Both Swim Teams Hold Down 2nd After Day 2 of the NWC Championships
Federal Way, Wash. – After the second day of competition at the Northwest Conference Championships, the Whitman Men maintained their second place standing behind Whitworth, and the Missionary Women moved into second place with strong performances across the board. The Women currently sit at 314 points – 117 behind the Pirates. The Men have 414.5 points – trailing Whitworth by 86.
In the individual competitions, Whitman’s Karl Mering (So., Boise, ID) broke the 100 butterfly meet and conference record he had set in the morning prelims when he touched the wall first in tonight’s finals with a time of 48.59, which was also an NCAA A cut time.
Whitman performed strongly in the 400 IM as Galen Sollom-Brotheron (Jr., Dublin, CA) and Dane Kawamoto (So., Hawaii) finished first (20 pts.) and fifth (14 pts.), with respective times of 4:01.47 (B cut) and 4:15.76.
Paul Chang (Sr., Carson City, NV) took the title in the 100 breast, recording a time of 57.53 (B cut) while Nick Wechter (Fr., Pittsburgh, PA) finished seventh (1:00.53) and Kevin Wallin (Fr., Portland, OR) ninth (1:00.32). An eleventh place finish by Robby Dorn (Fr., Edina, MN) gave the Whits a total of 47 points in the 100 breast.
In the 100 backstroke, Nic Win (So., Bothell, WA) took second with a time of 52.27, with Sam Starr (Fr., Sonoma, CA) right behind him in third at 52.47.
On the Women’s side, Whitman’s Claire Collins (Jr., Burlingame, CA) set a new school mark (1:04.45) and achieved an NCAA B cut time with her second place finish in the 100 breaststroke. Teammate Genay Pilarowski (Sr., Kneeland, CA) finished right behind in fourth (1:05.91), also a B cut, as the two brought home 32 valuable points between them.
Elise Tinseth (Fr., Renton, WA) took down another school record with her ninth place time in the 400 IM -- 4:41.16.
In the Women’s 100 backstroke Cameo Hlebasko (Fr., Bainbridge Island, WA) picked up 14 points with a fifth place time of 59.51. Keller Hawkins (Jr., Nashville, TN) touched the wall eighth (1:00.94) to bring home another 11 points.
The Women garnered huge points (34) in the 100 fly when Mel Notari (Jr., Bellevue, WA) finished fourth (58.93), Katie Chapman (Sr. Redmond, WA) seventh (59.71) and Pilarowski tenth (59.75).
In the relays, the Men’s 200 medley relay team of Mering of Win, Chang, Mering and Shunei Asao set a school record of 1:34.94 in finishing second.
The Men’s 800 relay team of Sollom-Brotherton, Starr, Kevin O’leary (So., Lake Oswego, OR) and Mering took the title, and the 40 points with it, with a B cut time of 6:50.15, which also set a meet record.
In the 800 free relay, the team of Ashley Jay (So., Brier, WA), Charlotte Graham (Sr., Mercer Island, WA), Kendra Clinton (Fr., Kirkland, WA) and Collins tallied 34 points with a second place finish.
For complete NWC Swimming Championships results and schedules click: http://livestats.willamette.edu/live/nwc/swimming/#
Contact:
Andrew Holt
Whitman Sports Information Director
509.527.5902
345 Boyer Ave.