On Monday, Nov. 24, the Saint Louis University men’s swim team
defeated Western Illinois University 145-95 before losing to the
University of Illinois-Chicago 144-96 in Chicago.

Three swimmers for the men’s team combined for six first-place
finishes. Sophomore John Stoneburner participated in three races —
the 200 meter individual medley, the 200 meter breast, and the 200
meter fly — and won them all. Fellow sophomore Christopher
Johansen finished first in both the distance races in which he
swam, the 1000 meter and the 500 meter IM. Freshman Josh Stevens
won the 200 backstroke in 1:58.11.

If the Billikens seem as though they are relying on their
underclassmen to succeed, it is because they are.

“They key to our team’s success is our youth. We lost four
seniors last year that were important to us in the sprint events.
Fortunately, we have a very talented freshman class that brings a
lot to the table and fill in some holes that we’ve had in the
past,” Johansen said.

The Billikens now have a record of 6-5, which is not
representative of the true talent of this team.

“We are swimming very well and have a lot of time to develop and
get faster as a team,” Johnsen said.

“This year’s team seems to be more focused on training and
working toward a goal of overall team improvement,” Stoneburner
said.

The Billikens look to stay above .500 this week as they travel
to South Bend, Ind. for the Notre Dame Invitational.

The tournament starts on Thursday, Dec. 4, and ends on Saturday,
Dec. 6.

“To be successful at the Notre Dame Invitational, we just need
to swim to our ability. We have a very talented team, we’ve been
training pretty hard, and we’ve been swimming really fast at meets.
We’ve been resting the last few days to get everyone ready to swim
fast, so if everyone is on their game at the same time, we should
have an outstanding showing,” Johansen said.

The Billikens also see the Notre Dame Invitational as a way to
establish Saint Louis as a swimming power in the Midwest, as
Stoneburner calls it, “a chance for us to swim against schools that
offer a variety of competition levels,”

The invite is a chance for us to show other schools around the
Midwest that our program is getting stronger and that we are
definitely a program to watch out for in the future.”

Fighting the Irish

What: The Notre Dame Invitational

When: Thursday Dec. 4th thru Saturday Dec. 6th

Where: South Bend, Ind.