May 10, 2005

ST. LOUIS - Seniors Megan Capellupo and Bobby Wolf were named Most Valuable at the Saint Louis swimming and diving postseason banquet on Sun., Apr. 10. Billiken head coach Katie McRell and Chad Niemeier and Most Improved honors to Kendra Kelly and Josh Stephens. Katie Kotowski and Tim Sievers received the Best Attitude awards. The team also celebrated their academic accomplishments, which included both squads earning CSCAA Academic All-America status.

Capellupo became the program's first Conference USA title holder when she took first in the 200 breast at the C-USA Championships with a school-record time of 2:16.39. In all, she holds five individual school records and is part of four record-holding relay teams as well. She was named C-USA Swimmer of the Week and CollegeSwimming.com National Swimmer of the Week for the period ending Jan 16 after posting an NCAA B Standard time of 2:16.76 in the 200 breast, becoming the first Billiken swimmer to achieve that standard. Capellupo has at least shared the team's most valuable award every year of her career.

Wolf became the first Billiken male diver to qualify for NCAA Zone competition when he posted school-record scores on both the one and three meter boards at Lindenwood. He went on to set the school record on the three meter board with an 11-dive score of 429.10 to finish fifth at the 2005 C-USA Invitational. Wolf has won 53 diving events in his career, including 23 meets in which he swept both the one and three meter boards.

McRell, a sophomore, was named Hardest Worker on the women's side after she provided depth in the butterfly events for the unbeaten Billikens. With a time of 2:19.76 in the 200 fly at Illinois-Chicago, she lowered her personal best by more than three seconds and took third in the race. Niemeier capture the Hardest Worker award for the men as he contributed to the team in every event except breaststroke. The freshman turned in three first-place performances, taking first in the 200 fly against Evansville, and in the 200 IM at both Eastern Illinois and Lindenwood.

Most Improved honors for the women went to Kelly as she worked her way into the lineup in six meets in her junior season. She lowered her personal best times in every event, including shaving nearly 1.5 seconds off her 100 back time. Stephens, a sophomore, won the award on the men's side as he continued to assert himself as one of the program's top backstrokers. His time of 1:54.23 in the 200 back at the 2005 C-USA Invitational was the second-fastest in school history and was good enough for fourth place in the B-Final of the event.

Kotowski earned the Best Attitude award for the women as she also increased her contributions in the pool. The sophomore collected her first event victory when she touched first in the 200 free with a season-best time of 2:01.83 at Lindenwood. Kotowski also added three second-place finishes this season. Sievers was the Best Attitude award winning on the men's side in his first season with the Billikens, adding depth in the distance free events. He finished as high as fourth three times in his freshman season, including twice in the 200 IM.

The College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) released its Fall 2004 Academic All-America teams prior to the banquet, and both the Billiken men and women were among the team's recognized. The women's 3.48 GPA for the fall semester was the fifth highest in Division I. The men ranked 15th among Division I schools with a 3.11 mark.