Yuvienco Breaks School Record in Men's 200-yard Butterfly at NWC Meet

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

CORVALLIS, ORE. -- Mark Yuvienco (Fr., San Jose, CA/Bellarmine College Prep) set the Willamette University record in the men's 200-yard butterfly during the finals of the 2015 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships on Sunday, Feb. 15 at the Osborn Aquatic Center. Yuvienco registered an NCAA "B" qualifying time of 1:53.86 to take fifth place in the event.

Yuvienco also gained Second Team All-NWC status. The winner of the 200-yard butterfly was Karl Mering of Whitman College, who produced an NCAA "B" time of 1:49.18.

The previous Bearcat record in the men's 200 butterfly was 1:54.31, set by Brady Childs in 2000.

Championship Finals

Willamette's top finish in Sunday's championship session was recorded by Cassie Tallman (Fr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS), who placed third in the women's 200-yard breaststroke to earn First Team All-NWC honors. Her time in the finals was 2:27.91, just 0.08 away from the Willamette record she set during the prelims Sunday's morning. Elise Tinseth of Whitman won the 200 breaststroke in 2:25.46.

It was the second time Tallman achieved First Team All-NWC recognition this weekend. She placed second in the 200-yard individual medley on Friday with a school record time of 2:10.32.

Yuvienco's fifth place finish was the top result for the Willamette men's team on Sunday.

Other Bearcats competing in the championship finals on Sunday were Alika Masei (So., Salem, OR/West Salem HS), who swam in the men's 200-yard backstroke, Malia Santos (Jr., Kailua-Kona, HI/Kealakehe HS), who competed in the women's 200-yard butterfly, and Ashlyn Witherwax (Fr., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School), who swam with Tallman in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Masei, Santos and Witherwax each attained Second Team All-NWC honors. Masei placed sixth in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:57.63. Santos took seventh place in the 200 butterfly in 2:15.77. Witherwax finished the 200-yard butterfly in eighth place at 2:31.25.

Team Championships

Pacific Lutheran University won the NWC women's team championship by a sizable margin. The Lutes scored 779 points, while Whitman took second with 524. Whitworth University was third at 486, University of Puget Sound was fourth at 410 and Pacific University finished fifth at 319. Linfield College placed sixth at 266 and Willamette took seventh at 253. Lewis & Clark was eighth with 158 points.

The men's team championship went to Whitman with a score of 697.5 points. Whitworth claimed second place with 641.5 points and Pacific Lutheran was third with 521.5. Puget Sound followed in fourth at 437. Willamette achieved fifth place at 252, as the Bearcats ended the meet two points in front of Linfield, which took sixth at 250. Pacific was seventh with 212 points and Lewis & Clark was eighth at 161.5.

Consolation Finals

In addition, eight Bearcats competed in the consolation finals on Sunday evening. Results in the consolation finals contributed points to the team scores and made a difference in Willamette's ability to edge out Linfield for fifth place in the men's standings.

Michaela Zuber (Jr., Sacramento, CA/Sheldon HS) won the consolation race in the women's 200-yard backstroke in 2:13.15, as she lowered her time form the prelims by 2.10 seconds. Zuber moved up from 12th in the prelims and placed ninth overall.

Also for the WU women's team, Jamie Johnson (Fr., Seattle, WA/Nathan Hale HS) took 15th place overall in the women's 100-yard freestyle with a time of 55.78 seconds in the consolation finals. Summer Elias (Sr., Elko, NV/Elko HS) placed 16th in the 200-yard breaststroke while achieved a time of 2:41.54 in the consolation finals.

Josh Bumgarner (So., Walla Walla, WA/Walla Walla HS) and Kulananalu Tarnas (So., Kamuela, HI/Hawaii Preparatory Academy) both swam in the men's 200-yard breaststroke during the consolation finals. Bumgarner took fourth in the race and finished 12th overall in 2:13.52. Tarnas earned fifth in the race to garner 13th place overall.

In the men's 200-yard butterfly consolation final, Dan Aki (So., Union City, CA/James Logan HS) placed sixth in 1:59.65, as he claimed 14th place in the event, while Andrew Lum (Jr., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School) attained seventh place in 2:01.68 and was 15th overall. Aki, who swam 2:00.00 in the prelims, broke the two-minute mark for the first time this season.

Zander Le Bel (Sr., Dallas, TX/Richardson HS) swam in the consolation final of the men's 100-yard freestyle. He placed eighth with a time of 48.77 seconds. He earned a season-best time of 48.71 seconds in the prelims.

Three Bearcats scored points for Willamette in the 1,650-yard freestyle events, which included three men's heats and three women's heats, with placings determined by time. In the women's 1,650 freestyle, Kate Harvey (Fr., Atlantic Beach, FL/Duncan Fletcher HS) of WU placed 14th in 19:23.67.

In the men's 1,650 freestyle, Shelby Merrill (So., Thousand Oaks, CA/Westlake HS) achieved 13th place in 17:17.30 and Alex Burkhart (So., Los Gatos, CA/Los Gatos HS) placed 16th in 17:37.07. Burkhart reduced his top time of the season by more than a minute, as he cut 1:03.19 from his previous best.

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