By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University swimming teams are ready for the 2022 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships, set for the Weyerhaeurser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington, from Thursday, Feb. 10 through Sunday, Feb. 13. The NWC Championships will begin with the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay on Thursday evening. Action will continue with preliminary heats each morning and finals each evening from Friday through Sunday.
The opening session on Thursday will start at 5 p.m. (PST). On Friday and Saturday, the sessions will begin at 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sessions on Sunday will start at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Preliminary heats will be held in every individual event except for the 1,650-yard freestyle, in which swimmers will compete in timed final heats. In other individual events, swimmers with the top eight times in prelims will advance to the championship finals, while swimmers with the ninth through 16th fastest times in the prelims will advance to the consolation finals. With nine men's teams and nine women's teams competing, relays will be held in two final heats against time.
Top swimmers for the Willamette women's team are (alphabetically): Veronica Castille (Fy., Round Rock, TX/Cedar Ridge HS), Tatum Good (Fy., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy), Anna Hornbeck (Fy., Bend, OR/Bend HS), Sarah Jenner (Fy., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS), Alayna Kisiday (Fy., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS), and Min Wei. Leading swimmers for the Bearcat men's team are (alphabetically): Will Compton (Jr., Portage, MI/Portage Northern HS), Robbie Daugherty (Sr., Reno, NV/Damonte Ranch HS), Cole Lindberg (Fy., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy), Ben Nickell (Jr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS), and Julius Wilhelmi (So., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS). All of these swimmers have a good chance to reach the championship finals or consolation finals in their respective events.
NWC Rankings for the Bearcat Women's Team
Jenner and Hornbeck are ranked first and second, respectively, this season in the NWC top times for the women's 200-yard breaststroke. Jenner's NWC-leading time entering the championships is 2:26.17. Hornbeck's best time so far this year was 2:27.37. Wei is listed 14th in the 200 breasstroke at 2:34.76.
In addition, Jenner is fourth in the women's 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.46. Wei is ranked sixth in the 100 breaststroke at 1:08.91, Hornbeck is ninth at 1:09.24, and Katherina Cory (So., Dublin, CA/Dublin HS) is 15th at 1:10.68.
Good holds the sixth-fastest time in the NWC in the women's 200-yard backstroke at 2:12.21. She is 10th in the 100-yard backstroke with a top time of 1:01.46.
Jenner is listed eighth in the women's 500-yard freestyle. Her best time during the regular season was 5:26.65.
In the women's 200-yard individual medley, Good is ranked 10th with a time of 2:18.97. Cory is 18th in the 200 I.M at 2:21.24.
Castille is 15th in the women's 1,650-yard freestyle in 19:35.74. Swimmers will compete against the clock in the 1,650 with no final heats, so the top 16 times will score team points. Wei holds 15th on the list for the women's 100-yard butterfly at 1:03.48.
Also for the Willamette women's team, Kisiday is ranked in the top 25 in three individual events. She is 18th in the 100-yard freestyle at 56.92 seconds, 21st in the 200-yard freestyle at 2:05.90, 25th in the 50-yard freestyle at 26.31 seconds.
Good, Kisiday, and Wei are set to compete on WU's team entries in the women's 200-yard and 400-yard medley relays. Good and Jenner are set to swim for the Bearcats in the women's 400-yard and 800-yard freestyle relays. Kisiday and Wei also may participate on frestyle relay teams.
NWC Rankings for the Willamette Men's Team
For the WU men's team, Wilhelmi is among the top contenders in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle. In the 50 freestyle, he is ranked third with a best time of 21.39 seconds. He is fifth in the 100 freestyle at 47.61 seconds. Wilhelmi also is listed ninth in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:47.04. Daugherty has earned a ranking of 18th in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:52.25.
Lindberg is ranked eighth in the men's 200-yard butterfly and Compton is ninth. Lindberg's top time this year in the 200 butterfly is 2:00.24, while Compton's top time is 2:04.35.
In addtion Lindberg is ninth in the men's 100-yard butterfly with a time of 53.14 seconds. Lindberg is 16th in the men's 100-yard backstroke in 56.86 seconds.
Nickell is ninth in the men's 100-yard breaststroke and is listed 10th in the men's 200-yard breaststroke. He has recorded a top time of 1:02.04 in the 100 breaststroke and owns a best time of 2:15.41 in the 200 breaststroke.
The men's 1,650-yard freestyle rankings show Compton in 11th place and Daugherty in 16th. Compton owns a time of 17:47.32 in the 1,650 free, while Daugherty's best time is 18:40.92. As in the women's 1,650, swimmers will compete against the clock in the men's 1,650 with no final heats.
In the men's 500-yard freestyle, Compton is 19th and Daugherty is 25th among NWC swimmers. Compton's top time is 5:05.42. Daugherty has registereed a time of 5:16.75.
Ready to compete for Willamette on the men's 200-yard and 400-yard medley relay teams are Compton, Lindberg, Nickell, and Wilhelmi. Willamette's 800-yard freestyle relay team will likely include Compton, Daugherty, and Wilhelmi. Also, Wilhelmi is set to be a swimmer on the Bearcats' the 400-yard freestyle relay group.
Whitworth University is the defending men's team champion from 2019-20. Whitman College won the women's team championship in 2019-20. The Willamette men's team finished in seventh place two years ago, while the Bearcat women's team took eighth place.
