Sports | Swimming
Three pool records set as No. 10 men’s and No. 14 women’s swim and dive beat Division II UMSL, fall to Division I IUPUI in dual meet

WashU set three pool records against Division I and Division II competition during two dual meets on Jan. 17 and 18. (Brandon Juarez-Ramos | Staff Photographer)
In sports that are defined by endurance, the toughest section of a race or competition is often the last turn into the home stretch, with the finish just in sight — the infamous “turn three” in track and field, where races are won and lost. For the WashU men’s and women’s swim teams, their seasons are approaching this strenuous, demanding third turn.
Across what was an emotional weekend with Senior Day celebrations, WashU competed in a dual meet against Division II University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) and Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). On Jan. 17, the No. 10 men’s team defeated the UMSL Tritons 153-78 while setting three pool records, and the No. 14 women’s team won by a score of 155-82. The following day against Division I IUPUI, both teams were unable to win a second time, with the men’s team falling 174-125 and the women’s team falling 196-101.
WashU vs. D-II UMSL
Friday evening at the Millstone Pool, the Bears rallied off strong performance after strong performance against the D-II Tritons.
In the men’s competitions, the Bears secured eight first-place finishes. Many of these victories came through the sprint events, where first-year Thomas Bergin won the 50-yard freestyle, senior Danny Sibley won the 100-yard freestyle, first-year Ben Scott won the 100-yard breaststroke, and fifth-year Kyle Wolford claimed the 100-yard backstroke.
Wolford credited the team’s gritty mentality, after weeks of tough training, for their success over the weekend.
“You gotta be able to get up and go against someone else and, you know, do what you can to win no matter what the circumstances are,” he said after the meet. “So that was one of the things that our coaches were really emphasizing for us — it’s not gonna be perfect, but you gotta get up there and just get going.”
In the distance and mid-distance events, senior Ryan Hillery had the Bears’ top finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle, finishing second with a time of 9:46.07. Junior Ethan Feng claimed first place in the 200-yard freestyle, an event where the five top spots were all taken by the Bears.
The women’s team also enjoyed many successes during the day and would go on to place first in seven events.
In the 200-yard medley relay, sophomores Elizabeth Chen, Hannah Lee, Peyton Watson, and junior Andrea Leng took first with a time of 1:47.57. Leng also secured the 50-yard freestyle victory, and Lee won the 100-yard breaststroke. Sophomore Rachel Bello claimed first in the 200-yard individual medley (IM).
Senior Isabella Barrientos won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:56.82. She praised the team’s positive mindset throughout competing with UMSL.
“I think the main thing was cheering, and then also just gaining your confidence from each swim that we do — whether it’s your best event, or maybe it’s an off event, or maybe you just didn’t swim as well as you wanted to,” she said. “Just take one step at a time, and keep on learning from the mistakes, and adjust for later points.”
In a statement to Student Life head coach Brad Shively credited Wolford and Barrientos’ contributions to the team’s success over the weekend.
“They were both All-American swimmers at the NCAA Championships last season, and their experience, tenacity, and focus really showed against IU-Indy, posting multiple wins for WashU,” he wrote. “They both have excellent training habits, and their willingness to be fully engaged in the meet and just race to the best of their abilities really showed on Saturday.”

Senior Danny Sibley hypes up the team before their meet against IUPUI on Jan. 18 (Brandon Juarez-Ramos | Staff Photographer)
WashU vs. D-I IUPUI
On Saturday, the teams faced stiffer competition against the D-I Jaguars, though both meets still finished with close margins. Shively welcomed the further test of his teams’ grit.
“Having them travel to St. Louis was something we were really excited about, and I thought we embraced the opportunity to race. We knew that coming off the meet on Friday evening, we’d need to find another gear on Saturday, and [we] were excited to compete in front of a huge home crowd,” he wrote.
In the men’s meet, it was a day of pool records, as three were set. Wolford, Scott, fifth-year Austin Bick, and senior Justin Rockaway won the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:20.21. With his backstroke leg in this event, Wolford set the pool record of 48.94.
“That’s a record I’ve kind of had my sights on for five years now. I’ve been going for it, and to get it in my second-to-last meet at this pool is pretty special,” he said. “I think we have put a lot of emphasis on winning that relay at meets … winning that medley relay is a way to show that, you know, we’re not messing around.”
Two other pool records were set by the team against IUPUI: Wolford in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:48.22, and in the 200 freestyle relay where Wolford, Bick, Rockaway, and Sibley finished in 1:24.15.
Sibley also won the 100-yard freestyle, and sophomore Marco Minai claimed the 200-yard butterfly to round out the Bears’ victories that day.
On the women’s side, the team took home three first-place finishes. Freshman Peyton Watson won the 100-yard butterfly in 59.96, and Barrientos secured both the 200-yard butterfly and backstroke.
Barrientos reflected on the emotional significance of winning multiple races on her Senior Day.
“It was honestly so fun,” she said. “You know, coming to a close of this chapter that is swimming for me, which has been 15 years, I think winning was just an extra cherry on the top because my parents were there, and they don’t get to see me swim at WashU too often.”
Sophomore Rin Iimi finished second in the 200-yard IM, with a time of 2:13.29, as did the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Leng, sophomore Izzie Gattone, and first-years Iris Qi and Maddie Sammut.
Across both teams, 16 seniors were recognized: Devin Bunner, Pace Edwards, Jeffrey Forbes, Kai Garren, Ryan Hillery, Nathan Lin, Elliot Polikowski, Justin Rockaway, Danny Sibley, Isabella Barrientos, Caroline DeLuca, Rin Iimi, Alice Mao, Noa Miller, Riya Sahota, and Roslyn Tischke. Fifth-years Austin Bick and Kyle Wolford and graduate-student Abbey Mink were also part of the graduating class.
“We had an amazing crowd for our senior weekend, and the energy and enthusiasm was palpable. We really enjoyed having so many families and friends in attendance,” Shively wrote.
Looking ahead, the swim teams have one final meet against DePauw University on Feb. 1, their last before the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships.
As for what Wolford and Barrientos think about the challenges to come, they are both remaining focused on finishing strong, both physically and mentally.
“I don’t necessarily think, you know, we’re a favored team going into [the UAA Championships], but I’m really looking forward to getting up there and showing everyone that we’re not really going anywhere,” Wolford said.
Barrientos echoed his sentiments on going forward and continuing to push on as a group and as a family.“Leave nothing. Leave no regrets. Go in the pool, give it your all, swim as fast as you can, and if you do that, then what more could I ask of my teammate, or what could they ask of me?” Barrientos said.