The Lindenwood Synchronized swimming team continued its climb up the collegiate ranks on Saturday with a strong showing over NCAA Division I stalwarts Stanford and Incarnate Word during a two-day, tri-meet held in San Antonio, Texas.
The three-team event was conducted as three separate meets, with Saturday afternoon focusing on the highly technical “A Elements” – a measure of top athletes' technical ability within the sport. Lindenwood scored a 77.900 to Incarnate Word's 77.500 and Stanford's 77.790 to capture top honors.
“To finish the weekend with such a strong showing in A Elements was very important to us,” said head coach Lori Eaton. “Stanford and Incarnate Word have long dominated that event. For our young team to slide in and take away valuable points like that will cause a lot of teams to perk up and take notice of us.”
In the weekend's routine meet, Lindenwood's routines took to the water Saturday, and for the first time this season, after nearly two weeks of snow days, were able to compete its entire routines.
In the highly competitive trio event, LU's trio of Anouk Eman, Mikayla Francese, and Reem Abdalazem tied for fifth with an 82.667, followed by Victoria Burdon, Stewart Shoemaker , and Jessica Webb in seventh at 82.167.
Lindenwood's duets inched closer to the top, taking fourth and fifth, respectively. Burdon teamed with Beth Burton to score an 82.667, trailed by Francese and Eman at 81.667.
The highlight of the day had to be the solo event, where Lindenwood's Burton awed the crowd and finished second at 85.833, closely followed by Lindenwood's Abdalazem at 85.000. U.S. National Teamer Anna Nelson finished fourth with Stanford's top solo in fifth.
“Beth really stood out at this meet, both for her poise in the water and her leadership among the team,” Eaton said. “We were a week into January and just didn't feel that her music was a good fit for her. So we changed it, entirely. Now a month later, she's back to competing at the top of her game and I'm really proud of her.”
The meet concluded with the team final. Lindenwood's “Australia” team finished a close third at 87.500 behind perennial national contender Stanford and Incarnate Word's A squad. Swimming for the Lions were Burdon, Burton, Eman, Francese, Clarissa Johnston, Jessica Webb, Amanda Mendez, and Abdalazem.
Lindenwood is off next weekend, then travels to Columbus, Ohio, March 5-6, to compete in the North Regional qualifier for the U.S. Collegiate Championships. Expected to compete are Lindenwood, Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Miami (Ohio), Ball State, and Colorado State.
Complete Results
A Elements:
1, Lindenwood Univ. , 77.900
2, Stanford, 77.790
3, Univ. of Incarnate Word, 77.500
Solo
1. Saki Fujise, UIW, 87.333
2. Beth Burton , LU, 85.833
3, Reem Abdalazem, LU, 85.000
4, Anna Nelson, UIW, 84.333
5, Gayle Lee, Stanford, 83.500
Duet
1. Maria Koroleva , Olivia Morgan, Stanford, 88.000
2, Madison Crocker, Morgan Fuller, Stanford, 84.667
3, Emily Burkhart, Saki Fujise, UIW, 83.667
4, Beth Burton , Victoria Burdon, LU, 82.667
5, Mikayla Francese, Anouk Eman, LU, 81.667
Trio
1, Molly Knight, Brianna Andreychuk, Monika Tomczak, UIW, 84.167
2, Madison Crocker, Morgan Fuller, Olivia Morgan, Stanford, 83.333
2, Koko Urata, Corinne Smith, Wendy Lu, Stanford, 83.333
4, UIW (w/Nelson), 83.167
5T, Alex Bollaidlaw, Jessica Guenther, Maria Koroleva, Stanford, 82.667
5T, Anouk Eman, Mikayla Francese, Reem Abdalazem, LU, 82.667
7, Victoria Burdon, Stewart Shoemaker , Jessica Webb, LU, 82.167
Team
1, Stanford, 89.333
2, Univ. of Incarnate Word, 88.500
3, Lindenwood Univ. , 87.500
4, Univ. of Incarnate Word B, 84.333
