Sports update Feb. 8

Men sweep a pair of games at home

The No. 3 men’s basketball team extended its lead in the University Athletic Association (UAA) to two games with a pair of victories at home over the University of Rochester and Emory University.

Senior Aaron Thompson poured in 29 points with a season-high seven three-pointers to lead the Bears to a 68-59 win over Rochester Feb. 5. Thompson eclipsed 20 points for the sixth time this season and finished the game shooting 11-of-15 from the field. He was 7-of-11 from three-point range. He also moved into eighth-place in school history with 1,455 career points.

In an 83-69 victory over Emory Feb. 7, senior Cameron Smith scored a career-high 15 points with a career-high five three-pointers. Junior Spencer Gay recorded his second-career double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds against the Eagles, shooting 7-of-8 from the field and also recording three blocked shots. Graduate student Sean Wallis finished the game with a game-high nine assists.

The Bears had a tremendous team effort passing the ball, finishing with 29 assists on 29 field goals.

WUSTL (18-2, 8-1 UAA) will hit the road for a pair of games on the east coast beginning Friday, Feb. 12 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.

Women remain in first place

The No. 6 women’s basketball team remained in first place in UAA standings with a pair of wins over No. 24 University of Rochester and Emory University last weekend.

Behind 15 points from junior guard Alex Hoover, WUSTL topped Rochester, 68-40, on Feb. 5, avenging a 12-point loss to the Yellowjackets a week earlier in Rochester, N.Y.

Graduate student Jaimie McFarlin scored 11 points to go along with eight rebounds as the Bears cruised past Emory, 61-47, Feb. 7. WUSTL held Emory to just 10 points and four field goals in the first half of play.

The Bears (18-2, 8-1 UAA) hit the road next week for a pair of conference contests on the east coast, beginning Friday, Feb. 12 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.

Men’s indoor track team wins invitational

The men’s indoor track and field team won the Illinois Wesleyan University Bob Keck Invitational Feb. 5-6, in Bloomington, Ill.

Junior Ben Harmon and sophomore Dan Davis led the way. Harmon was the runner-up in the pentathlon, but his score of 3,650 points automatically qualifies him to compete at the 2010 NCAA Division III Championships; it is the second year in a row he has qualified for the NCAA meet in the pentathlon, placing fourth in 2009.

Davis broke the school record in the 55-meter hurdles with first-place finish and a time of 7.59, improving on his previous NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

On the women’s side, the Bears placed seventh out of 22 teams, and were led by their first-place distance medley relay team.

The foursome of senior Molly Schlamb, senior Allison Lee, junior Sangeeta Hardy and sophomore Liz Phillips turned in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 12:01.00.

Both the men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams return to action Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Monmouth College Fighting Scot Invitational.

Men’s tennis drops season opener

The No. 3 ranked men’s tennis team dropped its 2010 season opener to NCAA Division II No. 29 Drury University, 6-3, on Feb. 6.

Senior John Watts and junior Max Woods each recorded victories in singles for the Bears.

The Bears trailed 2-1 after doubles play, as Watts teamed with freshman Kareem Farah for an 8-6 victory at No. 2. Watts upped his career total to 197 with his two victories, moving just three wins from becoming the first player in school history to record 200 victories.

WUSTL (0-1) returns to action Saturday, Feb. 13, against league foe Case Western Reserve. The match takes place in Griffith, Ind.

Swimming and diving teams earn academic honors

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams each earned College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar-Athlete All-America accolades.

While a total of 341 intercollegiate swimming and diving teams across all three NCAA divisions garnered the Academic All-America award, each of the Washington University squads ranked not only near the top of NCAA Division III, but among the academic leaders nationally.

The women combined for a 3.53 cumulative grade point average in the fall 2009 semester, a mark that tied for second in Division III and tied for fourth among all NCAA levels of competition.

The men’s squad ranked fourth in Division III with a 3.42 team GPA, and it tied for fifth overall. Both teams ranked first among all UAA schools that qualified for the award.

For all the latest sports headlines and updates, visit bearsports.wustl.edu.