Whitman Swimmers Head to Conference Championships With High Hopes

The Whitman Swimming team heads to the Northwest Conference Championships this Friday - Sunday with a cadre of swimmers who are looking to claim crowns in their respective races, along with qualifying for the NCAA Championships in March.

The Whitman Men enter the meet as the regular season champs, sporting a perfect 7 - 0 conference record, which includes a historic win over Whitworth that snapped the Pirates dual meet winning streak at ninety. Galen Sollom-Brotherton (Jr, Dublin, CA) and Karl Mering (So., Boise, ID lead a deep squad that figures to finish at or near the top of the scoring.

Sollom-Brotherton was named Outstanding Swimmer at last year's Championships, after winning the crown in the 1,650 freestyle. He swam the second fastest conference time this season in the marathon race.

Mering is the returning champion in the 200 butterfly and has posted the top conference times this season in the 50 and 100 free and the 100 and 200 fly.

Other swimmers expected to be in the mix on the men's side are Paul Chang (Sr, Carson City, NV) in the breaststroke, and Nic Win (So, Bothell, WA) and Sam Starr (Fr, Sonoma, CA) in the backstroke. Chang has recorded the top conference times in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.

The Lady Whits recorded a 5 - 2 conference record as they battled through injuries and illness down the stretch. The Missionaries finished third at last year's meet behind Whitworth and Puget Sound who took the crown.

Senior captain Genay Pilarowski (Kneeland, CA) looks to compete for a title, recording the second and third fastest times this year the 100 and 200 breaststroke, respectively. 2011 NWC Championships Outstanding Swimmer Katie Chapman (Sr, Redmond, WA) looks to do some damage in the butterfly and the freestyle, and junior Mel Notari (Bellevue, WA) has top ten times in the 100 and 200 fly.

The three-day meet taking place at the King County Aquatic Center in Kirkland, Wash., will have a morning preliminary session and an evening finals session each day. For up-to-the-minute results, a meet website is available at http://livestats.willamette.edu/live/nwc/swimming/# that also contains a twitter feed. Contact: Andrew Holt Whitman Sports Information Director holtac@whitman.edu 509.527.5902