Archive for the ‘Swimming’ Category

That time of the year again

Monday, March 1st, 2010 | Johann Qua Hiansen

Is it really March already? Time seems to have flown by and with it comes the news of the post season for various winter sports as well as the start of spring sports.

Winter sports round-up

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams clinched the UAA title and automatic bids to the NCAA tournament which starts in just four days. The men host the first and second rounds taking on the Blue Jays of Westminster College. No. 25 Central College and Illinois Wesleyan University will both travel to Wash. U.

The  No. 6 women’s team heads off to Kentucky to face Maryville (Tenn.). The Lady Bears might consider roadtripping with neighboring Fontbonne University who is also competing in the same pod. Thomas More takes on the Griffins in first round action.

Track and field heads off to the UAA conference championship in Brandeis, Mass. this weekend for their last chance to qualify for nationals. One week later, several Bears will be competing at the NCAA Indoor National Championships. Sophomore Dan Davis has already automatically qualified in the 55 meter high hurdles. Davis, senior Chris Malaya, junior Ben Harmon and senior Pierre Hoppenot have provisionally qualified in the 4 x 400 relay. Sophomore Dave Spandorfer has provisionally qualified for the 5,000 meter run as well. On the women’s side, the distance medley squad of juniors Sangeeta Hardy, Kelli Blake, sophomore Erica Jackey and senior Molly Schlamb have automatically qualified.

The swimming and diving team will send several athletes to the NCAA national championships. Senior Alex Beyer is guaranteed a spot in the 400 Individual Medley, 200 Freestyle, and  500 Freestyle. Many of his teammates have submitted  provisional times including two in individual events by both sophomore Chris Valach and senior Dima Galkin. On the women’s side, senior Jessie Lodewyk will be at nationals for the 1,650 Freestyle. Sophomore Karina Stridh has posted several provisional times.

Spring Sports

The No. 3 men’s tennis team added another chapter to their rivalry with Emory University by defeating the Eagles 5-4 in the ITA Division III National Indoor Championship semifinals. The Bears were unable to sustain the momentum and fell 6-2 to top ranked University of California- Santa Cruz in the championship match. The women’s tennis team played hard but fell 5-4 against No. 11 DePauw University and 8-1 against No. 4 University of Chicago earlier in February. Both squads travel down South for several matches.

Softball opened up the season with 7-4 win over Rhodes College and a 12-9 win over Hendrix College this weekend. Baseball had a 2-1 record during their opening weekend at Kelly Field. The Bears split a doubleheader with Coe College, winning the first game 3-1 before being shut out in an 8-0 loss. The Red and Green then overcame a five run deficit in a 6-5 victory over Fontbonne University. Both baseball and softball head to Florida for the UAA championships.

Happy new decade

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 | Johann Qua Hiansen

The naughts (2000s) were quite a decade for Washington University Athletics. Eight of the school’s 17 NCAA Division III national championships and 76 of 135 University Athletic Association titles were captured in this span of ten years. The national titles include the first men’s titles of any sort with Men’s Basketball (2008 and 2009) and Men’s Tennis (2009).

Women’s basketball added two (2000 and 2001) while volleyball added three (2003, 2007, and 2009). Other programs have been to the national championship game for the first time in their history this decade including the softball team (2007) and women’s soccer (2009). Women’s basketball has also fallen in two national championship games including

Several individual NCAA national titles were also won in the 2000s. Michael Slavik won the 50 yard freestyle while teammate Eric Triebe captured the 200 freestyle in 2006. Alex Beyer took the 400 individual medley title in 2009 with an NCAA record breaking time of 3:51.45. In the indoor track and field NCAA championship meet of 2008, Morgen Leonard-Fleckman brought Wash. U. the first pole vaulting title in school history.

What’s ahead in the 2010s?

Washington University athletic programs have seen unparalleled success and continue to grow. The women’s golf program started in 2008 has already climbed to the fifth spot in the latest national rankings. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams were ranked first in preseason polls. The men’s tennis team currently holds the number three ranking while their female counterparts are ranked 15th. The men’s swimming team is eighth while the women rank 12th. This is just in 2010.

For those out there who aren’t fans of rankings, Wash. U. has given plenty of food for thought. The women’s soccer team was ranked number 17 when they faced top ranked Messiah College in the NCAA Division III National Championship game a month ago.  The Bears were number four in the country when they took down #1 Juniata College to win the national championship.

The men’s cross country team was unranked and defeated several ranked squads in NCAA Regionals before racing to their best ever finish (seventh) at the NCAA National Championship Meet. As the women’s team came in tenth, this was the first time in school history that both squads finished in the top ten of the national championship meet in the same year.

We can’t wait to see what happens next. Student Life will be covering all the varsity sports action.  Here are the New Year resolutions for this blog and the sports section as a whole.

  1. Blog a minimum of once a week.
  2. Have at least two other contributors by the end of February.
  3. Continue working with other UAA schools to create a central sports news site.
  4. Expand coverage of Washington University club sports.
  5. Utilize more multimedia where appropriate.

The Changing Seasons

Sunday, November 1st, 2009 | Johann Qua Hiansen

With the falling leaves and colder temperatures as a backdrop, the fall sports have begun to reach the end of their seasons.

Congratulations are in order to the women’s cross country team for winning UAAs and the men’s team for taking fourth. Junior Taryn Surtees repeated as individual champion and we’ll see how the team looks at Regionals in Wisconsin.

The No. 3 volleyball team steamrolled through the Bears Classic in preparation for UAAs and an automatic NCAA tournament bid. Seniors Erin Albers and Laura Brazeal were recognized on Friday night before the Bears dismantled the Wildcats of Culver-Stockton College. Congratulations to these two great seniors for all of their accomplishments.

The only other home action was swimming and diving. Every year swimmers seem to get faster and faster from the start. Freshman Meg Powers took control with two individual first place finishes, a second place finish in the 2oo back and a first in the 400 free relay. On the men’s side, junior David Chao was the lone Wash. U. swimmer to win an event against Div. I SIUE on Friday. Chao also contributed to the meet clinching 400 free relay at the end as the Bears edged DePauw by four points overall.

Both men’s and women’s soccer picked up wins against Brandeis on Friday. The men’s team fell to NYU while the women picked up an OT victory on a header by senior Becca Heymann. The women have the better chance of taking the conference with a tie and five wins so far.  The Lady Bears are only one point ahead of Rochester. The Bears must beat Chicago to capture the outright title or tie to share the title.. If they lose and Rochester wins, the Lady Bears will be second.  The men will need several upsets and win their Chicago game for a shot at sharing the title.

Women’s golf leapt up the rankings  to No. 5 without playing in a tournament.

Just two weeks remain till the first men’s basketball game the season and a few days before an exhibition women’s game against SIUE. Both Wash. U. teams are ranked preseason No. 1.