“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.

Competing for the first time since Oct. 9, when both teams lost to St. Louis University, the men’s and women’s squads took first at the meet, edging out Washington & Lee University, Centre College, and DePauw University.

“It was hard, in the first couple of meets, to do anything significant to help us to go fast. It was just not enough time, and I felt like we had the opportunity [to train], and we did,” head coach Brad Shively said. “We went to work and had a few weeks of really solid training behind us.”

The women’s team scored 720 points, 86 points higher than second-place finisher DePauw. Freshmen Grace Murray, Chi Pham and Paige VanTassell each took first in pairs of individual events.

“It’s the whole idea of coming to college, coming and stepping it up,” Pham said. “Me, Grace and Paige are pretty good training partners. Both Grace and Paige are really good distance swimmers, and so they pace off each other a lot.”

Pham and VanTassell also competed in the final event of the meet—the 400-yard freestyle relay—with fellow freshman Allison Siegel and junior Amy Vanlishout. The Bears took the top two spots in the race; the “A” relay finished in 3:41.74, ahead of the Bears’ “B” squad, who finished in 3:44.60.

“[The freshmen] certainly are a talented group of young women, and I think that what we’ve seen so far is that they’re also pretty tough, that they’ve been very competitive in races. They’ve really gone after things. I think it’s been a nice spark,” Shively said. “I think a lot of it is the leadership from the upperclassmen, too. You can have a lot of talent, but if you don’t have a great deal of direction, it isn’t going to go where you want to go.”

Senior Karin Underwood, co-captain of the women’s team, placed first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:12.96 and, with freshman Connie Shao, junior Karina Stridh and senior Claire Henderson, won the 200-medley relay in 1:52.94.

The men’s team, in a much closer contest, finished with 734 points, ahead of Washington & Lee (716), DePauw (697) and Centre (374).

“I thought we had a lot of emotion, a lot of enthusiasm, and once, particularly on the guy’s side, they knew it was close, they really rallied and came through with some really strong swims at the end of the meet,” Shively said.

Seniors David Chao and Michael Flanagan, co-captains of the men’s team, also garnered first-place finishes in two individual races each.

Chao won both the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.98) and the 100-yard freestyle (47.62) while Flanagan took first in the 100-yard butterfly (52.77) and the 200-yard butterfly (1:56.84).

“I was definitely happy with all my results because they were definitely my fastest times this season, and I definitely think that three weeks of training from our last meet was a factor in time, for me, but I also think that the level of competition…was more intense,” Chao said.

Freshman Alex Cox took first in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:08.56); junior Chris Valach won the 500-yard freestyle (4:52.95), and freshman Tyler Perez won the 200-yard IM (2:01.50).

Chao also swam the final leg of the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay, anchoring the team in a heated race. The team of Chao, freshman Jason Wan, sophomore Mark Minowitz and senior Kartik Anjur took first (3:10.91), securing the Bears’ overall victory in the meet.

“It was us and DePauw battling for first, and each leg there was a lead change,” Chao said. “When I dove in for the anchor leg, we were a little behind, but for me, in the past three years, a lot of my best races have been coming from behind just because I get an extra adrenaline rush from having the team on my shoulders and being able to come up with an ‘underdog’ victory.”

The team will return to Wash. U.’s Millstone Pool on Saturday, Nov. 6 to host a dual meet with conference rival University of Chicago. The meet begins at 1 p.m.

“It’s actually our only UAA dual meet of the season, so we want to definitely come out on top for this one. It’s going to be a really close meet, so we’re looking forward to the challenge ahead of us,” Chao said.

The meet in Minneapolis was highlighted by multiple All-American swims and Beyer’s performance.

“It’s an honor to be considered one of the best swimmers in Wash. U. swimming history,” Beyer said.

In the weekend’s final portion of the event, he defeated second-place finisher Dan Thurston of Denison by more than two seconds. He had made this championship his goal at the start of the season.

