The WashU men’s and women’s swim and dive teams competed at the NCAA Division III Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina from March 19–22. The men’s team finished in eighth place, headlined by fifth-year Kyle Wolford’s individual national championship in the 200-yard backstroke, and the women’s team finished in 20th.

Each day started with preliminary races in the morning, with the top eight qualifying times advancing to the championship final and the next eight to a consolation final. These swimmers would round out the top sixteen finishers in an event and be awarded All-American honors. 17 Bears were honored as All-American swimmers at the meet, which featured over 60 schools and 579 participants.

Both teams had spent a month together prior to the competition, according to a statement from head coach Brad Shively, and were prepared “to be aggressive in their races,” noting that “morning swims were the focus so that we had evening opportunities.”

Senior Isabella Barrientos also spoke about the mentality the team was able to feed on throughout the event.

“We had, I believe, 24 people or 23 people,” she said. “And so we had a larger group than most teams, and we were able to be loud on deck, and I think that was it. We were able to feed off each other. I’m pretty sure not one person was sitting down if someone was in the water racing.”

On the first day of competition, the men’s team was headlined by an 11th place finish by sophomore Marco Minai in the 200-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 1:48.31. The 400 medley relay team of Wolford, senior Danny Sibley, first-year Ben Scott, and fifth-year Austin Bick finished in 3:14.56, securing 12th place.

In the women’s competition, the 400 medley relay team of first-year Iris Qi and sophomores Elizabeth Chen, Hannah Lee, and Peyton Watson also became All-Americans with a 16th place finish.

The competition’s second day saw Minai secure the team’s highest finish up to that point, finishing in fourth in the 400-yard IM in 3:51.84.

In the same event, Scott secured another All-American finish by coming in 14th place. The men’s team also had two more All-American performances that day, with Sibley coming in 13th place in the 200-yard freestyle, and Bick finishing 16th in the 100-yard fly.

In the women’s diving events, sophomore Shanze Karimi had an All-American one-meter diving performance with a 13th place finish.

The third day saw plenty of success for the men’s team, with four top ten finishes. Wolford, in the 100-yard backstroke, came in third place for a bronze medal finish in 47.22 seconds. Minai continued to build upon his impressive performances, securing another fourth place finish in the 200-yard fly.

“That all of his finals swims were improvements over his preliminary swims tells you that he was mentally prepared to race,” Shively wrote about Minai.

The relay team of Bick, Sibley, Wolford, and senior Justin Rockaway came in eighth in the 200-yard medley relay for a new school record of 1:27.94, and the team of Sibley, junior Matthew Walker, senior Pace Edwards, and junior Ethan Feng got a 10th-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

The women had two All-American performances that day, both from relays. Lee, Chen, sophomore Izzie Gattone, and junior Andrea Leng came in 15th place in the 200 medley relay in 1:44.10. Additionally, in the 800 free relay, junior Ali Roche, senior Isabella Barrientos, sophomore Rachel Bello, and junior Rin Iimi finished in ninth place.

“The 800 really was a special one just to do it together,” Barrientos said. “I’ve been with those same girls for the past two years now, and we’ve dropped so much time since we first came in. And to do that with them is special…I know in my head, at least on that last 75, which hurts the most, I was thinking of my teammate waiting for me at the end of the block.”

The meet’s final day saw the Bears’ highlight performance of the competition. Wolford won the 200-yard backstroke, an event he came in seeking to win in his last year as a Bears athlete, becoming the 12th national champion in the swim program’s history. He finished with a time of 1:44.15.

“My confidence was sky high, and I’ve been working at being more confident going into these meets,” Wolford said. “And the one thing I would always visualize before this meeting was winning the 200-back. I took a moment before the finals. I was standing behind the blocks, we’re right about to hop in the water for the start. And I was like, I don’t feel nerves right now. It’s all just excitement.”

Senior Ryan Hillery also had an All-American performance, finishing in 16th in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Scott also came in 16th place in the 200-yard backstroke, his third All-American race time. 

Barrientos finished in 14th place in the 200-yard backstroke, securing her second All-American honors in her final collegiate swim.

“Isabella has been so important for us over the last four years,” Shively wrote. “Her contributions as a leader and an athlete have been so valuable to our successes. She has produced many of her best swims at our biggest meets, including the NCAA Championships. Her split on our 800 freestyle relay was simply awesome last week.”

Wolford, with his victory, became the 27th WashU student-athlete to win an individual national championship ever, keeping the 200-yard backstroke trophy at WashU for another year following senior Alex McCormick’s 2024 victory, a race where Wolford finished third and a personal favorite memory of his.

“The first [memory] that came to mind is actually last year when Alex McCormick, my roommate, won the national title in the 200-back,” he said. “Because finishing that and seeing we really went one three in that event. And then obviously following that up, I’m not going to pretend like I didn’t get really excited about the title this year.”

Reflecting on their collegiate swim careers, Barrientos and Wolford both highlighted the moments spent with others, whether it be family or teammates.

“When I started my freshman year, it was really tough, and I didn’t get the results I wanted,” Barrientos said. “So being able to grow over the next three years and getting that All-American status was really special. And, you know, definitely smiling at my parents and my teammates, getting those hugs for them at the end are memories I’ll never forget.”

“It’s all the random little moments,” Wolford said. “Like freshman year, we all walked to Village together to get dinner, or eating in our rooms because we couldn’t eat at the dining halls…Those random days where you have an hour to to pop in and hang out with a bunch of your teammates are some of the best times I can think of looking back on on all of it.”