Tallman Named NWC Women's Swimmer of the Week by CollegeSwimming.com

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University swimmer Cassie Tallman (So., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) has been selected as the Northwest Conference Women's Swimmer of the Week by CollegeSwimming.com for the week ending on Jan. 17. CollegeSwimming.com chooses men's and women's Swimmers of the Week for all NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA conferences.

It is the second time this season that Tallman has been chosen by CollegeSwimming.com as the NWC Women's Swimmer of the Week.

Tallman had a solid meet in Willamette's double-dual with Oregon State University and Southwestern Oregon Community College. The Bearcats defeated SWOCC, 166-53, and lost to Oregon State from NCAA Division I, 138-78.

WU, OSU and SWOCC competed together in each event, with the double-dual team scoring determined by time. The Beavers competed exhibition in the final few events after OSU built solid leads on the Bearcats and Southwestern Oregon. Willamette went on to won the final three events.

Earlier in the meet, while OSU was competing for team scores, Tallman placed fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke and sixth in the 50-yard breaststroke. Her time in the 100 breaststroke was 1:10.75 and she was clocked at 32.98 seconds in the 50 breaststroke

All four swimmers in front of her in the 100 breaststroke and four of the five competitors in front of her in the 50 breaststroke were from OSU. Willamette teammate Ashlyn Witherwax (So., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School) was third in the 50-yard freestyle in 32.00.

Witherwax also swam on Willamette's 200-yard medley relay team, which finished in fourth place in 1:57.12. Tallman swam the first leg for the Bearcats. The top three places in the race went to relay teams from Oregon State.

The Bearcats will host Pacific University on Friday, Jan. 22 at the WU Natatorium. The NWC match-up is set to begin at 6 p.m. (PST). Willamette will face Lewis & Clark College on Saturday, Jan. 23 at the Zehntbauer Swimming Pavilion in Portland, Oregon, starting at 1 p.m.