“[From the] beginning of the year, I knew my main competition. I raced them last year also,” Beyer said. “My strategy for the race was to go out in the fly and try to hold together the back to be even with the top contenders…and then trust that I could hold on through the breaststroke and the freestyle.”

In addition to his success in the 400 IM, he placed fourth in the 200 breaststroke and 500 freestyle.

In the men’s competition, successful relay swims contributed 127 total points for the meet. On Wednesday, the Bears’ 200 medley relay team of Beyer and juniors Kartik Anjur, Michael Flanagan and David Chao claimed 13th in the race and posted Wash. U.’s first All-American time in the event since 2006.

With five swimmers competing, the men’s team had the smallest group of swimmers of any team in the top 10. By comparison, national champion Kenyon College sent a full squad of 21 swimmers.

“The race actually was really close for the 10th spot. [Three teams] were all dependent on the last relay,” Chao said. “We got ninth in that relay and beat the teams that were competing with us for the 10th spot. The way we stepped up on the relays contributed to how we got 10th.”

The 800 freestyle relay squad of Beyer, Anjur, Chao and freshman Mark Minowitz had the highest finish of any Wash. U. relay, with a third-place swim of 6:41.00.

“We were seeded 10th going into it, so we were all really excited about the outcome…I definitely thought the main reason we got third this year was because [Anjur], who went second,” Chao said. “He actually dropped around four seconds, which was ridiculous.”

Seeded in the slower heat during the finals, the Bears’ major competition swam in the following heat.

“It’s kind of hard when you have to swim before everyone else just because you don’t really have the benefit of the race…I’m pretty proud that we pulled off third place,” Chao said.

With 45 points, the women’s team had four All-American swims from senior captain Jessie Lodewyk and sophomore Karina Stridh. Lodewyk placed third in the 1,650 freestyle, the highest of any Wash. U. female swimmer for the meet.

Stridh earned top-eight finishes in both of her events. For the second year in a row, she placed seventh in the 50 freestyle while claiming fifth in the 100 backstroke.

“I was really excited because realistically, this time last month, I didn’t think I would make the cuts for nationals in the first place,” Stridh said. “To make it into the top eight in two of my events was a wonderful surprise.”

In addition to Stridh and Lodewyk’s swims, junior Karin Underwood competed in the preliminaries of the 50 freestyle, 200 IM and 200 backstroke. According to Stridh, many members of the team considered the meet a successful one, and team morale helped boost performance.

“Everyone is happy after all of their races, and that just gives you a boost for your own swims,” Stridh said.

At the UAA championship meet in Atlanta over the weekend, the men and women took fourth and sixth place, respectively. (Courtesy of Erica Stein | The Emory Wheel)

After three days of swimming in Atlanta, the Washington University men’s and women’s swimming squads finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the University Athletic Association championship meet.

The UAA proved to be a very competitive conference, with two women’s squads and three men’s teams ranked in the top 10 nationally. Host school Emory University claimed the top spot in both men’s and women’s competition.

“I think the UAA is one of the best conferences in Division III,” said senior co-captain Dima Galkin, who claimed two top-eight finishes and was a member of the 400 medley relay team. “Whereas some other conferences might have two schools in the top 10, the UAA has sometimes three or even four. Even though Emory was at the top, that doesn’t detract from other teams, especially Chicago, [that] improved a lot from this year to last year.”

The multi-day structure of the meet challenged the Bears. According to Galkin, experience with a two-day meet earlier in the season in addition to the support of teammates helped maintain energy throughout the competition.

“We started off kind of slow as a team, and we just got stronger throughout the entire meet, and I think it was really a matter of being mentally tough, because we definitely started off with some low swims,” senior co-captain Jessie Lodewyk said. “It gets hard to keep yourself mentally ready to go, and we definitely kept our energy up and [were] thinking positive.”

