Sports update April 5

Celebration of champions April 26

A Celebration of Champions honoring the 2010 NCAA Division III National Champion women’s basketball team and members of the swimming team will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, April 26, in the Field House. The women’s basketball team will be recognized, along with senior swimmer Alex Beyer, who won the Division III national title in the 400 IM for the second year in a row.

The third-place men’s 800-freestyle relay team of Beyer, junior Kartik Anjur, freshman Mark Minowitz and junior David Chao, in addition to senior Jessie Lodewyk, who placed fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a school-record breaking time of 16:52.88, also will be honored.

Festivities will include the unveiling of the women’s basketball championship banner, a presentation of the national championship trophy and comments from the team.

Free pizza, championship posters and national championship T-shirts will be available while supplies last.

Softball extends winning streak to 11 games

The No. 15 softball team won four games at the Hy-Vee Invitational in Grinnell, Iowa, to extends its winning streak to 11 games.

Seniors Ally Berenter and Megan Fieser were both named to the all-tournament team. Berenter batted .538 (7-13) with three home runs and eight RBIs in the four games, while Fieser hit a tournament-best .714 (10-14) with six runs scored, five RBIs and five stolen bases.

Berenter made history in a 10-4 win over Grinnell College April 2, launching two home runs in a 10-run fifth inning. Berenter, who finished the contest 3-for-3 with four RBIs, is just the sixth player in NCAA Division III history to achieve the feat.

WUSTL (22-4) travels to Division II Maryville University Thursday, April 8, with a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.

Track teams compete at home meet

The women’s track and field team came in second place while the men’s team finished fourth at the two-day Washington University Invitational April 2 and 3 at Bushyhead Track.

The two teams combined to see six student-athletes hit NCAA Division III outdoor championship qualifying marks, with one automatic qualifier and five provisional finishes.

The automatic qualifier came from junior Ben Harmon who placed second in the men’s decathlon with a two-day score of 6.741. The WUSTL men saw two provisional times in the 5,000-meter run. Junior Dave Spandorfer won the race with a time of 14:34.44, while sophomore Michael Burnstein’s third-place time of 14:47.74 also eclipsed the provisional qualifying standard. The men’s fourth ‘B’ cut came from sophomore Dan Davis in the 110-meter hurdles. He finished third in the event with a time of 14.61.

On the women’s side, junior Jessica Londeree was the runner-up in the 5K race, meeting NCAA provisional standards in the process with a time of 17:34.12. Junior Taryn Surtees also submitted an NCAA ‘B’ time, placing second in the 10K run with a time of 37:03.44.

Both teams return to action for the WU Select Meet April 10.

Men’s tennis picks up 10th win of the season

The No. 2 men’s tennis team picked up its 10th victory of the season with a 9-0 win over Carthage College April 3 at the Tao Tennis Center.

Washington University (10-3) has 10 days off before returning to action April 14 at Division II University of Missouri-St. Louis. The match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

Women’s tennis fifth at Midwest Invitational

The No. 14 women’s tennis team came in fifth place at the Midwest Invitational April 2 and 3 in Madison, Wis.

Following a 7-2 opening round loss to No. 9 Gustavus Adolphus College, the Bears rebounded to beat Coe College, 7-2, and advance to the tournament’s fifth-place match.

WUSTL met No. 18 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the fifth-place contest, and the Bears picked up another 7-2 win to improve to 9-4 on the year.

WUSTL has two more matches before the University Athletic Association Championship. The Bears host Webster University at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, and Coe College at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 10.

Baseball posts 1-3 record last week

The baseball team went 1-3 last week, splitting two games with Beloit College April 2, in Bloomington, Ill., and losing twice to Webster University April 3, in Sauget, Ill.

WUSTL held on for an 8-7 win in the opening game with Beloit, seeing senior ace Jeremy Rogoff improve to 6-1 on the year. In the second game of the doubleheader, the Bears saw a 5-5 game slip away in the bottom of the eighth. Beloit scored nine runs to break the game open for a split in the series.

The next day, WUSTL ran into the high scoring Webster Gorloks, losing by scores of 18-2 and 17-1.

WUSTL (15-11) returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 10, for a doubleheader at Greenville College in Greenville, Ill.

WUSTL athletics third in Directors Cup standings

Washington University remained in third place in the 2009-10 Division III Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Standings, as announced by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

Williams College, a 13-time Director’s Cup champion, holds the lead after the winter standings with 896.75 points, while Amherst College is second with 663.25 points. WUSTL is third with 615.50 points, while the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (515.50) and Middlebury College (512) round out the top five.