St. Peters, Mo., Jan. 22, 2016 – The Washington University in St. Louis men's and women's swimming & diving teams swam to seven first-place finishes, but the Bears lost their duals at NCAA Division II Lindenwood University Friday night.
The WashU women won four events in the 136-107 loss to NCAA DII No. 9-ranked Lindenwood. The WashU men had three event winners in the 147-94 loss to the Lions, who are ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division II.
Senior Sophie Gan led the way for the WashU women with three top-two finishes at the meet. She won the 200 individual medley in 2:12.84, touching just less than a second ahead of senior teammate Kristalyn McAfee. Gan added a runner-up finish in the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.05. She also teamed with senior Katie Anderson and juniors Lauren Carlos and Claire Savage to finish second in the 200-medley relay in 1:50.65.
Senior Amanda Stadermann led a 1-2 finish for the WashU women in the 100 butterfly, clocking a time of 58.39 to finish eight hundredths of a second ahead of freshman teammate Lauren Sapp. Sapp also finished second in the 50 freestyle in 24.96.
Sophomore Nicole Zanolli led a first- through third-place sweep for the Bears in the women's 100 backstroke. Zanolli finished first in 59.93, while Anderson (1:00.09) and freshman Brooke Ivey (1:00.82) were second and third, respectively. Sophomore Niamh O'Grady, junior MariMac Collins, McAfee and Sapp teamed up to win the final event of the meet for the WashU women, taking first in the 200-free relay in 1:39.05.
Junior Andrew Ellison and senior Luke Dobben each won individual events for the WashU men. Ellison finished first in the 1,000 free (9:41.24), while Dobben was first in the 200 free (1:45.22). Ellison and Dobben also finished third (4:45.65) and fourth (4:45.90), respectively, in the 500 free. The third event victory for the WashU men came in the meet's final event, the 200-free relay. Sophomores TJ Dawson and Ross Brown and seniors RJ Petrella and Kaisen Yao won the event in a time of 1:25.58.
Junior Justin Morrell and freshman Kevin Van Cleave were each part of three runner-up finishes at the meet for the WashU men. Morrell was second in the 50 free (21.75) and 100 free (47.29), while Van Cleave finished as the runner-up in the 200 IM (1:55.89) and 100 backstroke (53.29). Van Cleave and Morell also joined junior Michael Lagieski and senior Reed Dalton to finish second in the 200-medley relay in 1:34.67.
O'Grady added a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 free (54.43) and the 200 free (1:58.73). Sophomore Alissa Ling was the Bears' only other top-two finish, taking second in the 1,000 free in a season-best time of 10:43.37.
Lagieski added a second-place finish for the WashU men in the 100 braststroke (56.21). Dalton and freshman Brandon Lum tied for third in the 100 butterfly with times of 51.04.
The WashU men's and women's swimming & diving teams will host their final home meets of the season Saturday, Jan. 23, when the Bears take on Truman State University. The meet is scheduled to begin at Noon at Millstone Pool.
