Margaret BauerOn Friday, Jan. 21 and Saturday, Jan. 22, the Washington University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams hosted the 20th annual Washington University Invitational at Millstone Pool. A sea of University students in red shirts watched as the women’s team took home first place with 922 total points and the men’s team came in third with 632.50 points throughout the two-day event.
Eight schools competed at the Invitational, although the winner of the men’s events, the University of Missouri-Rolla, did not enter a women’s team. The other participating schools included DePauw University, Lincoln College, Lindenwood University, Principia College, Vincennes University and Webster University.
The women’s team dominated the weekend, winning 15 of the 20 events. The Lady Bears demonstrated their superiority in the water in the 400-yard individual medley. In this event, freshman Meredith Nordbrock took home top honors finishing with a time of 4:37.31, beating her teammate’s second place finish by 16.55 seconds. Freshman Jennifer Yu and seniors Brianna Krull and Sarah Goldberg showed off the women’s abilities by finishing in the second, third and fifth spots, respectively.
Electrifying freshman Nordbrock continues to shatter records with reckless abandon. Her victory on Friday brought her total school records to five. Her time broke the old school mark of 4:38.15 and also earned an NCAA “B” cut, which allows her to compete in the NCAA Championships in the 400-yard IM.
Another solid event for the women’s team came in the 200-yard backstroke where the University won the top four spots in a decisive rout. Junior Allie Boettger led the charge with a time of 2:26.41, while her three teammates, senior Jessica Schneider, sophomore Monica Jones and Yu all finished ahead of the competition within the next 12 seconds.
The fan support for the Bears was especially impressive given the weather conditions over the weekend. Sophomore Bobby Gottfried was one of the many cheering students in the stands.
“Given the weather, I was surprised by the turnout. It was a great atmosphere to watch a Wash. U. sporting event.”
Head coach Brad Shively also noted how the fans affected his team.
“There was tremendous student support,” he said. “There is no doubt that looking up and seeing all the Red Alert shirts helped the swimmers.”
During the course of the Invitational, the Bears’ strongest performances were seen in the relay events. Amidst a number of second and third place showings, the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay highlighted the team’s strength as they took home one of their top two finishes. The Bears demonstrated their teamwork through the combined efforts of juniors Mike Slavic and Eric Treibe, sophomore David Stein and freshman Ross Vimr when they outswam UM-Rolla by a full two seconds.
The men’s other victory came from a strong individual effort by senior Craig Goergen, who won the one-meter diving competition. Goergen totaled a University season-high of 419.60 points in the event.
After the meet, Shively was satisfied with his team’s performances.
“The team is very tired after a bunch of high-demand practices and a training trip over winter break in Florida,” said Shively. “It was a really tough week with classes starting up again and I was very pleased with the great swimming. The relay events, especially, were very strong.”
Men’s captain junior Alex Antilla commented on the Bears’ performance this weekend and in the future.
“We’ve been tired as a team with the hard training and practicing we’ve had, and it’s very encouraging that we swam as well as we did. We’re in the home stretch now and we have to focus to be ready for the upcoming meets.”
Shively and the swim team are now looking towards the future as they head into what Shively calls, “playoff time in swimming.”
“The next two weeks will be a period of focus. We’ve worked very, very hard and we’re in as good shape as we’re going to get.”
The Bears get their feet wet again Feb. 10-12 at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships in Chicago, Ill., where they will be hosted by the University of Chicago.