Bearcat Women Win Six Events in Setback to Whitworth

By Charlie McGuire, Athletics Communications Assistant

SALEM, Ore. – The Willamette University men's and women's swim teams both hosted visiting Whitworth University in Northwest Conference competition on Saturday, Nov. 19. The women captured six events and had 11 second-place finishes in a 125-106 setback. The men claimed a pair of wins and touched the wall second in seven events as Whitworth posted a 177-68 decision.

Anna Hornbeck (So., Bend, OR/Bend HS) won both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke with times of 56.81 and 2:06.09, respectively, and placed second with the 200-yard free relay (2:00.35). Alayna Kisiday (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) had three strong showings in the freestyle events, winning the 100 and 200 events in 1:12.40 and 2:37.33, and placing second in the 50 with a mark of 26.57.

Senior Jordan Edner (Colorado Springs, CO/Doherty HS) clocked a top time of 12:53.33 in the 1000-yard freestyle and finished third in the 500-yard freestyle. Tatum Good (So., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Preparatory Academy) added three second-place showings with times of 1:06.40 and 2:21.34 in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke while going 2:26.99 in the 200-yard individual medley.

Sarah Jenner (So., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:56.56 and was second in the 200-yard butterfly (2:45.33). Gwyn Fritz (Sr., Los Gatos, CA/Leigh HS) picked up a pair of silvers in the 200-yard freestyle (2:11.88) and with the 200 free relay (1:52.38).

Lydia Turner (Jr., Everett, WA/Everett HS) was second behind Jordan in the 1000-yard freestyle, posting a time of 14:50.62. Jacqueline Hall (So., Bainbridge Island, WA/Banbridge HS) and Emma Noffsinger (Fy., Arvada, CO/Northglenn HS) joined the free relay as well.

Cole Lindberg (So., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy) led the way for the men's team, winning the 200-yard butterfly (2:02.42), placing second with the 200-yard medley (1:41.80) and free (1:33.54) relays and finishing third in the 200 backstroke in a time of 2:14.68. Ben Nickell (Sr., Boulder, CO/Fairview) came in first in the 200-yard breaststroke, clocking a time of 2:24.33 and added a pair of seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.53) and with the medley relay.

Logan Copeland (Jr., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS) swam with both relays, taking second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:34.55) and third in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.30) events. Julius Wilhelmi (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) was second in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle, going 22.48 and 49.56 and was part of both relays as well.

Ethan Davies (Fy., Hong Kong/Discovery College) swam to third in the 1000-yard freestyle (11:16.97) and finished fourth in the 500 free and 200-yard individual medley. Kevin Olmedo (Fy., La Canada, CA/St. Francis HS) and William LaDuca (Fy., Salem, OR/South Salem) joined the free relay while Olmeda also finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle.

Head Coach Brett Summers was pleased with the performances. "It was another great day of racing today. We swam very well against a tough Whitworth team." He added, "This weekend has been a great showing that we are on a great track for some fast swims at the Bruin Invite in a couple weeks."

The Willamette men moved to 1-3 overall and 1-3 in the NWC. The Bearcat women slipped to 0-4 and 0-4 in the conference. They next compete at the George Fox Bruin Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 3 and Sunday, Dec. 4 in Newberg, Ore.