In the latter two days of the meet, the men’s squad earned the UAA championship in two events. On Friday, junior David Chao claimed the top spot in the 200 freestyle. His time of 1:41.42 earned all-UAA recognition and an NCAA provisional cut. Chao was also runner-up in the 100 freestyle, earning all-UAA honors and a provisional cut in that race.

Saturday, the men’s 400 freestyle relay team of freshman Mark Minowitz, senior Dan Arteaga, junior Kartik Anjur and Chao earned Wash. U.’s second straight conference title in that event. The team finished the meet’s last race in 3:05.02 and earned another NCAA provisional cut. “David Chao came back on the anchor leg and he caught the Emory guy who was in the lead…It was a really good split and it was the fastest split in that race,” Galkin said. “It really stood out especially because it was the last race.”

Performances by the women’s squad were highlighted by Lodewyk’s performances in the 500 and 1,650 freestyles. In the 1,650, her second-place time of 17:12.67 automatically qualified her for competition at the NCAA Division III championships. In addition, sophomore Karina Stridh earned all-UAA recognition in two events, placing third in the 50 freestyle and second in the 100 backstroke.

“I felt pretty good about [my swims],” Stridh said. “I had a bit of a rocky year myself. I had some issues with my shoulders and hadn’t been hitting the same times as last year. I got season-best times in everything I swam. Even in terms of standings, I didn’t expect to do as well as I did.”

The team focuses on the NCAA’s national championship meet, March 17-20 in Minneapolis. According to Lodewyk, although the team tapers for conference, swimmers will re-taper before the Division III national championships.

“Next step is nationals and it [definitely] becomes a whole new ball game” Lodewyk said. “[Training] gets more stroke intensive, a lot more focused on technique. You also just have to get mentally ready because nationals is just a huge step up in accomplishment.”

The Bears captured first place in 16 events, with the men taking 10 and the women winning six. The Red and Green raced in many of its nontraditional events, with distance swimmers competing in sprints and short distance swimmers in long-distance events.

Several captains viewed the change in pace as a morale booster.

“All of us were swimming our off events to have fun and do something different,” senior co-captain Dan Arteaga said.

One of the closest races pitted two Wash. U. 200-yard medley relay squads against each other. The B squad, consisting of junior Kartik Anjur, seniors Arteaga and Alex Beyer and sophomore Ben Halperin, edged out the A squad of sophomores Billy Griffitts and Nick Thornburg, junior David Chao and senior Brian Kushner by 0.03 seconds. Down by more than a second in the final leg, Kushner almost came back to secure the win over his teammates.

Other first-place finishes included Kushner in the 100 freestyle, Arteaga in the 200 freestyle, senior Dima Galkin in the 200-yard individual medley, Chao in the 100 butterfly, Anjur in the 200 free, and freshman Brendan Morin in the 1,000 freestyle. Sophomore John Rao took the top spot in the 1-meter diving competition, besting three Panthers with 215.45 points.

Freshman Sarah Paleg won the women’s 1-meter diving competition.

“It’s amazing having [divers] both from the points stand point and the team stand point,” senior co-captain Jessie Lodewyk said.

Last season, Wash. U. did not field divers.

The entire team recently returned from their annual training trip in Florida.

“It’s almost like a whole new season,” Lodewyk said. “This year more than any other, we’ve seen underclassmen step up.”

Other top finishes for the women’s team included Lodewyk in the 200 IM; freshmen Grace Preston and Veronica Tse in the 200 freestyle and 1,000 freestyle, respectively; and junior Karin Underwood in the 100 butterfly. Wash. U.’s 200 medley and 200 free relay squads also picked up victories.

Several Wash. U. swimmers pointed to sophomore Michael Flanagan’s 100-butterfly as a standout performance from the meet. Flanagan turned in the top time of 1:03.44.

One of the events with the biggest buildup was the 400 freestyle relay. The Bears C squad defeated Principia’s squad last weekend at the Wash. U. Invitational by about a half second. As a result, the Panthers challenged the Bears to a rematch, according to junior Justin Chen.

Joining Chen’s squad were sophomores JD Scott and Evan Dorshorst and senior John Vanlishout.

