Willamette Places Sixth in Three Relay Events on First Day of NWC Championships
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Willamette University took sixth place in three of the four relay events held on the first evening of the 2022 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center on Thursday, Feb. 10. The four relays were the only events held on Thursday. Action will resume on Friday, Feb. 11 with preliminary heats in individual events starting at 9:30 a.m. (PST) and final heats getting underway at 5 p.m.
After Friday's events, the NWC Championships will continue on Saturday, Feb. 12 and Sunday, Feb. 13. On Saturday, prelims will begin at 9:30 a.m. (PST) with finals starting at 5 p.m. On Sunday, prelims will open at 9:30 a.m. and finals will begin at 4 p.m.
Willamette finished sixth in the women's 200-yard medley relay, the men's 200-yard medley relay, and the men's 800-yard freestyle relay on Thursday. In each case, Willamette won the first heat. The relay team for the Bearcats in the women's 800-yard freestyle relay was disqualified due to an illegal exchange.
Swimming for WU in the women's 200-yard medley relay were Tatum Good (Fy., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy), Anna Hornbeck (Fy., Bend, OR/Bend HS), Min Wei (Sr., Fushun, China/Cascade HS), and Alayna Kisiday (Fy., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS). Their combined time was 1:51.06, which moved them in to fifth place on Willamette's all-time list. Pacific Lutheran University won the event in 1:45.90.
In the men's 200-yard medley relay, Willamette's time was 1:36.62, just 0.49 out of fifth place. Bearcats swimming in the relay were Will Compton (Jr., Portage, MI/Portage Northern HS), Ben Nickell (Jr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS), Cole Lindberg (Fy., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy), and Julius Wilhelmi (So., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS). The men's 200 medley relay was won by Linfield University in 1:31.61.
Willamette registered a time of 7:15.25 in the men's 800-yard freestyle relay. Wilhelmi, Lindberg, Robbie Daugherty (Sr., Reno, NV/Damonte Ranch HS), and Compton formed WU's relay team. Whitworth University prevailed in the men's 800 free relay while setting an NWC record and an NWC Championships record in 6:39.93. The time recorded by the Pirates also met the NCAA Division III national qualifying standard.
Whitworth grabbed first place in the women's 800-yard freestyle relay in 7:45.77. The Pirates were victorious by 0.16 over the University of Puget Sound, which took second place in 7:45.93.
After winning two of the four relay events on Thursday, Whitworth was in first place in both the women's and men's team standings.
In the women's standings, Whitworth registered 74 points, with Pacific Lutheran in second place at 70, and Puget Sound in third at 64. Whitman College and Linfield were tied for fourth with 60 points, followed by George Fox University and Lewis & Clark College in a tie for sixth at 48 points. Pacific University was eight at 40 and Willamette was ninth with 26 points.
The men's standings were topped by Whitworth with 74 points, while Linfield was second at 72, and Whitman was third at 66. Puget Sound held fourth place at 60 points, while Pacific Lutheran and Willamette were tied for fifth at 52. Lewis & Clark owned seventh place at 50, with George Fox in eighth at 46, and Pacific in ninth with 36 points.