Bearcats are Ready to Challenge at NWC Swimming Championships
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University swimmers are ready to compete at the 2023 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships this weekend from Thursday, Feb. 9 through Sunday, Feb. 12 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington. Student-athletes on Willamette's men's team and women's team will participate in individual events in all four strokes as well as freestyle relays and medley relays. All nine NWC member institutions will be represented.
The NWC Swimming Championships will begin with the 200-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay events on Thursday evening at 5 p.m. (PST). On Friday, individual events will be the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, and 50-yard freestyle, with preliminary heats starting at 9:30 a.m. Consolation (A) finals and championship (B) finals will begin at 5 p.m. The 400-yard medley relays will be held on Friday evening.
Saturday's schedule of individual events will feature the 400-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, and 100-yard backstroke, with prelims at 9:30 a.m. (PST) and finals at 5 p.m. The 200-yard freestyle relay will begin the evening session. On Sunday, individual events include the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, and 200-yard butterfly, with prelims at 9:30 a.m. and finals starting at 4 p.m. The 1,650-yard freestyle events will be held in between Sunday's main sessions. The 400-yard freestyle relay will be the final event on Sunday evening.
Willamette enters the championships with several women's swimmers and several men's swimmers who will likely battle for spots in the championship finals or consolations finals.
For the women's team, top contenders are Anna Hornbeck (So., Bend, OR/Bend HS), Tatum Good (So., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy), Alayna Kisiday (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS), Sarah Jenner (So., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS), and Emma Noffsinger (Fy., Arvada, CO/Northglenn HS).
Last year, Hornbeck won the NWC championship in the 100-yard breaststroke and took second place in the 200-yard breaststroke. Her winning time in the 100 breaststroke was 1:05.11, as she set Willamette's school record. She registered a time of 2:21.95 in the 200 breaststroke for another school record. This year, Hornbeck has achieved top times of 1:08.76 in the 100 breaststroke and 2:25.96 in the 200 breaststroke.
Good was sixth in the 200-yard backstroke at the 2022 NWC Championships and placed seventh in the 200-yard individual medley. Her times were 2:10.90 in the 200 backstroke and 2:14.19 in the 200 I.M. In 2022-23, her best times are 2:15.09 in the 200 backstroke and 2:18.26 in the 200 I.M.
Kisiday excelled in this year's dual meet schedule, consistently winning or battling for the lead in the women's 50-yard, 100-yard, and 200-yard freestyle races. At last year's NWC meet, Kisiday registered times of 25.41 seconds in the 50 free, 55.55 seconds in the 100 free, and 2:02.23 in the 200 free. This season, her best times in the sprints are 25.68 seconds in the 50 free, 55.99 seconds in the 100 free, and 2:04.88 in the 200 free.
Jenner will be competing in the 500-yard freestyle and the 1,650-yard freestyle. Her top times this season have been 5:33.98 in the 500 free and 19:52.96 in the 1,650 free. Noffsinger has provided exceptional depth in the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard backstroke. She has achieved times of 1:03.62 in the 100 backstroke and 2:18.65 in the 200 backstroke.
Top competitors on the men's team are Julius Wilhelmi (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS), Cole Lindberg (So., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy), Ben Nickell (Sr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS), Logan Copeland (Jr., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS), and Ethan Davies (Fy., Hong Kong/Discovery College).
Wilhelmi earned fourth place at last year's NWC Championships in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.34 seconds. His finished just 0.04 away from Steve Koga's fifth place time on WU's all-time list. Koga set all of the five fasted time in WU history between 1981 and 1983. At this year's NWC meet, Wilhelmi is entered in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, and 200-yard freestyle. His best time of 2022-23 are 21.40 seconds in the 50 free, 47.65 seconds in the 100 free, and 1:48.07 in the 200 free.
Last year, Lindberg took fourth place in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard butterfly. He recorded times of 50.97 seconds in the 100 butterfly and 1:55.08 in the 200-yard butterfly. At this year's meet, Lindberg also will compete in the 200-yard individual medley. His best times this season have been 51.21 seconds in the 100 butterfly, 2:02.31 in the 200 butterfly, and 2:03.26 in the 200 I.M.
Nickell placed ninth overall in the 200-yard breaststroke and was 10th in the 100-yard breaststroke at the 2022 NWC Championships. He also competed in the 500-yard freestyle. He will swim in the same individual events at this weekend's championships. Nickell has recorded top times this year of 1:01.68 in the 100 breaststroke, 2:14.12 in the 200 breaststroke, and 5:14.95 in the 500 free.
Davis is schedueld to swim in the 500-yard freestyle an the 1,650-yard freestyle this weekend. He has provided the Bearcats with top times of 5:13.39 in the 500 free and 18:35.59 in the 1,650 free.