the 200-freestyle and was a part of the second-place 200-medley relay and the second-place 800-freestyle relay.

He was also a member of the second-place 400-freestyle relay and finally broke through with a win in his last individual event, the 100 freestyle.

“I was sick and tired of getting second to Emory,” Chao said. “My goal was to hold back the Emory guys, and they were second and third. It was my last event, so it had to be good…luckily, things turned out in my favor, and I was happy with the way the race went. It was a lifetime best for me, and it has a great shot at qualifying for nationals.”

Sophomore Brendan Morin set a new Wash. U. record, finishing first in the 100 butterfly on Friday with a time of 49.87 seconds, a time that would have qualified in the championship meet in 2010.

Senior Kartik Anjur wrapped up the individual events Friday with a win and new school record in the 100 backstroke. His time of 51.02 seconds was 0.04 faster than his school record, set at the Wheaton Invitational earlier this season, and also would have qualified for nationals in 2010.

Freshman Chi Pham once again led the way for the women’s team. Pham swam NCAA-qualifying times in two events, won one race, and set provisional times in five other events, en route to being named UAA Rookie of the Year.

“It’s really great, and I’m really happy,” Pham said when asked about the honor. “It’s tradition for the male and female Rookies of the Year to kiss, but that didn’t happen. Bummer!”

On Thursday, Pham was one of four women to break the UAA record in the 200-individual medley, but she finished in second after leading most of the way. Carnegie Mellon’s Molly Evans swam a strong final leg to take the race.

“[Evans] really came out of nowhere,” Pham said. “I didn’t see her coming. She had an amazing last 50. I guess there’s always next time.”

Pham got her win in the 100 backstroke on Friday, where she broke away from UAA record-holder Jackie Schneider of Emory in the last 50 yards. The two had identical times in the first 50 yards, but Pham prevailed by 0.12 seconds. Her final time of 56.88 seconds was an NCAA “A” cut.

“I was kind of surprised to win in the backstroke,” Pham said. “The only thing I was thinking about was finishing as hard as I could. I really couldn’t believe I won.”

The school record in the 200-freestyle relay fell on Thursday thanks to a second-place swim from junior Karina Stridh, freshman Allison Siegel, Pham and junior Amy Vanlishout. Their time of 1:36.49 was good for an NCAA “B” cut.

The Bears travel to Chicago next weekend for the Midwest Invitational, their final chance to set qualifying times for the March 23-26 NCAA Division III Championships.

This event was the Bears’ last competition of the fall season and is considered their most important meet behind the University Athletic Association and NCAA championships. In preparation for the invitational, the team “tapered,” reducing the amount of yardage in workouts at practice each day leading up to the meet.

“We decrease our yardage and kind of rest for the meet,” senior captain Jessie Lodewyk said. “It’s really a mental thing. Mentally and physically you just start to get really hyped up about the swim meet. When you get there it’s all mental, really preparing and racing hard. We definitely attacked our races and really stepped up our performance.”

Senior captain Alex Beyer’s first place finish in the 500 freestyle of 4:27.07 and a time of 3:58.43 in the preliminary race for the 400 individual medley earned him two NCAA automatic qualifying times.

“Overall it was a pretty decent meet; times were decent,” Beyer said. “We’re still not at where we want to be at the end of the season, so we have a lot of work left to do.”

The team capped off the meet with a first-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay that earned an NCAA provisional cut, as well as a new meet and pool record. The relay squad of Beyer, senior captain Dan Arteaga, freshman Mark Minowitz and junior David Chao finished the race in 3:04.02.

Two additional relays earned NCAA provisional cuts: the 200 freestyle relay of Arteaga, Beyer, freshman Brendan Morin and Chao, and the 400 medley relay of junior Kartik Anjur, Beyer, Arteaga and Chao. Both were first-place finishes.

The women’s squad placed fourth out of six teams, but earned four NCAA provisional cuts at the meet. Lodewyk led the Bears with two cuts, placing first in the 200 freestyle and finishing runner-up in the 500 freestyle. “I was really excited about my times,” Lodewyk said. “I’ve historically had a really bad Wheaton meet, so I was really excited to go those times at mid-season. I had someone to race against the whole meet, and that’s when I swim my best.”

Junior Karin Underwood won the 200 backstroke and earned a provisional cut with her time of 2:08.10 in the preliminary race. Freshman Meg Powers also finished first with a time of 59.52 in the 100 butterfly. Sophomore Karina Stridh was runner-up in the 100 backstroke, and her preliminary time of 59.63 also qualified for a provisional cut.

“We had some really good swims,” Lodewyk said. “There were some people that stepped up in a really big way…People took it up to the next level and performed the way they needed to perform.”

The Bears return to competition on Jan. 8. Their dual meet with Lindenwood University will be hosted at the Millstone Pool and is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

In a meet dominated by the University of Missouri, which took first place in all 16 events, the women’s squad took fifth out of seven. The Lady Bears edged out Lindenwood University and Stephens College. Missouri State, Drury and Saint Louis University placed ahead of the women.

In men’s action, the Bears were unable to defeat any opponents in the team score. Missouri State, Mizzou, Drury, Missouri S&T, SLU and Lindenwood finished ahead of the men’s squad.

Yet no one on either side was upset by losing in the team standings.

“Nobody gets really discouraged if we lose to Mizzou, but it’s a really good chance to race really fast teams,” said sophomore Catherine Rafferty-Millett, who finished 11th in the 100 individual medley with a 1:02.94.

Rafferty-Millett also combined with freshman Veronica Tse, sophomore Amy VanLishout and freshman Meghan Powers to place fourth in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:45.36.

On the men’s side, senior captain Dan Arteaga finished sixth place in the 50 butterfly with a time of 23.75 seconds and seventh in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.74 seconds. Senior captain Dima Galkin went 1:00.45 to finish 12th in the 100 breaststroke, and his 28.04 seconds was good for 13th in the 50 breaststroke.

“There [were] a lot of good teams there this weekend,” Arteaga said. “It was definitely a good experience overall.”

Other noteworthy performances included freshmen on both the men’s and women’s sides for the Bears. Powers, in addition to her performance in the 400 free relay, also finished 11th in the 100 butterfly and 15th in the 50 butterfly. Tse finished 12th in the 50 breaststroke and 15th in the 50 freestyle.

“I was around my time for this point in the season,” Powers said. “I mean, I’d like to go a little faster, ultimately, but not bad for the beginning.”

For the men’s team, freshman Brendan Morin swam with the 200 freestyle relay team and finished sixth, along with senior co-captains Arteaga, Alex Beyer and Brian Kushner.

“It was good competition. You don’t see people that fast in D-III, and they were flying,” Morin said. “It’s good to have someone much faster than you to race against, because it gives you a good idea of where you’re at.”

While the team didn’t gain any first-place finishes or team victories this weekend, there is much to be gained from meets like these.

“It really motivates us, because the teams that we raced against are more like the teams we’re going to be facing at nationals and at conference championships,” Rafferty-Millett said. “Obviously we’re not winning events at Mizzou, so it motivates us to train harder because we see how fast the competition really is out there.”

The Bears face Division I Southern Illinois University-Carbondale on Oct. 30.

With additional reporting by Johann Qua Hiansen