Washington and Lee University
LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Washington and Lee swimming teams wrapped up competition on Monday evening at the Finis Collegiate Invite. The Generals won the men’s team title, while the women finished second overall.
The men totaled 1919.0 points to better UC Santa Cruz, who placed second with 1633.5 points. On the women's side, Santa Cruz took the team title with 1682.0 points, while W&L totaled 1210.0 points to finish second.
Senior Paul Crook (Nashville, Tenn./Montgomery Bell) spearheaded the men’s team effort by winning the 200 IM with an NCAA “B” cut time of 1:54.53 and swimming the 500 free in an NCAA “B” cut time of 4:36.24. He also swam the anchor leg on both the winning 200 free relay (1:25.31) and 400 medley relay (3:34.40) teams.
Crook was joined on the 200 free relay team by senior Brett Tatman (Marietta, Ga./Walton), junior Nick Talluri (Mount Airy, N.C. / Mount Airy) and junior Brandon Barnds (Mission Hills, Kansas/Shawnee), while Tatman and first-years Robert Grattan (Richmond, Va./Trinity Episcopal) and Jeff Stirling (Skillman, N.J./Montgomery) teamed with Crook on the 400 medley relay squad.
Also for the men, Talluri won the 50 free with a time of 21.55 and first-year Ryan Hartman (Yorktown, Va./Grafton), junior Winston Stagg (Midlothian, Va./Governor's School) and Barnds all produced runner-up finishes. Hartman finished second in the 500 free (4:45.02), Stagg was second in the 200 IM (1:59.34) and Barnds finished second behind Talluri in the 50 free with a time of 21.64.
For the W&L women, senior Lindsey Strachan (Midlothian, Va./Governor’s School) continued to have an impressive showing on Monday, notching a school-record, ODAC-record and NCAA “B” cut time in a 200 back time trial (2:06.66). She also led off the 400 medley relay team that touched the wall first with a school-record time of 4:03.27. Junior Lynn Bazzel (Atlanta, Ga./Lovett), senior Julianne Miata (Valhalla, N.Y./Westlake) and junior Sarah Simpson (Charlotte, N.C./South Mecklenburg) joined Strachan on the winning relay team.
Miata also took first place in the 50 free with a time of 25.06, while first-year Elizabeth Starnes (Harrison, Tenn./Girls Prep) and senior Susan Mahoney (Richmond, Va./St. Catherines) also took home first place honors. Starnes won the 500 free (5:21.42) and Mahoney won the 200 IM (2:14.32).
Also for the women, sophomore Tess Hayden (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) finished as the runner-up in the 500 free (5:22.99), junior Jenna Worsham (Cumming, Ga./Wesleyan School) placed second in the 200 IM (2:16.85) and Simpson placed second in the 50 free (25.60).
The Generals will now break for the holidays before returning to action on Jan. 10 against Wingate, Catawba and Ashland at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center near Charlotte, N.C.
~ Generals ~