Men’s basketball ranked No. 1 in preseason

The NCAA Division III defending national champion men’s basketball team is ranked No. 1 in the DIII News Preseason Top 25 poll, as announced by the publication’s special Preseason Preview issue.

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (No. 2), Capital University (No. 3), Ursinus College (No. 4) and Randolph-Macon College (No. 5) round out the top five.

The Bears will travel to No. 6 Augustana College Nov. 22 and play a home-and-home series with No. 21 Brandeis University Jan. 30 and Feb. 8.

WUSTL opens regular-season play Nov. 15 in the Colorado College Tip-Off Classic against North Park University.

Women’s soccer moves into first place

The No. 15 women’s soccer team won two conference games at home to move into sole possession of first place in the University Athletic Association standings.

Seniors Jenny Phillip and Caitlin Malone each scored a goal in the Bears’ 2-1 victory over New York University Oct. 17. WUSTL followed that with a 2-1 win over Brandeis University Oct. 19 at Francis Field. Freshman Lee Ann Felder scored the game-winner on a diving header.

The Bears (11-2-1) step out of conference play Saturday, Oct. 25, for a 9:30 a.m. home game against No. 12 Rhodes College.

Men’s soccer 10-3 with two recent wins

The No. 21 men’s soccer team posted back-to-back conference wins last weekend at Francis Field. Junior Nat Zenner scored the game-winning goal 2:38 into the first overtime in a 2-1 victory over New York University Oct. 17.

The Bears moved into a tie for second place in the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings with a 2-1 victory over Brandeis University Oct. 19. WUSTL improved to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the UAA with the victory.

The Bears have nine points in UAA standings, tied for second with the University of Rochester and three points behind first-place Emory University with three games to play.

WUSTL steps out of conference play for a home game Friday, Oct. 24, at 7:30 p.m. against Dominican University.

Volleyball second in UAA regular season

The No. 4 volleyball team posted a 3-1 record at the second University Athletic Association round robin, held Oct. 18-19, in Waltham, Mass., and finished its regular-season slate with a 6-1 record.

WUSTL fell to No. 2 Emory Oct. 18, but the Bears picked up wins over the University of Chicago, Brandeis University and New York University.

Men’s tennis has two third-place finishes

Junior John Watts and the doubles team of seniors Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland placed third at the 2008 Wilson/ITA National Small College Championships Oct. 15-17 at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala.

Watts, the top seed and defending champion, defeated No. 2 seed Conrad Olson of Middlebury College, 6-4, 6-4, in the third-place match. Hoeland and Cutler won their third-place match with a 7-6, 7-5 triumph over No. 2 seed Amrit Rupasinghe and Ben Stein of Bates College.

Football drops third straight game

The football team gave up 489 yards of total offense en route to its third-consecutive loss in a 38-13 defeat to the College of Wooster Oct. 18 in Wooster, Ohio.

WUSTL’s offense also struggled, compiling just 237 yards and 11 first downs. The Bears (3-3) return home Saturday, Oct. 25, to play Ohio Wesleyan University at Francis Field.

Cross country races in Wisconsin meet

The men’s and No. 26 women’s cross country teams ran in the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Invitational in Oshkosh, Wis., Oct. 18, placing 12th and fourth, respectively. Between the two meets, there were more than 900 runners representing 35 colleges or universities, marking the largest meet in U.W.-Oshkosh history.

Sophomore Taryn Surtees paced the women’s team, competing the 6K course in 21:44.10 to place 10th overall in a field of 415 runners. Sophomore Dave Spandorfer was the top men’s finisher, coming in 44th with a time of 25:18.25 in the 8K race.

The meet was the last warm up before the University Athletic Association championship meet, which takes place Nov. 1 in Conyers, Ga.

Show-Me Showdown for swimming, diving

The men’s and women’s swim teams competed at the University of Missouri Show-Me Showdown Meet Oct. 18 in Columbia, Mo., and both squads finished fourth out of five teams.

The Show-Me field had teams representing all three NCAA divisions and the NAIA. Both squads submitted several fast times, with the best results coming in the 50-yard free races.

For the men, senior Kevin Leckey placed third in the freestyle sprint with a time of 22.11, and for the women, freshman Karina Stridh finished ninth with a time of 25.11.

Women’s golf third at Maryville Invitational

The women’s golf team shot a final-round score of 346 to finish in third place at the 2008 Maryville University Fall Invitational Oct. 12-13 at the Aberdeen Golf Club in Eureka, Mo.

Sophomore Kathleen Pettinato shot an 83 in the final round to finish in seventh place with a 36-hole score of 162 (79-83). Freshman Katie Homa followed up her career-best round of 81 with an 84 to finish the event in 10th place with a 165.