For the third consecutive year, both the Washington University men’s and women’s swimming teams took first place in the Wheaton Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Wheaton, Ill.

In a field of 10 teams, the men’s team (1,135.5 points) won comfortably over the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (647.5), while the women’s team (1,106) dominated runner-up and host Wheaton College (683).

The Red and Green notched 23 B-cut times on Friday and 19 more on Saturday to earn 42 provisional NCAA qualifying times.

“The players were ready to swim fast. This was a meet that we had circled on our calendar to win since the beginning of the season, and we did that,” head coach Brad Shively said.

For the men’s team, sophomore Justin Morrell had a torrid weekend by winning multiple races. Morrell raced to a school record with a winning time of 44.17 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, and he also placed first in the 50 freestyle and the 200 freestyle.

On top of that, Morrell was also a part of two winning relay teams. In the 400-medley relay, Morrell teamed up with junior Reed Dalton, sophomore Reese Frerichs and freshman Ross Brown for a 3:19.58 B-cut time to set a meet record. Then, Morrell anchored the winning 200-medley relay team that included junior Kaisen Yao, sophomore Michael Lagieski and Dalton.

Dalton also had a record day, as he nabbed a school record in the preliminaries of the 100 butterfly with B-cut time of 48.00 seconds before winning the event in 48.72.

On the women’s side, junior Kristalyn McAfee highlighted an impressive performance for the Bears.

McAfee won the 100 freestyle in 52.06 to lead a first through fifth place sweep for the Red and Green, and she was a part of two relay teams that set meet records. The team of McAfee, junior Katie Anderson, junior Sophie Gan and freshman Niamh O’Grady finished first in the 400-medley relay, and McAfee, junior Grace Counts, sophomore MariMac Collins and freshman Nicole Zanolli placed first in the 800-freestyle relay.

Other notable individual event winners include Collins, who raced to first in the 200 freestyle, and Zanolli, who triumphed in the 1,650 freestyle. Zanolli was one of several freshmen that senior Sara Taege highlighted as top performers in the team’s first races since Nov. 22.

“For the freshmen, it was the first time we got to watch them race rested in a championship-type meet, so being able to watch them step up to the plate and rise to the occasion at a meet where we were reigning champs was really great,” Taege said.

While the swim team was racking up school records in Wheaton, the diving team participated in the Pioneer Classic in Grinnell, Iowa on Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, sophomore Emily Ramos came away victorious in the 3-meter diving with a season-best score of 365.80 while freshman Laura Barber (364.50) garnered the best finish for the Bears on Saturday as she took second place in the 1-meter diving.

For the men, freshman Ryan Nathenson (283.40) notched fourth place on Friday and then led the Red and Green with a fifth-place finish on Saturday.

In what was the diving team’s first time competing in the Pioneer Classic, Shively was pleased with how the team made the most out of its new opportunity.

“I know they were excited about the opportunity to get 11 dives on both boards, and there aren’t that many meets where we have those opportunities, so I know they were excited about that and they posted some great scores,” Shively said.

The Bears don’t return to the pool until Jan. 10 when they host the WU Invitational, which will serve as a stepping-stone for the University Athletic Association Conference Championships in February.

“Yes, we had some great races and we accomplished two phenomenal wins, so now we need to go even further and swim even faster. It was very encouraging for our next round of training that we’re going to go into, and it builds momentum to conference,” Taege said.