ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Bear Beats is a weekly release that will be posted on Mondays to provide a look back at the past week of action and to preview the events for the upcoming week. The 29th episode and final episode of the 2024-25 year will feature men's and women's outdoor track and field, men's and women's tennis..
 
A look in the rear-view mirror (events from May 18-25):
 
No. 10 Women's Tennis

• NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!
• For the first time in program history, WashU is the NCAA Div. III Women's Tennis National Champion!
• The Bears began the final weekend with a match-up with No. 1 and defending national champion Chicago for the third time this season.
• WashU handed the Maroons only their second loss of the season, 4-3, to advance to the national semifinals for the first time.
• Sophomore Eleanor Archer and first-year Caitlin Bui picked up a 6-2 at the top doubles spot while junior Eliana Hanna and first-year Ally Lin clinched the doubles point with a 7-6 (3) win at number three doubles.
• WashU went on to get wins in singles at No. 1, 6, and 4.
• The box score can be found here.
• In the semifinals, the Bears faced another team they fell to earlier this year in No. 9 Johns Hopkins.
• WashU once again used strong doubles play to secure the doubles point with wins at number one and number three.
• Bui put the Bears ahead 2-0 with a win a number two singles.
• Hanna and Lin got picked up wins at number three and four singles, respectively to clinch the match and send WashU to the national championship for the first time, 4-1.
• The box score can be found here.
• In the finals, the Bears faced off against No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer, who had eliminated the Bears in the Elite 8 last season. However, WashU was able to get their payback in the national championship this year.
• After claiming the doubles point for the third time on the week, Hanna put the Bears ahead 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-2 win at number three singles.
• After PPU got a win at number one, Lin earned her third team point of the tournament with a 7-5, 6-2 win at number four.
• The Sagehens pulled even at 3-3 with wins at both two and five singles, setting up a showdown at number six.
• Junior Nina Moravek had dropped her first set 7-5 before rebounding for the 6-1 set two win. With the deciding set tied at 1-1, Moravek won the next four games to go up 5-1.
• Her opponent did not go away quietly claiming the next game with Moravek leading 5-2.
• After an over 10-stroke rally, PPU hit the ball long and the Bears claimed the national championship with the 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 at number six singles.
• The box score can be found here.
• In the doubles national championship, No. 4 Archer and Bui won their first round matchup against No. 6 Lane Durkin and Sarah Youngberg of Wesleyan, 7-5, 7-6 (3), to reach the quarterfinals and claim All-American honors.
• In the quarterfinals the pair dropped a three-set match to a pair from host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
• Both Bears had qualified for the singles tournament as well, falling in the first round.

 
 
No. 3 Women's and No. 20 Men's Outdoor Track and Field

• NATIONAL RUNNER-UP!!       
  • The women scored 47 points to place second. MIT claimed the national title with 56. UW La Crosse (38), UW Eau Claire (34), and Augustana (31) rounded out the top-five teams at the championship.
  • Senior Yasmin Ruff led the way for the Bears winning the pole vault national championship, defending her title from a year ago.
  • This marks the third pole vault title in a row for Ruff, who not only claimed the 2024 and 2025 outdoor titles, but she also took home the 2025 indoor title earlier this year.
  • On the final day of competition the first event was the 4x100 final where senior Lauren Gay, junior Kylie Spytek, senior Nicole Stewart, and junior Jasmine Wright finished in fourth place with a time of 45.57, securing six team points.
  • Graduate Ebun Opata was a national runner-up in the triple jump with a leap of 12.87, grabbing eight team points for the Bears.
  • The final event, the 4x400 relay, saw first-year Quinn Bird, sophomore Cate Christopher, Spytek, and senior Izzy Gorton take home national runner-up honors with a time of 3:42.24, adding the final eight points for the Bears.
  • The following women were earned All-American honors:
    • First Team:
      • Gay, Spytek, Stewart, Wright - 4x100m Relay
      • Bird, Christopher, Spytek, Gorton - 4x400m Relay
      • Wright – 100m
      • Gorton – 800m
      • Opata – High Jump, Triple Jump
      • Ruff – Pole Vault
      • Junior Jenae Bothe – Shot Put
    • Second Team:
      • Spytek – 400m
      • Senior Sophie Bekins – 1500m
      • Opata – Long Jump
• Over on the men's side, the Bears sent five scholar-champions to the national championship
  • No. 20 WashU moved up in the standings to finish the 2025 NCAA Div. III National Championships in 11th place with 17 points.
  • In the pole vault, Graduate Tommaso Maiocco finished as national runner-up with a clearance of 5.15m to earn eight team points. 
  • Junior George Bourdier and sophomore Peter Lichtenberger finished back-to-back in fourth and fifth place with clears of 5.05m each, scoring five and four points, respectively. 
  • Junior Hayden Kunkel finished in 15th place with a height of 4.85m. 
  • In the other event for the Bears, junior James Corbett finished 12^th in the 1500m with a time of 3:57.59.
  • All five Bears earned All-American honors:
    • First Team: 
      • Maiocco – Pole Vault 
      • Bourdier – Pole Vault 
      • Lichtenberger – Pole Vault 
    • Second Team: 
      • Corbett – 1500m 
      • Kunkel – Pole Vault
• Final results can be found here.

 
No. 28 Men's Tennis

• Despite not making the team tournament, WashU sent four members to the singles and doubles tournament.
• In doubles, the No. 11 pair of seniors Stefan Hester and Pato Garcia Muriel opened up with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 8 Daniel Ardila and Dylan Blenkiron of Johns Hopkins.
• With the win, the pair earned All-American honors.
• The Bears didn't stop there as they reached the national semifinals with a 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 win over No. 1 and top-seeded Ethan Green and Kael Shah of Denison. It marked the second time this season that Hester and Garcia Muriel won over the Denison pair.
• However their run came to an end to No. 4 Jaiver Gonzalez and Vuk Vuksanovic of Tufts in three sets.
• In singles, juniors Colin Scruggs and Eric Kuo both fell in the first round.

 
 
 
On the horizon:
 
HAVE A SAFE AND ENJOYABLE SUMMER! SEE YOU IN AUGUST!
 
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