Written by Mark Colachico, Athletics Communications Writer
SALEM, Ore. - The Willamette University swim teams closed out the home portion of their regular season schedule with a split against Lewis & Clark College, as the Bearcat men earned a 134.50-70.50 victory during a Northwest Conference dual meet on Friday, Jan. 20 inside the WU Natatorium. The Pioneer women's team defeated Willamette, 121-84.
Willamette's men's team won eight events, while the women's squad took home two victories in individual events.
The Bearcat men's team improved to 2-4 overall, 1-4 in the NWC, while the women's team fell to 0-6 on the season, 0-5 in the NWC. The L&C women's team moved to 1-4 overall, 1-4 in the NWC, while the Pioneer men's squad dropped to 0-5 overall, 0-5 in the NWC.
Cassie Tallman (Jr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS), the reigning NWC Swimmer of the Week, brought home both victories for the Willamette women's team. She won the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 2:20.76, before finishing first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:33.61.
On the men's side, Willamette won the 400-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay in times of 3:43.86 and 3:27.12, respectively. Derek Ludwig (Fr., Moraga, CA/Campolindo HS) was a part of both winning teams.
Individually, Reuben White (Sr./Jr., Portland, OR/Westview HS) won a pair of events for the Bearcats. He helped Willamette sweep the 200-yard freestyle, winning the event in a time of 1:52.98. White was followed by Bearcat teammates Mykah Fujiwara (So., Kaneohe, HI/Punahou School) and Alex Hougan (Fr., Olympia, WA/Olympia HS) in times of 1:56.51 and 1:56.79, respectively. White also recorded a victory in the 100-yard freestyle with a winning time of 51.84.
Mark Yuvienco (Jr., San Jose, CA/Bellarmine College Prep) led Willamette to a sweep in the 200-yard individual medley, as he won in a time of 2:04.14. He finished in front of Bearcat teammate Alika Masei (Jr., Salem, OR/West Salem HS), who took second at 2:04.89. Ludwig completed the sweep for the Bearcats by finishing third in 2:07.27. Yuvienco added a first place finish in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:01.33.
Masei picked up a win in the men's 200-yard backstroke. He posted a winning time of 2:06.11.
Willamette's final individual victory came in the men's 200-yard breaststroke, as Jason Bayang (Sr., Wahiawa, HI/Hoala School) took first place with a time of 2:20.97.
In the 500-yard freestyle and the 1,000-yard freestyle, Lewis & Clark swept all four events with the Pioneers' Natsuha Kajii taking home first place in the women's events with times of 5:33.27 and 11:27.72, respectively. Meanwhile, Lewis & Clark's August Bergh won both of the men's distance races in 5:00.47 for the 500 and 10:18.93 for the 1,000.
Willamette will close out its regular season with a pair of road meets, beginning on Saturday, Jan. 21 against Pacific University. The NWC dual meet will start at 1:00 p.m. (PST) in Forest Grove, Oregon. The Bearcats will travel to McMinnville, Oregon, to take on Linfield College in NWC action on Saturday, Jan. 28.