“We really didn’t want to lose to Principia,” Chen said. “We [even] had a special cheer.”

The Bears outdid the Panthers by 0.95 seconds, turning in a time of 3:19.75. It was also the first time Chen broke 50 seconds in a leg, with a 49.7 split time. “It was just palpable how exciting it was,” sophomore Karina Stridh said. “Everyone had their hearts beating out of their chests.”

Friday’s meet was the squad’s final competition before the University Athletic Association championships. According to Kushner, this is the hardest the team has trained in his four years at Wash. U. Kushner attributes this effort to the team capitalizing on last year’s success at nationals, in which the men’s team had its second best performance in program history with a seventh-place finish.

The UAA championships will be hosted by Emory University from Feb. 17-20 in Atlanta. Emory’s men’s team is ranked fourth in the nation, while the Lady Eagles are top ranked. Several UAA schools, including Carnegie Mellon University, University of Chicago and New York University, also boast nationally ranked programs.

In the lead up to conference play, the team focuses on team bonding, according to Stridh. The women’s team traditionally makes funny necklaces for each other and plans on making a banner for conference play. Each swimmer is responsible for a tile that will ultimately spell out Go Bears. “We goof around, and it’s so much fun, but at the same time we get really intense too, especially before swim meets,” Stridh said. “You know you have your team there, and you know that  you can always rely on your team because they’re going to do the best they can.”

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.

Senior co-captain Jessie Lodewyk’s NCAA provisional cut in the 1,650-yard freestyle highlighted a strong weekend of Washington University swimming. The men placed fifth while the women took third at the Washington University Thanksgiving Invitational meet on November 20 and 21.

Lodewyk earned the top spot in the mile with a 17:47.25 performance, and took third place in both the 200 and 500-freestyle. “The mile’s a really funny race. Everyone has a different style,” Lodewyk said. “It pushes you to do things differently.”

The Bears’ competition came from several states and NCAA divisions. Teams included Division I University of Evansville, IUPUI, Colorado School of Mines, Hannibal-Lagrange, Saint Louis University (DI), Lindenwood University (DII), Albion College and Ohio Wesleyan University. According to senior captain Alex Beyer, some of the other teams had tapered for the meet, while Wash. U. will wait to do so in preparation for Wheaton.

“[We are at] a tough stage in our schedule…[Wheaton] is our most important meet other than conference and nationals,” Beyer, the winner in the 500 freestyle and runner-up in the 200 breaststroke said.

The men’s squad claimed some of the top spots in the sprint freestyle races. Junior David Chao was third in the 50-freestyle and the top performer in both the 100 and 200 freestyle, while senior captain Dan Arteaga was fourth in the 50 and 100 races. Chao noted that effort in his turns helped in the races.

“It took us awhile to get pumped up,” Chao said. “Our main focus is the meet in two weekends.”

The Bears were successful in distance events. In the men’s heat, sophomore Chris Valach won the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:37.66 and fifth in the 500-freestyle.

Sophomore Karina Stridh and freshman Meg Powers each earned second place finishes for the team, Stridh in the 50 freestyle and Powers in the 200-butterfly. According to Lodewyk, the Bears were boosted by performances from junior Micki Duncan, sophomore Erika Antisdale and sophomore Kerri Blumer. Blumer placed eleventh in the 500-freestyle, an event she normally does not compete in.

“I was really, really excited,” Blumer said of the race. “I’ve been having trouble [in other events], I wanted to switch things up.”

The spirited squad stayed at the meet until the last Wash. U. swimmer, sophomore Evan Dorshorst, finished his mile swim.

“I feel really special…you get the entire team behind you. It definitely pumps you up,” Dorshorst said.

The Bears next competition is the Wheaton Invitational on Dec. 4-5 in Wheaton, Ill. where the Red and Green hope to submit several automatic and provisional qualifying times in various events.

-With additional reporting by Johann Qua Hiansen

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.

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.