The men and women’s swimming and diving teams broke 29 school records in the four-day conference tournament last week, but neither team could keep pace with the rest of the schools as they both finished in last place overall in points.
Richmond took home the title for the women while Massachusetts won it on the men’s side. The all freshmen 400-yard freestyle relay team of Zack Billingsley, Patrick May, Justin Pasquesi and Patrick MacArt won the only gold medal for the Billikens, the first time SLU has ever won a relay race at the A-10 Championship.
Their time of 3:00.83 also broke a SLU record and was the first time a relay team also met the NCAA “B” cut-line national standard. Billingsley didn’t stop there though, he also placed third in the 100-yard freestyle with his record-setting time of 45.24.
“I am extremely happy with my individual performance at the conference meet. Although, I would have like to drop a little more time in my 50 free, I was very excited to see how much time I dropped in my other two events,” said Billingsley.
Senior diver Chad Carmichael ended his career on a high note, finishing second on the one-meter diving board with a score of 294.85 on day one. Freshman Patrick MacArt and the rest of his team finished seventh in the 200-yard freestyle split with a time of 6:52.33. MacArt’s split of 1:40.08 broke a SLU record.
On day two, SLU broke six more records, beginning with Pasquesi’s 12th place finish in the 500-yard freestyle. He finished with a time of 4:36.83, breaking his own record, which he had already broken earlier in the tournament by two more seconds. Junior Taylor Streid continued her successful season finishing fourth in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:04.00, also breaking her own school record.
Christiana Eltiste followed Streid by finishing eighth on the one-meter board with her 195.00 point dive. The men’s 200-yard freestyle relay consisting of Billingsley, May, Macart and junior Will Butzke ended day two with their second place finish.
Their record setting time of 1:21.95 was the highest finish SLU has had in the event at the A-10 Championship. Streid kicked off day three by finishing second in the 100-yard butterfly with her record-breaking time of 55.52.
Stephen Hansen also finished a runner up in his event, the 100-yard breaststroke, by besting his teammate Brian Brasser with another SLU record time of 56.39. Billy Hrabovsky and Carmichael finished neck-and-neck on the three-meter board, placing fourth and fifth respectively with scores of 295.10 and 294.50.
On day four, Streid ended her solid tournament by finishing with a school record time of 2:03.47 in the 200-yard backstroke, good enough for sixth overall in the event. Whitney Gould finished 11th in the 1650-yard freestyle..
“I feel like the team did very well at conference this year. We didn’t place as high as we would have liked, but one of our goals from the beginning of the season was to get a few relays in the top three. It was very exciting to be a part of the fastest relays in SLU history and being able to share this experience with the rest of the team,” said Billingsley.
