Bloomington, Ill., Nov. 21, 2015 – The Washington University in St. Louis men's and women's swimming & diving teams combined to win five events en route to sweeping the team titles at the Illinois Wesleyan University Invitational Saturday.
The WashU women had three first-place finishes and scored 138 team points to win the title by 14 points over Olivet Nazarene University. The WashU men's team had a pair of first-place finishes and edged Olivet Nazarene 151-146 in the team standings.
Sophomore Nicole Zanolli won the women's 200 individual medley with a season-best time of 2:11.90. She added another season-best time of 1:00.06 to finish second in the 100 backstroke. Freshman Lauren Sapp won the 100 butterfly in 1:00.29, and sophomore Laura Barber gave the Bears their other first-place finish, winning the three-meter diving with a score of 216.90.
Junior Justin Morrell led a first- through third-place sweep for the Bears in the men's 50 free. He clocked a winning time of 21.66, while junior Michael Lagieski (22.23) and senior Kaisen Yao (22.34) were second and third, respectively. Morrell added a second-place finish in the 100 backstroke in 54.02.
Sophomore Ryan Nathenson accounted for WashU's other first-place finish, winning the men's three-meter diving with a season-best score of 220.35. The WashU men had three other runner-up finishes. Freshman Kevin Van Cleave took second in the 200 individual medley (1:57.82), freshman Max Cardwell was second in the 100 free (49.25) and sophomore Landon Bennett finished second in the 500 free (4:55.12).
Junior MariMac Collins had a pair of second-place finishes for the WashU women. She swam a season-best time of 5:18.28 to take second in the 500 free, and added a runner-up finish in the 50 free (25.08). Sophomore Alissa Ling placed second in the 200 free (1:58.56). She also led off the Bears' 200-free relay, joining seniors Kristalyn McAfee and Katie Anderson, and sophomore Niamh O'Grady to finish second in 1:40.46. The men's 200-medley relay team of Yao and seniors Kevin Hays, Reed Dalton and RJ Petrella added a second-place finish in 1:36.76.
The WashU men's and women's swimming & diving teams have next week off before competing at the Wheaton College Invitational Friday-Saturday, Dec. 4-5, in Wheaton, Ill.
