It was a tremendously demanding final weekend of the dual season for Saint Louis University swimming and diving.
However, it can also be deemed as a perfect one in regards to the women's squad. And the men showed that they can be just impressive, with two astounding victories on Sunday.
The undefeated women's team maintained their spotless record in dual meets by defeating the Eastern Illinois Panthers by a convincing143-95 margin, in Charleston, Ill. Out of a combined 13 individual events and relays, the Bills took home 10 first-place finishes.
Coach Jim Haliburton was incredibly pleased with the performance that the women's team put forth this season, especially since an undefeated season is unprecedented for SLU swimming and diving. The feat is even more impressive, considering that the women's team won only a single race when the current seniors were freshmen.
"This is one of my proudest accomplishments…To go undefeated is a dream come true for me. It means that as a coach you did everything well enough," said Haliburton. "I thought that the perfect season was possible, but not really a goal. My goal was 75 percent of wins on the women's side."
The women followed up their dominating performance by traveling to Indianapolis and disposing of Butler and Valparaiso in a tri-meet the following day. In doing so, the team capped off the first undefeated season in school history, while achieving their 17th and 18th wins in the process.
When scored against each team, the Billiken women won 122-48, and 111-77, respectively; taking nine first place finishes out of a possible 11. Individual winners included junior Alice Altepeter in the 50 free, and sophomore superstar Meredith Grass in the 200 individual medley.
Also, senior Megan Capellupo took first place in the 100 breast, and Grass' desire for victories was insatiable as she won the 100 back. Sophomore Emily Oberjohn, who won the 1000 and 500 freestyle and junior Maggie Norton, who sprinted to victories in the 100 and 200 freestyle, were the other swimmers who won two events leading the Bills to two wins.
"Personally, it really felt great to be able to contribute to an undefeated season this weekend with two individual victories," Norton said. "As a team though, it really gives us confidence heading into next year, as well as a positive outlook for next season," he said
Billiken men did not disappoint, either. After a tough four-point loss to Eastern Illinois on Saturday, they showed a great deal of resiliency in dominating Butler and Valparaiso. Their 135-38 margin of victory over Butler was the largest margin of victory for the team this season and the 129-61 victory over Valparaiso was their third largest.
The team was led by freshman Brad Byars, who won the 50 free and 100 fly.
Additionally, junior Chris Johansen won the 200 freestyle and senior captain Ryan Poss put points on the board with a win in the 100 freestyle. Sophomores Josh Stephens and B.J. Brungardt won the 100 backstroke and the 500 freestyle, respectively, for the Billikens.
"We were all pretty sore and tired coming off of Saturday, but we still managed good times," said Poss. "I especially did not feel comfortable in the water. This year we were not really expected to do well, but we got some key freshmen, and built team camaraderie, which really helped us to do well this season."
In Saturday's tight competition, the team was paced by a number of first place finishes. Among the winners were Chad Niemeier, who won in the 200 IM; Byars, who posted a win in the 100 freestyle; and NCAA Zone qualifier Bobby Wolf, who won both diving events: the one-and-three-meter dives. For the year, the men posted a 12-6 record in head-to-head meets, an improvement from last year's mark of 11-7.
Both teams will spend the forthcoming two weeks training and resting without the interruptions of anymore dual meets. Then they conclude their seasons in Houston at the Conference USA Championships.
In last year's meet, four school records were broken, as the women took seventh place and the men finished fifth. With the continued success and improvement of both teams, the stage is now set for more records to be broken in the finale of what has proved to be a memorable season.
