Women’s hoops team wins invitational
The No. 9 women’s basketball team (7-0) won the Eleanore Moyer Tournament on Dec. 3 in Hanover, Ind. WUSTL senior Kelly Manning, who scored a career-high 32 points in the championship game against host Hanover College, took home tournament MVP honors.
The Bears defeated Thomas More College on Dec. 2 in the opening round of the Tournament behind senior Danielle Beehler’s career-best 24 points.
Despite falling behind, 29-16, WUSTL rallied for a 41-38 halftime lead. The Bears opened the second half with a 9-2 run to take a 50-40 lead and never looked back.
In the championship against Hanover, the Bears outscored the Panthers 48-24 in the second half en route to an 82-53 win. Manning, who shot 11 for 21 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds, hit four of her six 3-pointers in the opening half.
Beehler joined Manning on the All-Tournament Team.
Men’s hoops claims Lopata Classic crown
The men’s basketball team improved its overall record to 5-2 by winning the 22nd Annual Lopata Classic at the Field House.
WUSTL opened play with a 67-43 win over University of Dallas on Dec. 2. Sophomore Troy Ruths ended the game with 18 points and tied a school-record with seven steals. Freshman Tyler Nading finished the game with 15 points and eight boards; sophomore Danny O’Boyle came off the bench to tie his career-high with 10 points on 2-for-3 shooting from 3-point range.
In the championship game Dec. 3 against Wisconsin Lutheran College, the Bears used a 19-0 run early in the second half to post an 80-65 win. Ruths scored a career-high 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 11-of-13 shooting from the free-throw line to earn the Robert L. Burnes Most Valuable Player Award. He added a season-high nine rebounds.
Ruths was joined on the all-tournament team by Nading, who finished the championship game with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Men’s swimmers, divers roll to title
The men’s swimming team won the Wheaton College Invitational Dec. 3 in Wheaton, Ill. The Bears racked up 742.5 points, far ahead of second-place Wheaton (673).
The WUSTL women took third place with 607 points, behind UW-Stevens Point (623) and UW-Milwaukee (877.5).
Senior Michael Slavik led the Bears’ men, earning a share of six school records, five NCAA automatic qualifying times and two NCAA provisional qualifying times.
Slavik shattered three individual records, helped two relay teams to school records, and achieved a team-high five NCAA “A” cuts on the first day of the Invitational. Slavik led off the record-setting 200-yard freestyle relay squad, which recorded an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:22.34. His 50-yard split of 20.52 was also a school record.
Moreover, Slavik won the 100 freestyle after clocking a 44.49 in prelims to break the Bears’ record; senior Eric Triebe, who totaled three “A” cuts, two “B” cuts and two school records on the weekend, also added an “A” cut in the event (45.62).
Slavik led off and Triebe anchored WUSTL’s winning 800-free relay squad that finished in 6:47.42. Slavik’s opening leg also resulted in another school record, a 200-yard time of 1:39.77.
On the second day of the meet, Triebe won the 50-yard freestyle in 20.73, while Slavik took second place. Slavik also won the 200-freestyle and clocked a time of 1:40.38 in prelims, automatically qualifying for the NCAA Cham-pionships.
Triebe finished in second place. The two also led the 400-free relay team to a school-record swim of 3:04.29 to provisionally qualify for the NCAAs.
On the women’s side, senior Jenny Scott and sophomore Meredith Nordbrock paced the Red and Green, as each achieved two NCAA automatic qualifying times and five provisional qualifying marks for the weekend.
Scott anchored the record-breaking 800-free relay team, while Nordbrock provisionally qualified in three events, including the 200 back and 200 IM. She also swam the first leg of the 400-medley relay.
Nordbrock automatically qualified for NCAAs in the 100 backstroke. She also led off the 200-medley relay squad and anchored the 400-free relay. Moreover, Scott took first place in the 200 free, clocking an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 1:53.37.