By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Willamette University women's swimmer Anna Hornbeck (Fy., Bend, OR/Bend HS) set the school record while taking second place in the 200-yard breaststroke on the final day of the 2022 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center on Sunday, Feb. 13. Hornbeck's record-setting time was 2:21.95, as she broke Willamette's previous top mark of 2:23.16, set by Cassie Tallman at the NWC Championships in 2017. In addition, Hornbeck's time was just .04 away from the NCAA "B" qualifying standard of 2:21.91.
On Saturday, Hornbeck won the NWC Championship in the women's 100-yard breaststroke with a Willamette record time of 1:05.11.
"A huge congratulations to Anna Hornbeck for setting the women's 200 breaststroke record and narrowly missing the NCAA "B" time after also setting the 100 breaststroke record this weekend," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers said.
During both of the breaststroke championship finals, Hornbeck battled Whitman College swimmer Erin McKinney. Hornbeck edged out McKinney by 0.09 to win the 100-yard breaststroke on Saturday. In the 200-yard breaststroke, McKinney registered a winning time of 2:21.27 to hold off Hornbeck by 0.68 at the end of the race. Hornbeck was one of three Bearcats who competed in the championship finals on Sunday evening.
Cole Lindberg (Fy., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy) of WU took fourth place in the men's 200-yard butterfly in 1:55.08. He was 1.03 seconds behind Isaiah Ross of Whitworth, who placed third in 1:54.05.
Tatum Good (Fy., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) finished sixth in the women's 200-yard backstroke for the Bearcats in 2:10.90. Her time was 0.39 in front of Maya Lovre of Pacific Lutheran University, who was seventh in 2:11.29.
In addition, four Willamette swimmers took first place in the consolation finals on Sunday. The consolation winners were Julius Wilhelmi (So., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) in the men's 100-yard freestyle in 47.57 seconds, Sarah Jenner (Fy., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) in the women's 200-yard breaststroke at 2:29.30, Ben Nickell (Jr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS) with a time of 2:11.47 in the men's 200-yard breaststroke, and Will Compton (Jr., Portage, MI/Portage Northern HS) at 1:55.08 in the men's 200-yard butterfly.
Other consolation finals participants for the Bearcats were Jacqueline Hall (Fy., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS) in the women's 200-yard backstroke, Will Mathews (Jr., St. Louis Park, MN/St. Louis Park HS) in the men's 200-yard backstroke, Veronica Castille (Fy., Round Rock, TX/Cedar Ridge HS) in the women's 200-yard breaststroke, and both Logan Copeland (So., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS) and Gabriel Owen (Jr., Durham, CA/Durham HS) in the men's 200-yard breaststroke.
Hall registered a time of 2:22.94 in the consolation final of the women's 200 backstroke to place 15th overall, while Mathews earned 16th place overall in the men's 200 backstroke at 2:16.35. Castille was 14th overall in the women's 200 breaststroke, as she finished the consolation final in 2:35.18. In the men's 200 breaststroke, Copeland achieved 13th place overall at 2:15.31 and Owen was 16th overall in 2:22.70.
Alayna Kisiday (Fy., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) just missed the consolation final in the women's 100-yard freestyle after placing 17th in the preliminary heats at 55.55 seconds.
Whitman scored 618 points while winning the women's team championship. The Blues were followed by Pacific Lutheran, which finished second with 506 points. Whitworth University was third at 485, while Linfield placed fourth at 441. The University of Puget Sound took fifth place at 374, with George Fox University in sixth at 239, and Willamette in seventh at 201. Lewis & Clark College held eighth place at 185, while Pacific University was ninth with 177.
Whitworth accumulated 703.5 points as the Pirates earned the men's championship. Whitman placed second at 555, and Linfield was third at 536.5. Fourth place went to Puget Sound at 466 and Pacific Lutheran was fifth at 233.5. Lewis & Clark gained sixth place at 228, Willamette was seventh at 221, George Fox placed eighth at 201 and Pacific took ninth at 112.5.
At the conclusion of the NWC Championships, the Swimmers of the Year were announced. Jessica Ordaz of Pacific Lutheran was selected as the NWC Women's Swimmer of the Year. Tanner Filion of Whitman and Ryan Grady from Whitworth were named NWC Men's Co-Swimmers of the Year. Zachary Washburn of Whitworth was chosen NWC Men's Freshman of the Year. Head Coach Jennifer Blomme of Whitman was named NWC Women's Coach of the Year. Head Coach Steve Schadt of Whitworth was selected NWC Men's Coach of the Year.
"Today was a fantastic conclusion to the NWC Championships. Both teams swam well in the prelims and that put us in position to move up from eighth into seventh in the overall standings," Summers commented. "The men put up a great effort to inch closer to PLU and L&C and came up just short. We had an excellent finals session highlighted by many fast swims and new lifetime best times.
"I'm very grateful we were able to have our championships this season," Summers added. "It was very much missed last year. I'm excited to continue to move forward and grow our program into stronger teams at the conference level. I know that this meet was a step in the right direction for us."
