Bearcats Set to Swim against NWC Rivals Pacific and Lewis & Clark

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

SALEM, ORE. -- Willamette University's swimming teams will take on Northwest Conference rivals Pacific University and Lewis & Clark College this weekend. The Bearcats will battle Pacific on Friday, Jan. 23 at 6 p.m. (PST) in Forest Grove, Ore., and will host L&C at the WU Natatorium on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 1 p.m.

Live Video will be available during Willamette's home meet on Saturday. There will not be video for the meet at Pacific on Friday.

Both of Willamette's team are 0-4 on the season and 0-4 in the Northwest Conference. The four men's teams who have defeated the Bearcats have a combined NWC record of 16-0, while the four women's teams are a combined 15-1 in conference action.

Pacific's women enter the weekend with a 2-3 overall record, 1-3 in the NWC, while the men are 1-4 overall and 0-4 in the NWC. Lewis & Clark's men and women are both 0-4 overall and 0-4 in the NWC. L&C will compete at Linfield College on Friday. This weekend is the first time the NWC teams in Oregon have met in dual meets this season.

Willamette will honor its seniors on Saturday immediately prior to the meet with Lewis & Clark. Seniors for the Bearcats are Jessica Beach (Sr., Salem, OR/West Salem HS) and Summer Elias (Sr., Elko, NV/Elko HS) from the women's team and Alex Burkhart (So., Los Gatos, CA/Los Gatos HS) and Zander Le Bel (Sr., Dallas, TX/Richardson HS) on the men's team.

Cassie Tallman (Fr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) from the Willamette women's team is ranked in the top 10 in the NWC in three events, while Ashlyn Witherwax (Fr., Sacramento, CA/Sheldon HS) is listed in the top 10 in two events.

Tallman is ranked fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:30.08. She is sixth in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:15.01 and is ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:10.48.

Witherwax holds seventh place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a top result of 1:09.58. She is listed eighth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a best time of 2:32.55.

On the Bearcat men's team, swimmers Mark Yuvienco (Fr., San Jose, CA/Bellarmine College Prep), Alika Masei (So., Salem, OR/West Salem HS) and Shelby Merrill (So., Thousand Oaks, CA/Westlake HS) are ranked in the top 10 in the NWC. Yuvienco is ranked in three events, while Masei and Merrill are in the top 10 in two events.

Yuvienco's top ranking is third in the 200-yard butterfly. His time of 1:56.07 trails only seniors Karl Mering from Whitman College and Wesley Tatum of Whitworth University. Yuvienco is seventh in the 500-yard freestyle at 4:54.14. He also ranks seventh in the 400-yard individual medley at 4:20.32.

Masei is ranked in the top 10 in both backstroke events. He is sixth in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:01.39. He is listed eighth in the 100-yard backstroke at 55.12 seconds. Merrill is ninth in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:39.50 and is 10th in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 17:29.87.

The Willamette men's team hopes to match last year's perfect 3-0 dual meet record against the Oregon teams in the NWC.

After competing against Pacific and L&C this weekend, the Bearcat swimming teams will close out the dual meet season on Saturday, Jan. 31 at Linfield College. The NWC Championships are set for Feb. 13-15 in Corvallis, Ore.