Women's Swimming Captures Wheaton Invitational Title, Men Place Second

DAY ONE RESULTS | DAY TWO RESULTS | TEAM SCORES

Wheaton, Ill., December 4, 2010 — The Washington University in St. Louis men’s and women’s swimming and diving squads closed out their first semester of competition on a high note with strong performances at the Wheaton Invitational, held Friday-Saturday, Dec. 3-4, in Wheaton, Ill.

The Washington University women’s team tallied a two-day score of 856 points to edge second place University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point by a margin of just 14 points. The WUSTL men’s squad finished second out of five schools with a two-day tally of 738 points; UW-Stevens Point finished first on the men’s side.

The Bears combined for 11 first-place finishes, seven for the men’s team and four for the women, while meeting NCAA Division III Championship provisional qualifying standards in eight events.

Senior David Chao continued shine for the Bears, submitting four first-place finishes, three individual and one relay, to go along with four NCAA ‘B’ cut swims. He won the 100-yard freestyle with an NCAA provisional time of 45.62, a mark that qualified for the 2010 championship, and also finished first with a ‘B’ cut in the 200-yard freestyle (1:41.76).

Chao’s first-place time of 21.05 in the 50-yard freestyle landed just 0.06 shy of another NCAA provisional mark, and he was joined by sophomore Mark Minowitz, senior Kartik Anjur and junior Chris Valach on the Bears’ first-place 800-freestyle relay team, which also met provisional NCAA qualifying standards with a time of 6:53.08.

Chao, Minowitz, Anjur and freshman Jason Wan comprised the men’s 400-free relay team, finishing second to conclude Saturday’s action with a time of 3:04.87, which was good for yet another NCAA ‘B’ cut.

For the Washington University women, freshman Chi Pham shined the brightest, submitting two NCAA ‘B’ cuts. She captured the 200-individual medley with an NCAA provisional time of 2:08.15, and finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 57.99, which stands as a 2011 championship provisional mark and would have qualified for last year’s NCAA meet.

Pham was joined by senior Claire Henderson, sophomore Meghan Powers and freshman Allison Siegel on the first-place 400-medley relay team (3:59.18) and sophomore Veronica Tse, freshman Paige VanTassell and Siegel in capturing first in the 400-freestyle relay (3:34.17). The women's other provisional cut came from freshman Grace Murray, who finished second in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:34.01.

Washington University’s final two NCAA provisional swims all came on the men’s side. Anjur placed first in the 100-backstroke with a time of 51.06, which was a ‘B’ cut, a 2010 championship selection time and a new Washington University school record. Sophomore Brendan Morin was the runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly, posting an NCAA provisional time of 50.51, and Valach won the men's 1,650-yard feestyle (16:19.68).

Freshman Grace Murray came within a second of meeting NCAA provisional standards in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, placing third with a time of 5:06.26, just 0.90 shy of the NCAA cut, while Siegel placed third in the 100-yard freestyle, falling a mere 0.14 short of an NCAA’B’ cut in that event. For the Washington University men, senior Michael Flanagan won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:54.06, which was 0.19 away from a provisional time.

The Washington University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams open the second half of their seasons on Friday, Jan. 7, when they host Lindenwood University and Southern Illinois University-Carbondale for the tri-meet at the Millstone Pool in St. Louis, Mo., starting at 6 p.m.