Becoming the fourth men’s swimmer in school history to do so, freshman Michael Lagieski became a national champion by winning the men’s 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 54.10 on the third day of the 2014 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships in Indianapolis.

The women’s team finished in eighth place out of 49 scoring teams with a team score of 134 points—the best finish for the women’s team since 2008, when the Bears came in sixth place. Lagieski helped guide the men’s team to a 13th-place finish out of 51 scoring teams with a team score of 111.50, which was the team’s best finish since 2010, when the Red and Green finished in 10th place.

Lagieski bested his previous school record time of 54.42 by .32 seconds and became the first men’s swimmer in school history to win a national championship in the 100 breaststroke. His mark also now stands in first place in Division III championship meet history.

“When you touch the wall at the end of the race and look up and you see that [number] 1 next to your name, you know that you’re the best in Division III,” Lagieski said. “There’s nothing really quite like it.”

Lagieski wasn’t done setting records. In the preliminary rounds of the men’s 200 Individual Medley, Lagieski broke a school record that had stood for six years with a time of 1:52.78.

“I think it’s a little different when you’re in the final heat like that and you have an opportunity to try and win something, and taking advantage of it and not being lost in the magnitude of the opportunity is a very difficult thing,” head coach Brad Shively said. “It takes a lot of focus and a lot of self-belief. I think his teammates did a really great job of keeping him focused on it, and I think some of the swims that they had earlier in the meet probably gave him some confidence as well.”

Furthermore, the 400 medley relay team consisting of Lagieski, freshman Justin Morrell, sophomore Reed Dalton and junior Matt Nutter broke the school record with a time of 3:17.97 to finish in ninth place.

In the men’s 100 butterfly, Dalton posted a fourth-place finish for the second straight year to garner All-American honors.

Juniors Luke Dobben and Zane Turpin posted two top-10 finishes in the men’s 1,650 freestyle. Dobben and Turpin finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively, to earn All-American honors.

Additionally, Dobben and Turpin accumulated All-American honorable mention honors in the 500 freestyle by finishing in ninth and 13th place, respectively.

For the women’s team, junior Sara Taege led the way for the Bears with a dominant performance. Taege picked up three All-American honors by finishing sixth in the women’s 400 individual medley while also contributing to a ninth-place finish in the 400 medley relay and a 13th-place finish in the 200 free relay.

Moreover, Taege shattered the school record in the preliminary rounds of the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:54.32 and then recorded an eighth-place finish in the finals to capture All-American honors in the event for the third year in a row.

The 400 medley relay also finished with a school record for the Bears. The team of freshman Lauren Carlos, sophomores Sophie Gan and Katie Anderson, and Taege broke the school record in the preliminary rounds with a time of 3:49.81. The 800 free relay team consisting of freshman MariMac Collins, sophomores Kristalyn Mcafee and Toireasa Rafferty-Millett, and Taege came in seventh place with a season-best time of 7:28.62.

In the 200 freestyle, McAfee finished with a strong performance for the Bears with a season-best time of 1:50.96 to earn sixth place and individual All-American honors. Sophomore Sophie Gan finished in 10th place in the 200 breaststroke to pick up All-American honors for the Bears, and senior Chi Pham acquired All-American honors in the 200 IM for the third time in her career with a seventh-place finish for the Red and Green.

“The nice thing about this is the women’s team getting back into the top 10, [which] is a really big step,” Shively said. “We’ve been close. We were close to it last year, but to actually get back into the top 10 is really one of our goals in our program.”

Overall, the men’s team had 10 All-American finishes while the women tallied 12. Both the men’s and women’s teams showed marked improvement compared to last year. The men improved eight spots from last season’s 21st-place finish, and the women fared four spots better than last year’s 12th-place effort.

Lagieski added that the men’s team placing was satisfactory, but not finishing in the top 10 will be some added motivation for next year.

“We’ve been improving for the past couple of years. I mean, 13th is great, but our goal coming in there was top 10, so we still have some work to do,” Lagieski said. “I think one of our big goals for next year is that we need to be up in that top 10, and the girls did it, which is great for them, but that’s one of the things that we need to focus on going into next year.”

Shively lauded the team for their hard work and progression this season.

“I think our team does a really good job of pushing each other to help themselves and help each other become the best they can. I think we do a lot of things to hopefully put them in a position to get to a meet like this and feel like they can take advantage of their abilities,” he said. “They were really excited about it. They were really looking forward to this meet and really looking forward to representing Washington University at the highest level, and I couldn’t be more proud of the way they performed.”