Ciatti Sets School Record in 100 Fly, Team 5th on Day 3 of NWC Champs
Federal Way, Wash. - Tessa Ciatti set a new school record on the 100-yard Butterfly during prelims on Saturday morning and raced to a sixth-place finish in the finals. Both of her times on the day were faster than the previous record of 58.81 held by Kiley Lin, but her prelim time of 57.83 will stand as the new record. Overall, the Bearcats placed four swimmers in the A-finals on the day and another six in the B-finals, ending Day 3 in fifth place.
In addition to Ciatti in the 100 Fly, the Bearcats had Lydia Schmitt take 10th place and Ava Reich 16th. Both Kalima Glascott and Ella Isaacson finished just outside the fina cut from the prelims.
In the 200-yard Freestyle, Alayna Kisiday cut almost two seconds off her prelim time and finished in 8th, followed by Jillian Price in 9th place and Jacqueline Hall in 14th. Each swimmer cut time in the final from their time earlier in the day.
Anna Hornbeck was the lone Willamette competitor in the 100-yard Breastroke and improved two places from her seeded time to earn a fifth-place finish. In the 100-yard Backstroke, Leah Howell finished 8th with Tatum Good (12th) and Emma Noffsinger (16th) also scoring points for the Bearcats.
The 200-yard Freestyle Relay team of Schmitt, Hall, Mia Sperbeck, and Howell took fifth in a time of 1:40.65 in the final race of the day. Earlier in the morning the 200-yard Medley Relay results became final when the three teams who could not compete on Thursday swam the event. Willamette ended up taking fourth in a time of 1:49.67 from the team of Howell, Hornbeck, Ciatti, and Kisiday.
Willamette currently sits in fifth place with 224 points, behind Linfield University's 271, and ahead of Pacific Lutheran University's 164. The final day of competition is scheduled for Sunday, February 16th, with prelims starting at 9:30 am and finals set for 4:00 pm.