WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Sophomore Eric Molnar gave the Whitman College men's swim team its first individual title in seven years as the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships continued Saturday night at the King Co. Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.
Molnar led junior teammate Ysbrand Nusse to a one-two finish in the 400-yard individual medley. Molnar, who finished second to Nusse in the morning preliminaries, won the championship final in 4:13.95, missing the Whitman school record by about one second. Nusse's runner-up time in the finals was 4:15.39.
For Nusse, it was his third consecutive runner-up finish in the 400 IM. Molnar was third in the event last year.
The Whitman men dominated the 400 IM finals, putting four swimmers in the final eight. While Molnar and Nusse were finishing one-two, Missionary freshmen Nick Wood and Chad Trexler placed seventh and eighth.
"It was great to see Whitman fill half the spots in that championship final," Whitman assistant coach Katharine Curles said. "Eric and Ysbrand really pushed one another hard at the front, and Nick and Chad worked well together as well."
Tucker Jackson was the last member of the Whitman's swim team to claim a conference crown. Jackson won both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events at the 2001 championships.
In the team scoring, both Whitman teams remained in fourth place among eight schools after Saturday's events.
Whitworth was first in the women's scoring with 520 points, followed by Puget Sound 472, Lewis & Clark 281, and Whitman 274. Whitworth and Puget Sound were also one-two in the men's scoring with 477.5 and 395 points, respectively, with Linfield in third with 329 points and Whitman in fourth with 321.5.
Senior Erin Pettersen nearly picked off a second conference title in the women's 100-yard butterfly, finishing second in 58.16. That trimmed nearly two seconds of her existing school record and met the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA national championships.
"We won't know for a few weeks if Erin will get a berth at the national championships," Curles said. "They start with the swimmers who make the automatic qualifying time and then fill in with the swimmers who have provisional times. But Erin's time is promising. She has a fairly legitimate shot at getting to nationals."
After breaking four school records in Friday's competition, Whitman swimmers set three new school marks on Saturday, counting Pettersen's lowered time. Senior Clint Collier, who placed sixth in the finals of 100-yard breaststroke in 1:00.65, broke the 13-year-old Missionary record in the morning preliminaries with a time of 1:00.47.
Collier, Nusse, Molnar and sophomore David Lee opened the Saturday night session by placing third in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:37.37 -- shattering the school record by nearly three seconds. Whitman also set new school marks in Friday's two relay events.
After posting a new school record in the 500-yard freestyle on Friday, sophomore Jamie Nusse nearly did it again in Saturday's 200-yard freestyle. He placed fourth in 1:43.54, missing the Whitman record by a scant five one-hundredths of a second.
Senior Nancy Alexander, who set Whitman's record in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:00.05 in 2006, just missed that mark Saturday, placing third in that event in 1:00.59.
Sophomores Kendi Thomas and Chelsea Klinger gave Whitman a strong showing in the women's 400-yard indvidual medley, placing fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 4:51.29 and 4:54.20. Thomas moved into sixth place all-time at Whitman for that event, while Klinger now sits in the sixth spot.
Lee added a fifth-place finish in the men's 100-yard butterfly. His time, 53.09, moves him into fourth place all-time at Whitman.
Senior Elizabeth Roberson in the 200-yard freestyle (2:04.82) and first-year swimmer Claire Noone in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.91) placed eighth for Whitman. Noone swam a slightly faster time (1:12.89) in the morning preliminaries, moving into fifth place all-time on Whitman's best-times list.
Several Missionaries made Saturday night's consolation finals (places nine through 16). In addition to his seventh-place finish in the 400 IM, Nick Wood placed 10th in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:02.06, which vaults him into third place all-time at Whitman. Sophomore Nick Hurlburt was 11th in the consolation final in 1:03.70, which moves him into the eighth spot on the Whitman best-times list.
Ellen McCleery, a senior, finished ninth in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:04.93, cutting more than two seconds off her time in the morning preliminaries. McCleery just missed the consolation finals of 100-yard breaststroke, placing 17th in the preliminaries.
Sophomore George Stanton, injured for much of the season, placed 12th in the 100-yard backstroke in 58.16 (57.88 in the morning preliminaries). Junior Courtney Fitzpatrick and first-year swimmer Lauren Flynn placed 14th and 16th, respectively, in the 100-yard butterfly with times of 1:04.38 and 1:05.26. Nate Wells, a freshman, was 14th in the 100-yard butterfly in 58.25, and freshman Brian Wakefield was 16th in the 400 IM in 4:50.97.
Kate Pringle, a first-year swimmer, missed the consolation finals of the 100-yard backstroke by six one-hundredths of a second. Her 17th-place time was a season-best 1:08.68.
In the women's 200-yard medley relay, Whitman placed third in 1:54.27. Pettersen, Alexander, Noone and Flynn teamed up to miss the Missionary school record by less than one second.
In the men's 800-yard freestyle relay, the Nusse brothers teamed with Molnar and freshman Eliot Stone to take third in 7:15.15. Roberson, McCleery, Klinger and Thomas placed fifth in the women's 800-yard freestyle in 8:20.28.
The swim championships conclude with a final day of swimming on Sunday.