Men’s swimming, diving takes 10th at NCAAs

The men’s swimming and diving team finished strong to take 10th place at the NCAA Championships March 20 in St. Peters, Mo. The Bears, who matched their school-best NCAA finish, were in 30th place after the first day of competition but rallied for a top-10 finish with 102 points. Kenyon College won the meet with 678.5 points. Sophomore Eric Triebe grabbed All-America honors by placing seventh in the 100-yard freestyle. Triebe also anchored the 400-free relay squad that placed eighth. Classmate Michael Slavik, freshman David Stein and sophomore Cory Zimmerman joined Triebe in clocking a 3:08.45 in the final. Triebe and Slavik also garnered All-America accolades after taking third place in the 200 free on Day 2.

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The softball team improved to 16-0 as the Bears posted a 4-0 record at the Marriott West Invitational. On March 20, junior Liz Swary went 7-for-8 with five RBI to help lead the Bears to back-to-back 8-0 victories over Cornell College and Loras College. Sophomore Amanda Roberts (4-for-4, 2 RBI) and Swary (3-for-4, 3 RBI) provided the offense against Cornell in the opener. Freshman Abby Morgan picked up her fourth win as she pitched five innings, allowed three hits and struck out one. Junior Victoria Ramsey (5-0) pitched five innings and allowed one hit in game two as Washington U. pounded out 12 hits in the 8-0 win over Loras College. The next day, Ramsey improved to 6-0 as WUSTL posted an 8-2 win over Nebraska Wesleyan. Roberts was 3-for-4 with two RBI in the win as she raised her team-leading batting average to .523.

The baseball team rallied from an eight-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh for a 12-11 win against Illinois Wesleyan University March 20 at Kelly Field. Senior Steve Schmidt went 4-for-5 against IWU and drove in the game-winning run for the Bears (9-10). The Titans, who led 10-1 in the fifth, held an 11-3 advantage and needed only three outs to seal the win. But Ryan Corning hit his third home run of the year to draw the Bears to within five runs at 11-6. Schmidt and senior Ramos Mays then singled and sophomore Dave Meo reached after being hit by a pitch to load the bases. Back-to-back walks scored two more to make it 11-8 with one out. Ching singled in another run to cut the lead to two before Malleus fouled out. Then Corning, who tallied five RBI on the day, doubled and drove in two runs to tie the contest, setting up Schmidt’s game-winning single.

The No. 12 women’s tennis team went 3-0 and improved to 8-2 overall. The Bears opened play March 18 against the University of Missouri-St. Louis with a 9-0 shutout. On March 21, WUSTL returned to the court and defeated Graceland University, 5-0, and Brandeis University, 8-1. Senior Rathi Mani and sophomore Lauren Zwick went 3-0 at No. 1 doubles, leading the Bears to a 7-0 doubles mark on the week. The duo is 7-3 at first doubles and 14-7 overall. Senior Laura Greenberg posted a 3-0 singles record, including a pair of wins at No. 2 singles and one at the No. 1 spot. Greenberg surrendered only three games in six sets of play last week as she improved to 13-2 overall. Junior Sara Kabakoff continued her dominance at the No. 5 spot, recording straight-set wins in all three of her matches. Kabakoff is a team-best 16-0 this season.

The No. 7 men’s tennis team improved to 4-5 on the season with a sweep of Graceland University and Brandeis University on March 21. Against Graceland, the Bears won three of four singles matches and claimed the only doubles match for the 4-1 victory. Against Brandeis, Washington U. once again dominated singles play by winning five of six matches. Senior Brian Alvo, sophomore Eric Borden, Rosenthal, Fayne and Kuppler each posted a victory against the Judges.


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