Swim Teams Combine to Send 10 Student-Athletes to NCAA's

MEN'S PSYCH SHEET | MEN'S INVITES | WOMEN'S PSYCH SHEET | WOMEN'S INVITES

St. Louis, Mo., March 6, 2009 - The Washington University men’s and women’s swimming teams combined to have 10 student-athletes qualify to compete at the 2009 NCAA Division III Championships, as announced by the NCAA selection committee on Friday. The WU men’s squad will send six student-athletes to compete in 10 championship events, while the women’s team saw four qualifiers, who will swim in five events.

The 2009 men’s and women’s swimming NCAA Division III Championships will be held concurrently, Wednesday-Saturday, March 18-21, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. The Washington U. men placed 13th at the 2008 NCAA Championship meet, and the women’s team earned a sixth-place finish, the second-best national performance in school history.

This season, senior Kevin Leckey and junior Alex Beyer lead the Washington University men’s championship team with three individual and two relay qualifications. Beyer, a nine-time All-America honoree will swim in the 500-yard freestyle, the 400-yard individual medley and the 200-yard breaststroke, in addition to the 400 and 800-yard freestyle relays, while Leckey, who has earned All-America honors 11 times, will join Beyer on the relay teams and also swim in the 50-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle and the 500-free.

Beyer’s met NCAA automatic qualifying standards in the 400-IM and the 500-freestyle. His WU school-record breaking time of 3:57.79 in the 400-IM ranks fifth in the nation heading into the championship meet, and his top-mark of 4:28.73 in the 500-free, also a school record, places ninth overall. He provisionally qualified in the 200-breaststroke (2:04.41), ranking 18th in the nation.

Leckey provisionally qualified for all three of his freestyle events. His top-time of 20.67 in the 50-free is 24th in the nation, his mark of 45.24 in the 100-free is 16th, and he ranks 22nd in the 200-free with a time of 1:40.85.

Beyer and Leckey will be joined by junior Dan Arteaga and sophomore David Chao on the 400-freestyle relay squad; the foursome’s school-record of 3:02.35 is currently 10th in the country. Beyer, Chao, Leckey and freshman Chris Valach will compete in the 800-free relay, entering the meet with the fifth-fastest time of 6:42.47.

Valach will also swim in the 500-free, making the cut in the 24th slot with a time of 4:33.16. Sophomore Michael Flanagan, who was a two-time All-America honoree as a freshman, is the sixth Bear for the men’s team to qualify for the meet, and will compete in the 200-yard butterfly, ranking 16th in the event with a time of 1:51.66.

Freshman Karina Stridh highlights the Washington University women’s foursome. Stridh has set a pair of school records this season and will swim in the 50-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle, the 100-yard backstroke and the 800-freestyle relay. She ranks fifth in the nation in the 50-free with a time of 23.38, only 0.28 behind the nation’s top mark, and her fourth-place qualifying time of 50.94 in the 100-free is just .49 back of first place.

Stridh also ranks eighth in the 100-backstroke with a season-best NCAA automatic qualifying time of 57.23. She will team with 18-time All-America senior Kelly Kono, five-time All-America honoree Jessie Lodewyk and freshman Sam Schulte in the 800-free relay. The foursome enters the championship ranked No. 11 with a time of 7:38.28.

Kono and Lodewyk will also compete in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Lodewyk’s top swim of the year was 17:21.19, good for 15th heading into the championship final, while Kono posted a time of 27:25.82, which places her 19th in the field.