Scott BresslerThe swim teams made quite a splash at the Wheaton Invitational this year.
At their mid-season championship meet, both the men’s and women’s swim teams accomplished exactly what they wanted-to qualify as many people as possible for the NCAA Championship meet in March. The men, en route to a second place finish, had 10 individual and two relay qualifications, while the women, finishing sixth overall, had six individual qualifying swims as well as two relays.
The men had six swimmers make the cut for the national meet. They were led by juniors Kevin Leckey and Perry Bullock, who each qualified provisionally for three individual events. Leckey qualified in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.97, the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.86 and the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:41.71, placing first in all three events. Bullock had qualifying times in the 200-yard butterfly (1:53.26), the 200-yard individual medley (1:54.07) and the 400-yard individual medley (4:02.65).
The men’s team will be sending four other swimmers to the championship meet as well. Freshman Michael Flanagan swam an NCAA automatic time in the 200-yard butterfly, going 1:51.77 and breaking the Wash. U. school record in the event. Sophomore Alex Beyer provisionally qualified in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing the race in 4:34.75 and placing second. He was one hundredth of a second behind the winner, who broke the pool and meet record in the event. Junior Julian Beattie and sophomore Brian Kushner also each qualified provisionally in an event; Beattie in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:20.53 and Kushner in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.99.
The men also qualified two relay teams for nationals. The 800-yard freestyle relay team of Beyer, freshman David Chao, Kushner and Leckey placed first and received an automatic bid to the championship meet with their time of 6:48.06. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Leckey, Beyer, sophomore Dan Arteaga and Chao qualified as well, placing second with a time of 3:07.47.
The women’s team, despite having fewer swimmers than in past years, also managed to qualify several competitors for the NCAA Championships. They were led by senior co-captain Meredith Nordbrock, who qualified in all three of her individual events, placing first in each and breaking several records. Junior Kelly Kono and freshman Karin Underwood also had national qualifying swims.
Nordbrock swam an automatic qualifying time in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing the race in 2:06.94. The time broke both the meet and the pool record in the event. She also received an automatic bid in the 400-yard individual medley. Her time of 4:30.16 broke Wash. U.’s school record for the race. She also qualified provisionally in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:06.20.
Kono attained provisional qualifications in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle, placing first in both events. She swam the 200 free in 1:54.13 and the 500 free in 5:03.93. Underwood qualified provisionally in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing second to Nordbrock with a time of 2:07.76.
The women also qualified two relay teams for nationals, the same two relays as the men. The women’s 800-yard freestyle team of Kono, sophomore Jessie Lodewyk, senior co-captain Katie Hodges and Nordbrock placed first with a time of 7:41.52. The 400-yard freestyle team of Kono, Hodges, sophomore Liz Caravati and Nordbrock also qualified with a time of 3:34.64, placing fourth in the event.
This meet closes out the first half of the season for the swim teams. They pick up again Friday, Jan. 11, 2008 in a dual meet at home against Lindenwood University.