Swimming & Diving Excels in Pink Out Dual Meet Victory

Photo by WUSTL Photos/Danny Reise
Photo by WUSTL Photos/Danny Reise
Posted: Oct 28, 2017

St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 28, 2017 – The Washington University in St. Louis swimming & diving program combined for a total of 21 first place finishes in 15 events during the "Pink Out" dual meet against DePauw University in the I.E. Millstone Pool.

The WashU women finished with 205 points compared to DePauw's 91, while the Bears men amassed 187 points to the Tigers' 100. The Red & Green swimmers and divers also totaled 15 times or scores that would rank within Division III's top-25 in 2017-18.

Senior Nicole Zanolli led the Bears women with three individual first place finishes. She placed first in the 100 backstroke (59.47), 100 freestyle (53.95) and the 100 butterfly (59.07). All three of Zanolli's time rank within the top-25 Division III times recorded this season.

Freshman Seth Ritter recorded two first place finishes on the men's side. He placed first in the 200 freestyle (1:44.04) with a top-10 DIII time and first in the 500 freestyle (4:38.36) with a time just shy of his DIII leading performance in a dual meet against Saint Louis University on Oct. 6.

The Bears 200 medley relay team recorded season-best times that would also rank within the top-10 Division III marks this year. Freshman Elle Pollitt, senior Niamh O'Grady, junior Lauren Sapp and sophomore Mollie Seidner combined for a time of 1:48.29 which ranks seventh in DIII.

Sophomore Peyton Wilson, freshman Matthew Yang, junior Andrew Pek and senior Ross Brown swam to a season-best 1:34.78 in the process of recording the 10th fastest time of DIII this year.

Top Bear Times in Each Event Swam

Event

Placement. Name

Time

DIII Rank

(Only in Top-25)

200 Medley Relay

1. Elle Pollitt, Niamh O'Grady, Lauren Sapp, Mollie Seidner

1:48.29

7th

200 Medley Relay

1. Peyton Wilson, Matthew Yang, Andrew Pek, Ross Brown

1:34.78

10th

1,000 Freestyle

1. Lucy Meehan

11:06.30

 

1,000 Freestyle

2. Wending Zhu

10:20.21

 

200 Freestyle

1. Niamh O'Grady

1:56.24

13th

200 Freestyle

1. Seth Ritter

1:44.04

11th * (Already possesses 10th best time)

100 Backstroke

1. Nicole Zanolli

59.47

19th * (Already possesses 9th best time)

100 Backstroke

1. Peyton Wilson

51.84

9th * (Already possesses the 8th best time)

100 Breaststroke

2. Stephanie Li

1:10.18

 

100 Breaststroke

1. Kevin Van Cleave

58.42

9th

200 Butterfly

1. Alissa Ling

2:09.79

9th

200 Butterfly

1. Jason Hsu

1:57.91

 

50 Freestyle

1. Mollie Seidner

25.06

 

50 Freestyle

1. Ross Brown

22.00

 

1-Meter Dive

1. Laura Barber

240.00

24th

1-Meter Dive

1. Ryan Nathenson

239.35

 

100 Freestyle

1. Nicole Zanolli

53.95

21st

100 Freestyle

1. Chase Van Patten

47.47

24th

200 Breaststroke

1. Niamh O'Grady

2:30.04

20th

200 Breaststroke

2. Alex Poellinger

2:16.49

 

500 Freestyle

2. Lucy Meehan

5:31.33

 

500 Freestyle

1. Seth Ritter

4:38.36

6th * (Already possesses Top DIII Time)

100 Butterfly

1. Nicole Zanolli

59.07

15th

100 Butterfly

1. James Hardy

52.35

T-23rd

3-Meter Dive

1. Laura Barber

231.70

 

3-Meter Dive

2. Ryan Nathenson

210.85

 

In addition to the excellent day in the pool, the WashU swimming & diving team surpassed its goal of $1,000 to be raised for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Interested donors may still contribute on the GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/wustl-swimdive-pink-out-meet.

Up next for the Bears is a dual meet on the road against University of Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. Be sure to stay up to date on all your Bears scores and awards by following @WashUBears on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.