Fifth-year senior swimmer Guillem Masjuan Roca won the 200-yard freestyle race in his final home meet on Saturday against Saint Louis University. (Photo by Patrick Clark/Athlete’s Eye Photography)
Men’s and Women’s Swimming
Fifth-year seniors Guillem Masjuan Roca and Zara Konstapel both shined over the weekend as the University of Missouri–St. Louis men’s and women’s swimming teams competed in dual meets against McKendree and Division I Saint Louis University in their final tune-ups before the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship meet, which will be Feb. 6 in Evansville, Indiana. Masjuan Roca finished first in the 200-yard individual medley against McKendree with a time of 1 minute, 55.53 seconds and also added a second-place showing in the 200 backstroke and a fourth-place finish in the 50 free against the Bearcats. He followed that up by winning the 200 freestyle against the Billikens on Saturday in his final home meet. Konstapel, meanwhile, won the 100 breaststroke (1:07.38) and 200 breaststroke (2:28.53) against McKendree and took first in the 100 breaststroke against SLU (1:03.04). The Tritons were on the losing end of the team standings as the men’s team lost to McKendree 208-72 and SLU 108-97 while the women fell 177-99 against the Bearcats and 113-93 against the Billikens. But there were other notable individual performances. Freshman Justice Beard and Mackenzie Greenley won the 1,650 freestyle and the 200 butterfly, respectively, against McKendree. Beard also won the 500 freestyle against SLU while Audrey Lantz took first in the 50 freestyle, Ella Lantz won the the 100 freestyle and UMSL claimed the top spot in both the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay. On the men’s side, UMSL won the 200 free relay against McKendree. Conley Savage finished first in both the 400 individual medley and the 100 butterfly against SLU. David Reynolds won the 50 free, Ryan Conner touched first in the 100 backstroke and Hendrik Bechtel grabbed the top spot in the 500 free. The Tritons will compete in the GLVC Championship Feb. 6-10 at the Deaconess Aquatic Center.
Men’s Track and Field
UMSL recorded five top-10 finishes on Saturday during the Samford Open at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama. Senior Benjamin VandenBrink ran a season-best time of 4:22.48 to take fourth in the mile and added a sixth-place finish in the 3,000-meter run with a personal-best time of 8:44.19. Tritons redshirt senior Jacob Warner was seventh in the mile and eighth in the 3,000. Sophomore Toby Middleton placed 10th in the mile and was 11th in the 3,000. UMSL’s track teams will next compete in the Principia Relays on Friday and Saturday in Elsah, Illinois.
Women’s Basketball
The Tritons dropped a pair of road games by a combined nine points, losing 72-67 at Indianapolis on Thursday and 70-66 at Lewis on Saturday. UMSL couldn’t hold onto fourth-quarter leads in both games, getting outscored 26-17 against the Greyhounds and 20-12 against the Flyers in the final period. Jalysa Stokes led four Tritons players in double figures against Indianapolis, finishing with 18 points. Alex Wolff added 15 points, Audrey Martinez-Stewart had 13 and Amaya Blake finished with 10. Stokes was also UMSL’s leading scorer against Lewis as she finished with 22 points. Mara Rieder added 11 off the bench, and Martinez-Stewart had 11 to go with six assists. The Tritons (7-10, 5-6 GLVC) return home this week looking to snap a three-game losing streak. They’ll face Missouri S&T on Thursday and Maryville on Saturday.
Men’s Basketball
UMSL went into Indianapolis second in the GLVC standings on Thursday night but came up on the losing end of a 69-64 final against the league-leading Greyhounds. The Tritons were outscored 30-17 over the final 10:15. Indianapolis’ Paul Zilinskas led rally and finished with 24 points while going 6 for 9 from 3-point range. Mayson Quartlebaum scored 24 points to pace UMSL. Troy Glover II added 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Emanuel Prospere II scored 10 off the bench. The Tritons got off to a sluggish start on Saturday at Lewis, falling behind 33-23 at intermission and as many as 22 points in the second half. They never got closer than nine points in the final 20 minutes. Quartlebaum and Prospere each finished with 15 points, Savon Wykle added 14 and Matt Enright had 12. Glover had 10 points and a team-best seven rebounds. Lewis shot 57.1% from the field. UMSL (7-10, 5-4 GLVC) will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak when they play host to Missouri S&T on Thursday before facing Maryville on Saturday.
