By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

McMINNVILLE, Ore. -- Julius Wilhelmi (So., Roseville, Ca/Woodcreek HS) of Willamette University won the men's 100-yard freestyle shortly after finishing a very close second in the 50-yard freestyle, during a Northwest Conference dual swimming meet at Linfield University on Friday, Nov. 5. Wilhelmi won the 100 freestyle in 48.86 seconds, as he earned a comfortable lead over Colby Evenson of Linfield, who placed second in 51.24 seconds. Just three men's events earlier, Wilhelmi registered a time of 21.87 seconds, as he narrowly missed the winning time of 21.85 seconds registered by Garrett Sutton of Linfield.

Linfield won the men's team competition, 138-60, and defeated Willamette in the women's competition, 136-59. It was the first dual meet of the season for the Bearcats and the Wildcats. Willamette's teams are both 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the NWC. Linfield's teams are 1-0 on the season, 1-0 in the NWC.

"Today was a chance for us to get in the water against a very good and deep team in Linfield," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers said. "We had some excellent races for both the women's and men's teams that we can build on moving forward. Tonight also gave us our first chance in some hard events -- the 1,650 free and the 400 I.M. -- to see how our training is going overall. I am looking forward to our meet against Pacific (on Saturday), when we'll have our first swims at 200 yards in the strokes."

Wilhelmi's win led Willamette. The Bearcats also claimed second place in six individual events, including Wilhelmi in the 50-yard freestyle. Other WU swimmers who attained second place were Cole Lindberg (Fy., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy) in the 100-yard butterfly and Logan Copeland (So., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS) in the 100-yard backstroke for the men's team, and Sarah Jenner (Fy., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) in the 200-yard freestyle, Tatum Good (Fy., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) in the 100-yard backstroke, and Min Wei (Sr., Fushun, China/Cascade HS) in the 100-yard breaststroke for the women's team.

Lindberg took second place in the men's 100 butterfly with a time of 55.51 seconds. Benjamin Simpson of Linfield won the event in 53.08 seconds. Copeland was second in the men's 100 backstroke at 59.92 seconds, as he barely edged out Gavin Smith of Linfield by 0.01. Smith's time was 59.93 seconds. The men's 100 backstroke was won by Edan Donaldson from Linfield in 53.24 seconds.

Jenner recorded a close second-place time of 2:06.57 in the women's 200 freestyle. She trailed the winner, Claudia Velie of Linfield, by just 0.09, as Velie touched out in 2:06.48. In the women's 100 backstroke, Annelise Hed of Linfield was first in 1:02.88, and Good finished second in 1:03.40. Wei led a 2-3 finish for the Bearcats in the 100 breaststroke, as she completed the race in 1:11.23, while teammate Katherina Cory (So., Dublin, CA/Dublin HS) was third in 1:12.77. Whitney Averill won the women's 100 breaststroke for Linfield with a time of 1:10.35.

Also for Willamette, Jenner just missed taking second in the women's 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:44.22. Kate Walkup of Linfield won the race in 4:31.54, while Abbi Karsseboom of Linfield held off Jenner by 0.21 to finish second in 5:44.01. Alayna Kisiday (Fy., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) of Willamette narrowly missed second place by 0.06 in the women's 100-yard freestyle, as she finished in 58.13.

The Bearcats took second place in the women's 200-yard medley relay in 1:55.90, just 0.91 behind Linfield's winning time of 1:54.99. Swimmers on the WU relay were Good, Cory, Wei, and Kisiday. The winning Linfield relay included Avery Campbell, Averill, Maggie Kelley, and Lauren Bobo-Shisler. Willamette was credited with wins in the men's and women's 200-yard freestyle relays when Linfield competed exhibition in those events.

Willamette will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 10 a.m. (PDT) at the WU Natatorium. The Bearcats will be taking on Pacific University in an NWC dual meet.