Willamette to Close Out Dual Season with Swimming Meet at Linfield

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

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University men's and women's swimming teams will complete the dual season with a meet at Linfield College on Saturday, Jan. 31. The Northwest Conference meet between the Bearcats and the Wildcats is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. (PST).

Willamette's men are 2-4 on the season and 2-4 in the NWC after defeating Pacific University and Lewis & Clark College last weekend. The Bearcat women are 1-5 overall and 1-5 in the NWC after outscoring Lewis & Clark last Saturday. Both of Linfield's team are 1-5 on the season, 1-5 in the NWC.

Highlighting Willamette's success this past weekend were the efforts of Cassie Tallman (Fr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) and Alika Masei (So., Salem, OR/West Salem HS).

Tallman won four individual events in the two meets, and helped Willamette achieve one first place finish and one second place finish in relays. At Pacific, she won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:02.31 and was first in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:10:43. WU was second in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:54.65, just 0.88 out of first.

Against Lewis & Clark, Tallman won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:19.00 and placed first in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:31.18. Tallman contributed to the Bearcats winning the 400-yard medley relay in 4:14.02.

Masei also had a strong weekend. In the meet at Pacific, he won the 100-yard backstroke in 54.16 seconds, helped WU win the 200-yard medley relay in 1:42.11, and contributed to a second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:32.71.

During WU's win over L&C, Masei took first place in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:01.80 and was first in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:59.66. He also helped the Bearcats win the 400-yard medley relay in 3:44.42.

In addition to the excellent results from Tallman and Masei, the Bearcats received two wins from Mark Yuvienco (Fr., San Jose, CA/Bellarmine College Prep) for the men's team against Pacific and from Malia Santos (Jr., Kailua-Kona, HI/Kealakehe HS) for the women's team against Lewis & Clark.

Yuvienco won the 400-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly against the Boxers. His winning time in the 400 I.M. was 4:24.62. He registered a time of 53.22 seconds in the 100 butterfly.

Santos prevailed in the 200-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle versus L&C. She took first place in the 200 butterfly in 2:20.70 and prevailed in the 50 freestyle in 25.96 seconds.

After taking on Linfield this weekend, the Bearcats will focus on preparing for the 2015 Northwest Conference Championships, set for Feb. 13-15 in Corvallis, Ore.