By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- The Willamette University men's swimming team set a school record in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:02.05, as the 2020 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships got underway on Thursday, Feb. 13 at the King County Aquatic Center. The schedule for the first evening of the meet included the men's and women's 800-yard freestyle relay events as well as the men's and women's 200-yard medley relay events.

The men's 800-yard freestyle relay team for the Bearcats included Ben Fritz (Jr., Los Gatos, CA/Leigh HS), Daniel Fang (Jr., Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/Catholic HS), Alex Hougan (Sr., Olympia, WA/Olympia HS), and Derek Ludwig (Sr., Moraga, CA/Campolindo HS). Their combined time of 7:02.05 broke their own school record of 7:02.28, which they set at the 2019 NWC Championships. Prior to last season, the Willamette record was 7:03.10 recorded by Russ Scovel, Ryan Duus, Claude Grove and Danny James in 1992.

In addition to setting the school record, the Bearcat men's 800-meter relay team placed fourth on Thursday. Linfield College won the men's 800 free relay in 6:48.84. Whitworth University was second at 6:51.37, and the University of Puget Sound was third at 6:53.18. Willamette finished more than two seconds in front of Lewis & Clark College, which was fifth at 7:04.58, and Whitman College, which took sixth at 7:04.96. All nine NWC colleges and universities competed in the event.

Willamette also earned fourth place in the men's 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:38.23. Swimming on the relay were Will Compton (Fy., Portage, MI/Portage Northern HS), Ben Nickell (Fy., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS), Ludwig and Fritz. First place in the 200 medley relay went to Whitworth in 1:31.52. Pacific Lutheran University placed second in 1:33.28. Whitman was third in 1:34.65.

The Bearcats placed seventh in the women's 200-yard medley relay in 1:51.02, as WU lowered its season-best time by 3.25 seconds. Corinne Pierson (So., Port Townsend, WA/Port Townsend HS), Min Wei (So., Fushun, China/Cascade HS), Niki Kates (Sr., Truckee, CA/Forest Charter School), and Olivia Frenkel (Fy, Fairfield, CA/Angelo Rodriguez HS) swam for the Bearcats. Whitworth placed first in 1:46.00.

In the women's 800-yard freestyle relay, Willamette was disqualified for an early tack-off on one of the legs. Similar calls went against the men's 200-yard relay teams from Linfield, Puget Sound, and Lewis & Clark.

Willamette was in second place in the men's team standings at the end of Thursday's session with 60 points. The Bearcats trailed only Whitworth, which built up 74 points. Whitman was third with 58 points, and was followed by Pacific Lutheran at 56, George Fox University at 50, Pacific University at 46, Linfield at 40, and Puget Sound at 32.

In the women's team standings, Whitworth owned first place with 72 points and Whitman was second with 70 points. Puget Sound was third at 66, with Pacific Lutheran fourth at 64, George Fox in fifth at 54, Linfield in sixth at 52. Lewis & Clark was seventh at 48, while Pacific was eighth at 40, and Willamette was ninth with 24 points.

Action at the NWC Championships will continue through Sunday, Feb. 16. On Friday and Saturday, preliminary heats will be held at 9 a.m. (PST), with the championship and consolation finals starting at 6 p.m. On Sunday, prelims will begin at 9 a.m., while the championship and consolation finals will start at 5 p.m.