Chicago, Ill., Feb. 15, 2020 – The Washington University in St. Louis men's and women's swimming and diving team placed fourth and the men were fifth at the 2020 University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships, held Wednesday-Saturday at the University of Chicago in the Windy City.
The No. 9-ranked women finished in fourth place with a total of 1,236 points, while the No. 6 men were fifth with 1,187 points. Emory University swept the team titles for the 22nd-consecutive year.
Six of the eight conference schools were ranked inside both the men's and women's top-20 in the latest CSCAA national rankings.
Freshman Mason Kelber highlighted the final day by setting the school record in the mile with a second-place finish of 15:21.93. The time was also an NCAA B-Cut.
PRELIMINARIES
WashU had 11 student-athletes advance to the finals with qualifying times in the morning swim. Senior Stephanie Li led the way for the WashU women with a second-place finish in the 200-breastroke with an NCAA B-Cut time of 2:20.13.
Sophomore Abby Wilson (200-back, 2:01.78, third) and senior Mollie Seidner (100-freestyle, 51.77. fourth) also had top-four finishes in the prelims for the women.
On the men's side, sophomore Kevin Hao (2:01.63, third), senior Simon Deshusses (2:03.16, fourth), senior Vincent Huang (2:04.12, fifth) placed in the top-five and earned NCAA B-Cuts in the 200-breaststroke.
FINALS
The women's 400-freestyle relay team of junior Elle Pollitt, Seidner, junior Sabrina Baxamusa and senior Catherine Cowin was third with an NCAA B-Cut time of 3:26.32.
Other notable performances on the women's side was Li (200-breaststroke – fifth – 2:22.02), Seidner )100-freestyle – fifth – 51.63 - NCAA B-Cut) and Cowin (100-freestyle – 51.66 - sixth – NCAA B-Cut).
On the men's side, Huang was fourth in the 200-breaststroke with a fourth-place finish and NCAA B-Cut time of 2:02.17. Sophomore Rick Reinhard also placed sixth in the 1650 freestyle with an NCAA B-Cut time of 16:08.38.
WashU returns to action at the Midwest Invite on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 21-22, in the Windy City.
