Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 14, 2015 – The Washington University in St. Louis women's swimming & diving team finished as the conference runner-up for the second year in a row, while the Washington U. men finished fourth in the team standings at the 2015 University Athletic Association (UAA) Swimming & Diving Championships hosted by Emory University Wednesday-Saturday.
The Washington U. women scored 1,347.5 points at the meet to finish behind Emory (2,076.5) in the team standings, while the University of Chicago was third with 1,184 points. Emory also won the men's team title with 1,551 points. Chicago (1,408) and New York University (1,374) were second and third, while Washington U. was fourth with 1,296 points.
Washington U. had a pair of conference champions and seven all-UAA finishes on the final day of competition Saturday. Senior Zane Turpin won his fourth straight UAA title in the men's 1,650 freestyle with a B-cut and season-best time of 15:36.22. Sophomore Andrew Ellison was second in a B-cut time of 15:49.93, while freshman Landon Bennett also clocked a season-best and B-cut time (16:03.20) to place sixth.
Sophomore Justin Morrell won the first individual UAA title of his career by clocking a B-cut time of 44.85 to take first in the men's 100 free. He also anchored the 400-free relay to a runner-up finish, joining freshman Ross Brown, junior Reed Dalton and senior Matt Nutter to clock a B-cut time of 3:01.63.
The women's 400-free relay team of sophomore MariMac Collins, senior Sara Taege, sophomore Claire Savage and junior Kristalyn McAfee missed a school record by just .08 of a second, finishing as the UAA runner-up with a B-cut time of 3:26.85. In addition, Collins' lead leg of 51.92 was a season-best and B-cut time for the 100 free. The 'B' relay team of junior Grace Counts and freshmen Niamh O'Grady, Fiona Hon and Nicole Zanolli also posted a B-cut, finishing 10th in 3:31.13.
McAfee added all-UAA honors with a third-place finish in the 100 free with a season-best and B-cut time of 51.78. Zanolli also picked up individual all-UAA honors Saturday, placing third in the 1,650 free with a season-best and B-cut time of 17:14.23.
Junior Amanda Stadermann posted the Bears' eighth school record of the meet, breaking her own record in the 200 butterfly prelims with a B-cut time of 2:03.79, before finishing fifth in the final with a B-cut of 2:05.11. Junior Toireasa Rafferty-Millett also posted a B-cut in the prelims (2:05.95), before placing eighth in the final. Rafferty-Millett had a season-best and B-cut time of 2:04.68 in a 200 butterfly time trial at the meet.
Dalton and sophomore Jacob Nason both posted B-cut times in the men's 200 butterfly. Dalton placed fifth in 1:52.38, while Nason was 12th in a season-best time of 1:53.38. Junior RJ Petrella (1:52.72) and Nutter (1:52.86) both had season-best and B-cut times in the 200 backstroke prelims, before placing eighth and 15th, respectively. The Washington U. men also had three B-cuts in the 200 breaststroke. Sophomores Michael Lagieski and Matt Liu clocked B-cut times of 2:03.47 and 2:04.14 to place fifth and sixth, respectively. Sophomore Reese Frerichs also had a B-cut (2:05.60) in the prelims, before finishing 16th in the finals.
Juniors Katie Anderson and Sophie Gan also had B-cuts during Saturday's events for the Washington U. women. Anderson placed fifth in the 200 backstroke in 2:04.69. Gan also posted a fifth-place finish, clocking a time of 2:22.52 in the 200 breaststroke.
Overall and the UAA Championships, Washington U. set eight school records and a pair of UAA records. The Bears had five conference champions and 18 all-UAA finishes, while posting 54 B-cuts at the meet.
The Washington University swimming & diving teams are scheduled to compete at the Midwest Invitational Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21, at the University of Chicago. It will be the Bears' final qualifying meet before official selections for the NCAA Division III Championships are announced Monday, March 2, on NCAA.com.
