Last weekend, the Saint Louis University Swimming and Diving teams extended their respective winning streaks with impressive wins at the Lindenwood Invitational. Both the men’s and women’s squads eased past teams from Lincoln College, Illinois Institute of Technology and host Lindenwood University. The Billikens, fresh off clean sweeps of Evansville and South Dakota State, showed no signs of letting their recent success get to their heads. The men accumulated 115.50 points behind outstanding performances from sophomore Brad Byars and senior Christopher Johansen, while the women totaled 175 points, due in large part to the contributions of freshman Elena Ramirez, senior Kelly Tessar and junior diver Erin Lasinski. The team, which has shown considerable improvement since coming back from winter break in hopes that their forward momentum will lead to a successful run at the Atlantic 10 Championships. “We have come a long way as a team. We’ve accomplished many of the things we set out to do, and that is rewarding. However, we have to keep pushing ourselves toward the ultimate goal of winning an Atlantic 10 Championship,” said junior swimmer Steve Sash.The women performed exceptionally by winning 14 of the meet’s 15 events. As usual, freshman sensation Ramirez led the squad by placing first in the 50 freestyle (24:86) and the 100 freestyle (53:80). Tessar also turned in an excellent performance, winning the 200 individual medley (2:09:79) and the 100 breaststroke (1:05:86). Finally, Lasinski claimed another sweep, winning both the one-meter (251.20) and three-meter (255.50) diving competitions. The women also received contributions from junior Emily Oberjohn, who placed first in the 200 freestyle (1:57:10) and senior Alice Altepeter who placed first in the 100 butterfly (1:00:86). Rounding out the list of top Billiken performers were junior Jenny Lutzen in the 500 freestyle (5:19:85) and junior Katie Kotowski in the 1000 freestyle. The women came together as a team, dominating the meet’s four relay events. The 200 medley relay team of Ramirez, Tessar, freshman Brianna Motley and sophomore Emily Stuifbergen grabbed first place (1:52:95), and the 200 freestyle relay team of Altepeter, senior Maggie Norton, Stuifbergen and Lutzen also managed a first place finish (1:41:64). Capping off a clean sweep of the relay events were the 400 freestyle relay team of Altepeter, Lutzen, Norton and Oberjohn (3:42:22) and the 800 freestyle relay team Kotowski, Oberjohn, junior Meredith Grass, and freshman Jillian Smith (8:08:78). Great individual performances from, Byars, junior B.J. Brungardt and Johansen, among others, helped the men outpace the opposition. Brungardt claimed a first-place individual finish in winning the 1000 freestyle (10:17:35). Johansen, not to be outdone, powered his way to a first place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:45:74), while Byars took first place in the 100 freestyle (48:13). “The team did a good job of taking care of business. I think we are right where we want to be in terms of peaking right before the conference championships,” said Byars. The men established a balanced effort with a variety of other individual winners. Sophomore Chad Niemeier took a first-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:00:86). Fellow sophomore Tim Adams gave a first-place performance in the 100 breaststroke (1:00:93). Finally, two relay teams came up big, claiming both the 200 freestyle relay and 800 freestyle relay. The 200 freestyle relay team, comprising Johansen, Byars, freshman Jesse Lewis and junior Josh Stephens, shot past their opponents as they took first place (1:28:45). The 800 freestyle relay team of Max Thomas, John Songin, John Wixom and Nick Statzer also outpaced the field (7:53:25). After dominating the Lindenwood Invitational, the two squads will head to Charleston, IL, to swim against Eastern Illinois on Feb. 4.