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.”

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.