Tacoma Two-Step: Whit Swimmers Hosting Lutes & Loggers

 

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Three of top swim programs in the Northwest Conference go toe-to-toe this weekend when Whitman College hosts Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound for a pair of dual meets in the Louise and Paul Harvey Pool in Baker Ferguson Fitness Center.

Pacific Lutheran provides the opposition at 6 p.m. Friday while Puget Sound is butting heads with Whitworth in Spokane.

Puget Sound then comes to Walla Walla on Saturday for a 1 p.m. dual meet test against the mighty Missionaries.

Both Whitman teams head to the weekend with unblemished NWC dual meet records.

The Missionary men's squad is one of four conference teams with 4-0 marks. The other three are Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound and Whitworth.

On the women's side, it's Whitman, Puget Sound and Whitworth sporting 4-0 NWC records.

The Pacific Lutheran women are 3-1 after dropping a recent 114-91 decision to Pacific. Whitman nipped the Pacific women 106-99 last November.

Whitman swept men's and women's decisions from Pacific Lutheran in each of the past two seasons. Three years ago, it was the Lutes taking slim victories over both Missionary squads.

Puget Sound has been a tougher nut to crack. The Whitman men won 102-101 two years ago, but the Missionary women have dropped their last three decisions to the Loggers.

Whitman Men

Buoyed by a mix of accomplished veterans and rookie phenoms, the Whitman men are 6-0 in dual meets, counting non-conference wins over College of Idaho and the University of Redlands.

Karl Mering

Freshman Karl Mering, already a two-time NWC Student Athlete of the Week, has made a huge splash. He heads to the weekend with this season's top conference times in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles events as well as the 100-yard butterfly.

Mering ranks second in the NWC in the 200-yard butterfly, fourth in the 200-yard freestyle and sixth in the 100-yard backstroke.

He also wasted no time setting new Whitman records in both butterfly events and the 50 free.

Galen Sollom-Brotherton, a junior transfer from California's Diablo Valley College, is also in the midst of a spectacular first season as a Missionary.

Sollom-Brotherton

Sollom-Brotherton shattered Whitman school records in the 1,000-yard and 1,650-yard freestyle events in times that are the best in the NWC this season. He accomplished the same feat in the 400-yard individual medley.

The NWC best-times list also shows Sollom-Brotherton in fourth in the 100-yard freestyle, fifth in the 500-yard freestyle and 10th in the 200-yard freestyle.

Sollom-Brotherton and Mering have carved a niche in the Whitman relay recordbooks as well, teaming with junior Paul Chang and freshman Nic Win for a new school standard in the 400-yard medley relay.

Paul Chang

Senior Chris Bendix has Top 20 NWC times in a handful of events, including a fifth-place standing in the 200-yard breaststroke. He ranks eighth or ninth at the 500-, 1,000-yard and 1,650-yard freestyle distances.

Chang ranks second in the conference in the 100-yard breaststroke and fourth at the 200-yard distance (he reigns as the Whitman record holder in both events). He has the eighth-best time NWC time this season in the 50-yard freestyle.

Win is eighth in the 100-yard backstroke, ninth in the 200-yard breaststroke, 10th in the 400-yard individual medley and 12th in the 200-yard backstroke.

Nic Win

Freshman Kevin O'Leary has the NWC's ninth-best time in the 200-yard backstroke. He is 13th in the 100-yard backstroke.

Senior Mitchell Lee ranks 11th in the conference in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races, while sophomore Shunei Asao is 14th at the shorter distance.

Senior Matt Liedtke is 12th and 13th in the two butterfly events while senior Matt Rowett also has Top 20 times in those races.

Rowett, a senior captain, also has posted the 15th-best time in the 400-yard individual medley.

Two more Whitman swimmers who have cracked the Top 20 are senior Ian Williams in the 1,000-yard freestyle and freshman Yohan Mahoney in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Whitman Women

Counting their four NWC victories, the Whitman women are 5-1 on the dual meet season. They clobbered College of Idaho last November but dropped a narrow decision at the University of Redlands earlier this month.

Katie Chapman

Juniors Katie Chapman and Helen Jenne are both having stellar seasons.

Chapman, who won three races at the NWC championships last year, has this season's top NWC time in the 200-yard butterfly. She ranks second in the 100-yard butterfly and third in the 200-yard individual medley -- two events in which she holds Whitman school records.

Helen Jenne

Chapman also has posted this season's 12th-best NWC time in the 400-yard individual medley.

In early December, Jenne set a new school record in the 100-yard freestyle in a time that tops the NWC thus far this season. She ranks fourth in the 50-yard freestyle and sixth in the 200-yard freestyle.

Both Jenne and Chapman have a stake in four of the five school records in the relays.

Junior Genay Pilarowski and sophomore Claire Collins give Whitman a strong one-two punch in the breaststroke.

Pilarowski ranks second this season at 200 yards and third at 100 yards. Collins, who holds both school records, is fourth in the NWC at the longer distance and seventh at the shorter race.

Genay Pilarowski

Collins also has a Top 20 time in the 400-yard IM. Ditto for Pilarowski in the 100-yard butterfly.

First-year Missionary Ashley Jay and junior Charlotte Graham are Whitman's top distance freestylers.

Ashley Jay

Jay is fifth in the conference at 1,000 yards, seventh at 500 yards, eighth at 1,650 yards and 15th at 200 yards. She also has Top 20 times in the two IM events.

Graham is seventh at 1,000, ninth at 1,650, 11th at 500 and 13th at 200.

Sophomore Keller Hawkins, who holds Whitman's school record in the 100-yard backstroke, ranks eighth this year in the 200-yard backstroke and ninth at 100 yards. She is 14th in the 50-yard freestyle.

In the butterfly events, sophomore Melanie Notari is 11th at 200 yards and 16th at 100 yards.

Junior Libby Arnosti, one of the team captains, has Top 20 times in both backstroke events.

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu