In a meet that gave the Bears five conference titles, eight new school records and 54 B-cut times, the Washington University swimming-and-diving teams each posted top-four finishes at the University Athletic Association Championships from Wednesday through Saturday in Atlanta.

The No. 7 women’s team (1,347.5 points) captured second place for the second consecutive season by edging out the University of Chicago (1,184) to finish behind only top-ranked Emory University (2,076.5).

Meanwhile, the No. 9 men’s team (1,296) finished behind New York University (1,374), UChicago (1,408) and Emory (1,551) to take fourth place after finishing in third last season.

“We’ve been training for months and really emphasizing on getting as many people into the top final heat as possible…It was always in our minds to beat Chicago and NYU, powerhouse teams like that,” senior Sara Taege said. “These were some of the best teams competing so we knew it would be tough, but we trained hard and we were ready to race.”

Although the men’s team came away with all of Wash. U.’s five conference championships, it was the women’s team posting a higher team finish as the Bears were well-represented across the board, especially in the relay races.

The 400-yard free relay team consisting of Taege, junior Kristalyn McAfee, sophomore MariMac Collins and sophomore Claire Savage placed second with a B-cut time of 3:26.85, which was just .08 seconds shy of the school record. In the 200-free relay, Taege, Collins, junior Kate Anderson and Savage teamed up to finish second and break a school record with a B-cut time of 1:34.86.

Individually, McAfee also picked up all-UAA honors, taking third place in the 100 free with a B-cut time of 51.78. Freshmen Niamh O’Grady posted the first all-UAA finish of her career when she swam to second place in the 200 individual medley with a B-cut time of 2:05.63, while freshman Nicole Zanolli raced to third in the 1,650 free with a B-cut time of 17:14.23.

On the men’s side, sophomore Justin Morrell and junior Reed Dalton each won their first individual UAA titles in the 100 free and 100 butterfly, respectively. For the fourth consecutive year, senior Zane Turpin raced to a UAA title in the 1,650 freestyle with a season-best time of 15:36.22.

“That was a big win for Zane [Turpin], and I told the team that it was one of those things that set the tone for the evening. Zane winning his fourth one is pretty hard, especially in a conference as hard as ours,” Shively said. “He clearly has a great relationship with that event. It works for him, and he has the tough mentality to push his pace and maintain it.”

In the relays, the Bears claimed a pair of UAA titles. Dalton, Morrell, senior Matt Nutter and sophomore Michael Lagieski joined forces to shatter a school record and win the 200-medley relay with a B-cut time of 1:30.19, just .25 seconds ahead of UChicago. Nutter, Dalton, Morrell and freshman Ross Brown also shattered a UAA record in the 200-free relay with a time of 1:21.69 en route to winning a UAA title.

According to Shively, the men’s success in the relay events demonstrated the team’s overall depth.

“You need to have four really good swimmers in order to be able to score well in any of the relay,” Shively said. “The men’s won a couple of relays and that was a big step for them. You need to have a lot of scoring strength in many of the events, and I thought we did that. Our relays held up, pressing for conference championships, and that’s all we could ever ask.”

Next weekend, the Bears will travel to the University of Chicago to compete in the Midwest Invitational in what will be the final qualifying meet for the NCAA Division III Championships in March.