Tallman Places 4th for Women, Bayang is 7th for Men, at NWC Sprint Pentathlon

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

Note:  The following press release was written before it was discovered that problems with the timing system led to many incorrect times on the original results from the NWC Sprint Pentathlon. For corrected times, individual standings and team standings, choose "Results" at the top of this page.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Cassie Tallman (Jr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) earned fourth place in the women's competition and Jason Bayang (Sr., Wahiawa, HI/Hoala School) took seventh place in the men's competition during the 2016 NWC Sprint Pentathlon, on Friday, Oct. 28 at Lewis & Clark College.

Bayang led five Bearcats among the top 15 men's finishers. Willamette placed fifth in the men's team standings, just 6.5 points out of fourth place. The Bearcats placed sixth in the women's team standings.

Swimmers at the NWC Sprint Pentathlon competed in the 100-yard individual medley, as well as 50-yard races in the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Athletes who finished all five races were eligible to place in the pentathlon.

Tallman recorded a combined time of 2:58.42 for the five events. She tied with two other swimmers for first place in the 100-yard individual medley at 1:01.37. She was fourth in the 50-yard backstroke at 29.24 seconds and was sixth in the 50-yard breaststroke in 32.43 seconds. A total of 120 swimmers completed the pentathlon.

Danielle Booth from Pacific Lutheran University won the women's pentathlon title with an overall time of 2:57.22. She edged out Evette Dow of Linfield College, who placed second at 2:57.35. Kaedi Fry of Linfield was third at 2:58.09. Tallman followed in fourth, and Alissa Frazier of Pacific University was fifth at 2:59.44.

For Willamette, Ashlyn Witherwax (Jr., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School) took 35th place in 3:11.25. Kate Harvey (Jr., Atlantic Beach, FL/Duncan Fletcher HS) finished in 37th place at 3:11.63, and Niki Kates (Fr., Truckee, CA/Forest Charter School) was 44th in 3:12.65.

Bayong achieved an overall time of 2:40.83. He was seventh in the 50-yard backstroke and tied for eighth in both the 50-yard butterfly and the 50-yard breaststroke.

Noah Cutting of Linfield earned first place in the men's pentathlon with a combined time of 2:34.97. Neirton Oliveira of Linfield was second at 2:36.37. Paul Jett from Pacific Lutheran was third at 2:37.26 and Bryson Baligad of Pacific Lutheran was fourth at 2:38.12. Sylas Cole from University of Puget Sound placed fifth at 2:38.91. Owen Lambert of Whitworth University was sixth in 2:39.24.

Joining Bayang in the top 15 for Willamette were Shelby Merrill (Sr., Thousand Oaks, CA/Westlake HS) in 10th place, Derek Ludwig (Fr., Moraga, CA/Campolindo HS) in 12th, Alika Masei (Sr., Salem, OR/West Salem HS) in 13th, and Mark Yuvienco in 15th. Merrill registered an overall time of 2:41.96, while Ludwig's total time was 2:42.21, with Masei at 2:42.82 and Yuvienco at 2:44.64. Mykah Fujiwara (So., Kaneohe, HI/Punahou School) was 30th in 2:48.52.

Pacific Lutheran won the women's team title with 246.50 points. Linfield grabbed second place at 223.17, while Puget Sound was third at 108.17. Lewis & Clark placed fourth at 104.50, Pacific was fifth at 88, Willamette took sixth at 62.67 and Whitworth was seventh with 32 points.

PLU also claimed the men's team title with 222.50 points. Linfield was second at 214, with Whitworth in third at 120. Puget Sound took fourth place at 116, Willamette was fifth at 109.50, Lewis & Clark placed sixth at 47.50 and Pacific was sixth at 35.50.

The Bearcats will compete at the NWC Relays on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Pacific University. The action in scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. (PDT).