Scoreboard: Swimmers set 25 records in one meet

Galen Sollom-Brotherton ’14, a junior in his first season at Whitman, won the 1,650-yard freestyle. He is the first Missionary to win three men’s events at the three-day meet, and the first to take home the Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet award.

Swimming

Led by Galen Sollom-Brotherton ’14, who earned Swimmer of the Meet honors, the men’s swim team finished second at the Northwest Conference Championships in February 2012 for the first time in school history.

Meanwhile, the women’s team placed a strong third, matching its best-ever finish. The two teams broke a total of 25 school records in three days.

Sollom-Brotherton became the first Whitman male to win three individual events at the NWC championships. He won the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley and 1,650-yard (mile) freestyle, breaking school records in all three races while snapping NWC records in two of them. His mile freestyle time met the automatic qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III national championships in Indianapolis.

Karl Mering ’15 qualified for nationals, as well. Mering won two races, one in school-record time, and teamed with Sollom-Brotherton to help Whitman win three of the five relay races while setting new school records in all five. Others in the relays were Mitchell Lee ’12, Paul Chang ’13, Shunei Asao ’14, Nic Win ’15 and Kevin O’Leary ’15.

Keller Hawkins ’14 just missed winning the women’s 100-yard backstroke, finishing second by .02 seconds while breaking her own school record. Katie Chapman ’13 was the runner-up in the 200-yard butterfly. Chapman and Hawkins helped the women’s team break school records in all five relay events, placing second in two of them. Others relay swimmers were Helen Jenne ’13, Genay Pilarowski ’13, Sara Behrens ’13, Ellen Banks ’14 and Ashley Jay ’15.

Whitman coach Jenn Blomme was named NWC Coach of the Year for men’s swimming for the second time in three years.

Basketball

Jenele Peterson ’12 and David Michaels ’12 earned All-NWC First-Team basketball honors. Michaels also became the first Whitman cager since 1989 to be named NWC Player of the Year. Kelly Peterson ’13 for the women and Ben Eisenhardt ’14 for the men earned Honorable Mention recognition.

The Whitman men’s team finished second for a second straight season, while the women’s team finished third with its best season since sharing the NWC title in 2003-04.

Tennis

The Whitman College men’s tennis team went all the way to No. 8 in February Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.

It is Whitman’s highest national ranking during the tenure of coach Jeff Northam ’88, now in his 19th season at the helm.

The previous highwater mark for one of Northam’s teams came during the 2006-07 season, when Whitman rose to No. 12.

Whitman, the four-time defending NWC champion, is off to a 3-0 start in league play this spring. That stretches its six-year regular season winning streak against conference foes to 81.

At the head of Whitman’s deep roster are Conor Holton-Burke ’12, Adriel Borshansky ’12, Jeff Tolman ’13, Sam Sadeghi ’13, Matt Tesmond ’13 and Andrew La Cava ’14, who holds a No. 7 national ranking in singles.

Dave Holden