At a swim meet featuring NCAA Division I schools such as the University of Missouri, Saint Louis University and Missouri State University, the Washington University men’s and women’s swimming-and-diving teams each finished sixth out of 11 schools at the Show-Me Showdown on Friday in Columbia, Mo.

The men’s team scored 204.5 points, while the women’s squad scored 208. Each team finished one spot behind Saint Louis University, which defeated the Bears in last week’s dual meet. The University of Missouri won the event with 684 points on the men’s side and 696 for the women, with its swimmers or divers placing in the top three of almost every event.

Despite the high level of competition, the men’s team performed well in several events, including placing fourth in the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay. Juniors Reed Dalton and Kaisen Yao, sophomore Justin Morrell and freshman Ross Brown finished the race in 1:25.69 seconds, just over four seconds back from the first-place team. In addition to the freestyle relay, Dalton finished seventh in the 100 butterfly and teamed up with sophomore Michael Lagieski, Yao and Morrell to place seventh in the 200 medley relay.

“Racing against swimmers from higher-division schools is always an exciting challenge,” Dalton said. “Because of the high number of swimmers at the meet, each heat was made up of swimmers of relatively equal speeds, so every event was a great opportunity to race.”

On the women’s side, freshman Niamh O’Grady posted the team’s best result with a fourth-place finish in the 100 butterfly. O’Grady also anchored a 200-freestyle relay team consisting of freshman Fiona Hon, sophomore Marimac Collins and sophomore Claire Savage to a fifth-place showing. Overall, head coach Brad Shively believes that the 200-freestyle relay was indicative of the team’s impressive performance in relays.

“The relays were strong,” Shively said. “Our team had a lot of depth and multiple swimmers had good swims. It was a positive meet and a great opportunity.”

Even with the relatively lackluster team results against the high-caliber competition, Shively stated that it was important to “find the positives.”

“The competition was extremely high,” Shively said. “We go because of the competition; the opportunity to compete against top swimmers and divers is great.”

According to Dalton, the stiff competition only heightened the team’s motivation.

“There were some swimmers at the meet who qualified for Division I nationals,” Dalton said. “Knowing they were there on the pool deck or even in your heat naturally made the meet feel more competitive.”

The Red and Green have a break from the pool before they have meets against DePauw University on Nov. 1 and the University of Chicago the following week.

“We want to take advantage of this opportunity and learn from it,” Shively said. “The next two meets are great tests for us because they’re against conference opponents.”