Bearcat Men Down Boxers, Pacific Women Defeat WU, in Swimming

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University men's team and the Pacific University women's team earned victories at the WU Natatorium on Saturday, March 20 during a Northwest Conference dual swimming meet. The Bearcat men's squad edged out Pacific, 91-89. The Pacific women's team defeated Willamette, 118-89.

Willamette's men improved to 2-1 on the season, 2-1 in the NWC. The Bearcat women's team moved to 0-3 overall, 0-3 in the NWC. Pacific's men dropped to 0-2 overall, 0-2 in the NWC, while the Boxers fell to 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference in women's competition.

"Overall we had a good meet against Pacific," said Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers. "Some members of the team swam events they normally don't swim which gave us a chance to see the versatility of our team."

Will Compton (So., Portage, MI/Portage Northern HS) won the men's 500-yard freestyle and swam on Willamette's winning 200-yard freestyle relay that helped WU down Pacific in the men's competition. He took first place in the 500 free with a time of 5:22.42 for a margin of victory of 10.64 seconds over Ethan Hunter of Pacific, who placed second in 5:33.06.

In the men's 200 free relay, Compton swam the second leg, as the Bearcats recorded a time of 1:36.78. Also swimming for WU on the relay unit were Logan Copeland (Fy., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS), Gabriel Owen (Fy., Durham, CA/Durham HS), and Julius Wilhelmi (Fy., Roseville, Ca/Woodcreek HS). Pacific finished second at 1:47.05.

Overall, Willamette won 13 events, led by Britney Muralt (Fy., Portland, OR/Tualatin HS) with wins in three individual competitions. She won the women's 200-yard freestyle in 2:07.40, took first place in the 100-yard freestyle in 59.08 seconds, and placed first in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:04.87.

Winning two individual races each for the Bearcats were Katherina Cory (Fy., Dublin, CA/Dublin HS), Owen, and Wilhelmi.  Cory finished first in the women's 100-yard breaststroke in 1:16.45 and won the women's 200-yard individual medley in 2:28.83. Owen prevailed in the men's 100-yard breaststroke at 1:07.08 and placed first in the men's 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:18.01. Wilhelmi claimed wins in the men's 50-yard freestyle in 22.52 seconds and the men's 100-yard freestyle in 50.71 seconds. In addition to Compton's one individual win in the men's 500 freestyle, the Bearcats also received one individual win from Min Wei (Jr., Fushun, China/Cascade HS). Wei placed first in the women's 200-yard breaststroke at 2:48.65, as she forced Julia Crumb of Pacific to take second place in 2:49.87.

WU's final two wins were in the 200-yard freestyle relay events. The Bearcat women's 200 free relay team won in 1:59.87, while the Boxers finished second in 2:14.80. Swimming for the Bearcats were Wei, Lydia Turner (Fy., Everett, WA/Everett HS), Rachel Carlson (Fy., Santa Maria, CA/Orcutt Academy HS), and Muralt. Willamette's men followed with their team victory-clinching win over Pacific in the day's last event.

"This was the first meet where I feel like we swam tired yet still raced well. For our first-years it's good experience because that's what they'll experience in a traditional college season," Summers noted.

The Bearcats will swim against Lewis & Clark College in an NWC dual meet on Saturday, April 3. Meet time is scheduled for 10 a.m. (PDT).

"I'm looking forward to our last dual meet against Lewis and Clark in a couple of weeks to get one final look at where we are at as we close out the spring," Summers commented.