The Saint Louis University swimming and diving team is on the road to success, a road that appears to be paved by freshman contributions.
“Out of 22 freshmen, eight are some of our top swimmers,” said coach Jim Halliburton.
Freshmen John Stoneburner and Kelly Tessar have broken three school records this year. Stoneburner established a new mark for the school in both the 400-meter individual medley and 200-meter breast stroke, records that were set in 2000. Tessar did so in the 400 IM, which was last broken in 2001.
SLU clinched a victory against the University of Illinois at Chicago this weekend with the men prevailing by 39 points and the women by 13. Once again, freshmen on the men’s side lead the way, with Steve Webb winning the first spot in his 1650-meter free, Chris Johansen’s first place in the 200-meter free and Stoneburner’s three first-place finishes, including a school record of 2:11.88 in the 200 breast.
Megan Capellupo, Kristin Lowe, Lindsey Tekotte and Ashley Brinkman began the meet with a first-place finish in the 200-meter medley relay.
Tessar and Capellupo followed the pace set by their four teammates and contributed two first-place finishes in the 200-meter back and 200 breast respectively.
“The team gets great intensity from both the experience of the upperclassmen and fresh blood of the very talented freshman class,” said senior captain Andrew Long.
To Long, the unprecedented success of the team can be attributed to the depth of both the upper- and underclassmen.
The team began their season with an eight-point victory by the women against Washington University, a performance which was sealed by the efforts of Tessar and Capellupo in the 200-meter IM.
Despite victories by Webb, Sheridan, Valentino, Bobby Wolf and a double win by freshman Johansen, the men were not as successful and lost to Wash U. by just three points.
The team’s next stop was Western Illinois on Friday, Oct. 18, where both the men and women pulled off victories.
The men were led by Steve Webb, Rich Sheridan and Joe Valentino, who completed a 1-2-3 finish respectively in the 200-meter fly.
Impressive performances were also turned in by Stoneburner and fellow freshman Chris Johansen, who helped increase SLU’s margin of victory.
A win was sealed for the women long before the last event, but both Tessar and freshman Marissa Mackos wrapped up the meet with first-place finishes.
On Friday, Oct. 25, the team traveled to Indianapolis to participate in a double-dual meet against IUPUI and Valparaiso. Once again, both the men and women came away victorious.
Not only did SLU win the meet, but the talent of both the swimmers and divers was shown by the establishment of two new records and several first-place finishes, including Capellupo’s 200 breast, and Tessa Truesdell’s and Kristi Cottral’s first and second finish in one-meter diving, respectively.
Two-time record setting Stoneburner attributes the team’s strong performance to a combination of great coaching staff and talented teammates.
“Swimming is becoming a more prominent sport at SLU, and the team would love to see student support,” Stoneburner said.
