The third Friday Night Spikes meet, hosted by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, turned into another banner day for the No. 1 women’s and No. 21 men’s WashU track and field teams. Both the men’s and women’s squads delivered commanding performances, with the women’s team securing a dominant victory and the men’s team narrowly edging out tough competition. 

WashU now sits at 5-1 on the young season, and is ranked No. 11 in the D3Hoops.com poll for the second straight week. In the game against Illinois Wesleyan, the Bears have shown that they can contend with the best teams in Division III, but still lack a statement victory against a ranked opponent. 

Coming into the 2024-25 season, the No. 4 WashU men’s basketball team had high expectations. They were coming off of a Sweet 16 appearance in last year’s NCAA tournament, and were ranked No. 4 overall in the nation. While they’ve only played three games, and it’s still early in the season, the Bears have, so far, looked the part of a national championship contender.

On Sept. 23, WashU faced off against Calvin once again. The match ended in a 0-0 draw, the first for WashU this season.

With the wins over Wheaton and Rose-Hulman, the Bears imrpoved to 7-0-1 on the year.

The weekend left the Bears 7-4 on the season.

The men captured two shutout victories while the women beat Fontbonne University for their first victory under interim head coach Stephanie Gabbert.

The win allowed the Bears to continue building on a string of recent successes.

The men’s team’s performance raised them 14 spots in the rankings, from No. 25 to No. 11, while the women fell two spots, from No. 10 to No. 12 

If Kevin Hao was rusty after an extended break from competition, he didn’t show it.