By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- The Willamette University women's swimming team set the school record in the 400-yard medley relay at 3:58.13 during finals held on the first day of the 2016 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships, Friday, Feb. 12 at the King County Aquatic Center. It was the first time in Willamette swimming history that the Bearcats broke the four-minute mark.
Setting the record for Willamette were Kiley Lin (Fr., Palo Alto, CA/Henry M. Gunn HS), Cassie Tallman (So., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS), Malia Santos (Sr., Kailua-Kona, HI/Kealakehe HS), and Jamie Johnson (So., Seattle, WA/Nathan Hale HS). The Bearcats placed fourth in Friday's race and missed third by 0.52. The old Willamette record was set at the 2015 NWC Championships with a time of 4:02.39 by Michaela Zuber (Sr., Sacramento, CA/Sheldon HS), Ashlyn Witherwax (So., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School), Santos and Tallman.
It is the third time since 2013 that the Bearcats have broken the 400-yard medley relay record. The record has fallen nearly 10 seconds from the mark of 4:08.06 set in 2005. Santos has competed on all three relay teams that have broken the record.
While swimming the first leg of the 400-yard medley relay, Lin set the Willamette record in the 100-yard backstroke at 57.88, breaking her own mark of 59.92 set earlier this year at the Northwest Invitational on Nov. 21.
Tallman also placed fifth in the women's 200-yard individual medley on Friday night, while Santos took seventh in the women's 50-yard freestyle. Tallman's time in the 200 I.M. was 2:11.13, placing her third on WU's all-time list. Her time from the prelims of 2:11.39 is now fourth all-time for the Bearcats.
Santos moved into fifth place on Willamette's list in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.62 seconds. Her time of 24.65 seconds in the prelims is now sixth all-time at WU.
The WU women's team placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:40.13. Swimming on the relay for the Bearcats were Zuber, Johnson, Lin and Santos.
For the Willamette men's team, Alika Masei (Jr., Salem, OR/West Salem HS) placed second in the consolation finals and 10th overall in the 200-yard individual medley, while moving into third on Willamette's all-time list with a personal-best time of 1:57.99. The top two times in WU history were set by Tim Roth at 1:57.06 in 1993 and 1:57.29 in 1994.
Masei led for much of the consolation finals, but Nathanie Williams from Whitworth University caught him near the finish to win the race in 1:57.13.
Mark Yuvienco (So., San Jose, CA/Bellarmine College Prep) of Willamette took second in the consolation finals and 10th overal in the 500-yard freestyle. His time in the consolation finals was 4:43.69.
Shelby Merrill (Jr., Thousand Oaks, CA/Westlake HS) placed sixth in the consolation final of the 500 freestyle.for Willamette. He earned 14th place overall. Merrill completed the consolation finals in 4:49.96.
The Bearcat men finished in fifth place in the 400-yard medley relay. Willamette's time of 3:34.53 was just 0.60 away from the school record of 3:33.93 set in 1992.
Pacific Lutheran University led the women's standings at the end of the first day with 232 points. Linfield College was second with 131 points, followed by Whitman College in third at 125. Whitworth and University of Puget Sound were tied for fourth place at 103, with Willamette and Lewis & Clark College tied for fifth at 84. Pacific University was eighth with 53 points.
Whitworth topped the men's team standings with 199 points. Whitman was second at 153 and Pacific Lutheran was third at 145. Linfield held fourth place at 109, with Puget Sound in fifth at 103, Willamette in sixth at 67, Pacific in seventh at 65, and Lewis & Clark in eighth at 63 points.
The NWC Swimming Championships will continue on Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 13-14). On Saturday, prelims will begin at 10 a.m. (PST), with finals starting at 6 p.m. On Sunday, prelims are scheduled to start at 10 a.m., with finals getting underway at 5 p.m.
