By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University women's swimming team outscored Lewis & Clark College 115-85 on Friday, Jan. 20 at the WU Natatorium. In the men's competition, the Pioneers downed the Bearcats 106-78. Tatum Good (So., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) and Alayna Kisiday (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) of Willamette each recorded two individual wins. Good and Tatum also helped Willamette win the women's 400-yard medley relay, with Good on the first leg and Tatum on the anchor leg.
Willamette's women earned their first victory of the season, as they improved to 1-6 overall, 1-6 in the Northwest Conference. The Bearcat men fell to 2-5 on the season, 2-5 in the NWC. The L&C women's team slipped to 1-5 overall, 1-5 in the NWC, while the Pioneer men's team ended the dual meet at 2-4 overall, 2-4 in the NWC.
"Today was the first of our final three home meets and I couldn't be happier with how we performed," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers commented. "Congratulations to our women's team on the win and for the men's team on their quality racing. This was a great opportunity for us to see where we are at as we head into our final prep for the NWC Championships in a few weeks. Tonight's meet was against a team that we will be battling in the overall team standings. We will continue to test ourselves and set ourselves up for a great end of the season."
The Bearcats will host another NWC opponent on Saturday, Jan. 21, when George Fox University travels to Salem. Meet time is scheduled for 11 a.m. (PST).
Good won the women's 200-yard individual medley on Friday as well as the women's 200-yard backstroke. Her winning time in the 200 I.M. was 2:25.48 as she led a 1-2 finish. Jacqueline Hall (So., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS) grabbed second place in 2:28.07. Good took first place in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:20.98, as she led another 1-2 result for the Bearcats. Emma Noffsinger (Fy., Arvada, CO/Northglenn HS) placed second in 2:22.31.
Kisiday continued her strong swimming this season in the women's sprints. She prevailed in the 50-yard freestyle in 26.23 seconds, while Aniqah Gaffoor of L&C took second in 26.55 seconds. Kisiday won the 100-yard freestyle in 56.18 seconds.
During the women's 400-yard medley relay, Good, Anna Hornbeck (So., Bend, OR/Bend HS), Sarah Jenner (So., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS), and Kisiday registered a time of 4:23.84 to win easily. Willamette also won the men's 400-yard medley relay, with Logan Copeland (Jr., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS), Ben Nickell (Sr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS), Cole Lindberg (So., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy), and Julius Wilhelmi (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) combining for a time of 3:44.94.
Other winners for the Willamette women's team were Hornbeck in the 200-yard breaststroke and Gwyn Fritz (Jr., Los Gatos, CA/Leigh HS) in the 200-yard freestyle. Individual event winners for the Bearcat men's team were Wilhelmi in the 50-yard freestyle and Nickell in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Hornbeck took first place in the women's 200-yard breaststroke in 2:35.06. She was followed by Hall, who took second place for Willamette at 2:45.02. Fritz completed the women's 200-yard freestyle with a winning time of 2:07.70 as part of a 1-2 finish for the Bearcats. Noffsinger was second in 2:10.64.
Wilhelmi touched the pad first in the men's 50-yard freestyle in 21.89 seconds. Kevin Olmedo (Fy., La Canada, CA/St. Francis HS) of Willamette was second at 23.19 seconds. Wilhelmi added a second-place finish in the men's 100-yard freestyle in 48.88 seconds. Zachary Martin of Lewis & Clark won the men's 100 free in 48.22 seconds. Nickell was the winner of the men's 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:19.42. He won by 4.24 seconds.
