Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Defeat DePauw

RESULTS

St. Louis, Mo., October 31, 2009 - Competing in their second dual meet in as many days, the Washington University in St. Louis men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams each picked up victories over visiting DePauw University on Saturday, Oct. 31, at the Millstone Pool in St. Louis, Mo. The Washington U. men’s team earned a narrow 151-147 victory while the WU women won, 155-129.

Washington University’s men’s squad improves to 2-1 this season in dual meets, and the Washington U. women are now 2-1. Saturday’s action was the first of the year for both DePauw teams.

The men’s contest came down to the final event of the day, the 400-freestyle relay. With DePauw leading the meet by just one point, both teams knew the winner of the 400-free relay would determine the final outcome, and Washington U. came out on top. The foursome of senior Dan Arteaga, freshman Mark Minowitz, senior Alex Beyer and junior David Chao turned in a time of 3:10.07 to take the race and clinch a win for their team.

The WU women’s team took first place in nine events on Saturday. Senior Jessie Lodewyk swept the women’s distance freestyle races, winning the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:24.83, and the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:55.82.

Sophomore Karina Stridh and freshman Meg Powers also both picked up a pair of individual victories against DePauw. Stridh claimed first in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.40) and the 50-yard freestyle, with a season-best mark of 25.14. Powers was the top finisher in both butterfly events, winning the 100-yard fly in 1:00.84, and the 200-yard fly in 2:12.83.

Rounding out the first-place showings for the WU women, freshman Veronica Tse won the 200-yard freestyle (2:01.10) and junior Karin Underwood won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:11.85. The Bears also claimed first in the 400-freestyle relay, with the team of Tse, Powers, Lodewyk and sophomore Amy Vanlishout posting a time of 3:45.49.

In addition to their victory in the 400-free relay, the Washington U. men won eight other races against DePauw. Sophomore Chris Valach took first in both the 500-free (4:55.45) and the 1,000-free (10:05.44).

Beyer and junior Michael Flanagan were the other Bears to turn in a pair of wins. Beyer won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:10.67) and the 400-yard individual medley (4:17.18). Flanagan swept the 100 and 200-yard butterfly races, with times of 53.55 and 1:56.88 respectively.

Chao also won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.87, coming just 1.02 shy of the NCAA Division III provisional qualifying mark. The Bears’ team of junior Kartik Anjur, senior Dima Galkin, Flanagan and Arteaga won the 200-medley relay in 1:38.21.

The Washington University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be back in action for the Washington University Thanksgiving Invitational, to be held Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 21-22, at the Millstone Pool in St. Louis, Mo.