By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

NEWBERG, Ore. -- Willamette University took first place in the women's 300-yard breaststroke relay at the Northwest Conference Relays on Saturday, Oct. 30. Swimming on the winning relay were Anna Hornbeck (Fy., Bend, OR/Bend HS), Min Wei (Sr., Fushun, China/Cascade HS), and Sarah Jenner (Fy., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS). Willamette placed fourth out of six teams in the overall women's standings and finished fifth out of six teams in the overall men's standings.

Hornbeck, Wei, and Jenner combined for a time of 3:34.73 in the 300 breaststroke relay. They won by 1.54 seconds, as Linfield University took second place at 3:36.37. Whitworth University was third at 3:36.52.

"Today was another good day of racing," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers commented. "With this being the first back-to-back meet days there was some fatigue in the team that they had to work through, but we swam very well."

The Bearcats earned fourth place in the men's 500-yard freestyle relay, with each swimmer providing 125 yards to the overall total. Julius Wilhelmi (So., Roseville, Ca/Woodcreek HS) led off the relay and was followed by Cole Lindberg (Fy., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy), Matthew Hagen (Fy., Fife, WA/Fife HS), and Robbie Daugherty (Sr., Reno, NV/Damonte Ranch HS), as the Bearcats registered a time of 4:39.70.

In the women's 300-yard medley relay, WU's team of Tatum Good (Fy., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy), Katherina Cory (So., Dublin, CA/Dublin HS), and Jenner took fourth place with a combined time of 3:19.66. The Bearcats were 1.62 away from third place.

Whitworth finished in first place in the women's team standings with 186 points. Linfield was second at 168 and the University of Puget Sound was third at 162. Willamette held fourth place at 150, while Pacific University placed fifth at 144, and George Fox University was sixth at 140.

The men's team title went to Whitworth, as the Pirates accumulated 186 points. Linfield followed in second place at 172. Puget Sound owned third place at 170, with George Fox in fourth place at 148 and Willamette in fifth place at 144. Pacific placed sixth with 78 points.

"We've got some technical things we need to dial in as we get into dual meets, and I'm hoping we can take the momentum from this weekend into our dual meets against Linfield and Pacific next weekend," Summers said.

Willamette will compete in its first dual meet of the season on Friday, Nov. 5 at Linfield in McMinnville, Oregon, at 6 p.m. (PDT). The Bearcats will return home to take on Pacific at the WU Natatorium on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 10 a.m.