St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 9, 2016 – The Washington University in St. Louis swimming and diving teams had 19 different individuals win events as the Bears swept the team titles at the 32nd Annual WU Invitational Saturday.
The WashU women finished with 1,294 points and the men scored 1,384 as both teams won the team titles at the meet. Overall, the Bears won 30 of the 34 events contested at the meet. Prior to the meet, WashU recognized its 11 seniors for Senior Day – Katie Anderson, Reed Dalton, Luke Dobben, Luke Duschl, Sophie Gan, Kevin Hays, Kristalyn McAfee, RJ Petrella, Toireasa Rafferty-Millett, Amanda Stadermann and Kaisen Yao.
Freshman Brandon Lum won a pair of individual titles for the WashU men, taking first in the 100 and 200 butterfly events. Lum won the 100 fly in 51.81 and clocked a B-cut time of 1:53.24 to win the 200 fly.
Junior MariMac Collins, sophomore Nicole Zanolli and freshman Lauren Sapp were each part of three first-place finishes on the day for the WashU women. Collins won the 50 free (25.30) and 500 free (5:18.43), and teamed with Anderson, junior Claire Savage and McAfee to win the 200-free relay in 1:40.56. Anderson added a first-place finish in the 200 IM (2:14.65).
Zanolli won the 200 fly (2:11.32) and the 400 IM (4:38.61), while Sapp won the 100 free (54.75) and 100 fly (59.79). They also teamed with Gan and junior Lauren Carlos to win the 200-medley relay in 1:51.87. Gan also had a first-place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.80). Freshman Brooke Ivey was also a double-winner for the WashU women, taking first in the 100 backstroke (1:01.54) and 200 backstroke (2:11.50).
Dalton, junior Michael Lagieski and sophomore Ross Brown joined Lum with two first-place finishes for the WashU men. Dalton won the 100 breaststroke (1:01.02), Lagieski took first in the 200 IM (1:57.80) and Brown was first in the 50 free (21.96). Brown and Dalton also joined Yao and junior Justin Morrell to win the 200-free relay in 1:26.11. Lagieski was part of the winning 200-medley relay (1:35.85), teaming up with sophomore TJ Dawson and freshmen Kevin Van Cleave and Andrew Pek.
Junior Emily Ramos and sophomore Fernando Rojo each won two diving events for the Bears. Ramos won the women's one-meter event with a score of 252.85 and was first in the three-meter event with a score of 251.60. Rojo posted scores of 174.20 and 143.45 to win the men's one-meter and three-meter diving, respectively.
The WashU men had four other individuals win events – junior Andrew Ellison (1,650 free – 16:36.09), Petrella (200 breaststroke – 2:15.19), freshman Jordan Wheeler (400 IM – 4:14.28) and sophomore Wending Zhu (500 free – 4:51.13). Freshman Maggie Cox (200 breaststroke – 2:32.01), sophomore Niamh O'Grady (200 free – 1:56.95) and junior Erin Polries (1,650 free – 18:23.28) accounted for the other three event wins for the WashU women.
The WashU men's and women's swimming & diving teams return to action with a pair of road duals Saturday, Jan. 16. The men travel to Crawfordsville, Ind., for a dual against Wabash College at 2 p.m. (ET), while the women travel to Ames, Iowa, to face NCAA Division I Iowa State University at 1 p.m.
