By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Anna Hornbeck (Fy., Bend, OR/Bend HS) of Willamette University won the women's 100-yard breaststroke at the 2022 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships on Saturday, Feb. 12, as the meet ended its third day of competition at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. Hornbeck, who set a WU record with a time of 1:06.28 in the preliminary heats, lowered her record while taking first place in the championship final at 1:05.11.
Also during Saturday's championship finals, Cole Lindberg (Fy., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy) placed fourth in the men's 100-yard butterfly in 50.97 seconds. His time moved him into second on WU's all-time list behind record holder Derek Ludwig, who earned a time of 50.87 seconds at the 2018 NWC Championships. Lindberg's time of 51.46 in the prelims on Saturday ranks seventh all-time for the Bearcats.
Hornbeck is the first Willamette swimmer to win an NWC Championship since Eric Swinn in the men's 100-yard backstroke in 2004. The last Bearcat swimmer to win a women's event at the NWC Meet was Nadia Markovchik in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 2002.
"I'm so excited for Anna and her new school record and conference championship," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers said. "Anna set the record in the prelims and set herself up well to challenge for the win tonight. It was an exciting race between her and Erin McKinney from Whitman College, with it coming down to Anna charging into her final touch. It was an incredible accomplishment for Anna and one she's trained for this whole year. Congratulations Anna!"
Hornbeck won the women's 100-yard breaststroke by 0.09 over McKinney, who finished the race in 1:05.20. Natalie Ritter of Whitman was third at 1:06.54.
In front of Lindberg in the men's 100-yard butterfly were two Linfield University swimmers and one swimmer from Whitworth University. Benjamin Simpson of Linfield won the championship race in 49.43 seconds, while Edan Donaldson of Linfield placed second in 49.59 seconds. Isaiah Ross of Whitworth was third at 50.97.
Eight Bearcats swam in the consolation finals on Saturday. Three of the eight consolation finalists joined Hornbeck in the women's 100-yard breaststroke as Willamette took 1st, 10th, 14th, and 15th in the event.
Min Wei (Sr., Fushun, China/Cascade HS) finished second in the women's 100 breaststroke consolation race in 1:08.33 to place 10th overall. Sarah Jenner (Fy., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) finished at 1:09.16 in the consolation final and was 14th overall. Katherina Cory (So., Dublin, CA/Dublin HS) was timed at 1:09.71 and finished 15th overall.
Tatum Good (Fy., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) won the consolation final in the women's 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.22. She placed ninth in the overall 100 backstroke standings.
Two WU athletes competed in the consolation final of the men's 100-yard breaststroke. Ben Nickell (Jr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS) was second in the consolation final in 59.45 seconds, as he took 10th place overall. Logan Copeland (So., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS) registered a time of 1:00.50 to earn 13th place overall.
Also swimming in the consolation finals for Willamette on Saturday were Julius Wilhelmi (So., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) and Gwyn Fritz (Jr., Los Gatos, CA/Leigh HS). Wilhelmi placed 11th overall in the men's 200-yard freestyle after taking third in the consolation final in 1:45.75. Fritz recorded a time of 2:02.48 in the consolation final and achieved 15th place overall.
Several other Bearcats narrowly missed the consolation finals by placing 17th in the prelims. Eight swimmers advanced to the championship final in each event, with the next eight fastest swimmers moving into the consolation finals.
Swimmers who were 17th for Willamette in Saturday's prelims were Wei in the women's 100-yard butterfly, Alayna Kisiday (Fy., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) in the women's 200-yard freestyle, Robbie Daugherty (Sr., Reno, NV/Damonte Ranch HS) in the men's 200-yard freestyle, Jacqueline Hall (Fy., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS) in the women's 100-yard backstroke, and Lindberg in the men's 100-yard backstroke.
Wei touched out in women's 100 butterfly in 1:03.65. Kisiday was timed at 2:02.23 in the women's 200 freestyle. Daugherty completed the men's 200 freestyle in 1:48.58, Hall attained a time of 1:05.22 in the women's 100 backstroke, and Lindberg swam the men's 100 backstroke in 56.56 seconds.
"Tonight was a great evening for us," Summers commented. "We qualified many swimmers back to the finals and set ourselves up well to make some movement up the leaderboard towards some of the other teams. It was an exciting finals session with many amazing swims, a new school record, and our first women's conference champion since 2022. I'm looking forward to tonight's momentum carrying us into a huge final day."
The third day of the NWC Championships featured six of the nine NWC member institutions winning at least one event. Leading the way were Linfield and Pacific Lutheran University, each with three wins. Whitman and Whitworth both won two championships. Willamette and the University of Puget Sound each claimed one title.
Whitman led the women's team standings with 411 points, while Pacific Lutheran was second at 341 points. Whitworth held third place at 326. Linfield was fourth at 301, Puget Sound was fifth at 240, George Fox University followed in sixth place at 186, and Lewis & Clark College owned seventh place at 137. Willamette was eighth at 133, and Pacific University was ninth with 123 points.
Whitworth's score was 474.5 for first place in the men's standings with one day to go. Whitman owned second place at 366 points. Linfield was third at 358.5, while Puget Sound was fourth at 316 and Pacific Lutheran was fifth at 172. Lewis & Clark and George Fox were tied for sixth place with 165 points. Willamette held eighth place at 149, followed by Pacific in ninth with 84 points.
The NWC Swimming Championships will conclude on Sunday, Feb. 13. Preliminary heats start at 9:30 a.m. (PST). Championship final and consolation final heats begin at 4 p.m.
