By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Julius Wilhelmi (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) of Willamette University took fourth place in the men's 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.23 seconds during the second day of the 2023 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center on Friday, Feb. 10. Wilhelmi's time in the championship finals moved him into a tie with Steve Koga for fourth place on Willamette's all-time list in the 50-yard freestyle.
Entering Friday's competition, Koga held all five of Willamette's top five times in the 50 free, set by the NAIA All-America swimmer between 1979 and 1982. Koga still holds the top three times, including the school record of 20.88 seconds, but his fourth-fastest time was matched by Wilhelmi.
Wilhelmi neared WU's top five when he placed fifth in the prelims on Friday morning with a time of 21.34 seconds, just 0.04 behind Koga's fifth-best time of 21.30 seconds. Wilhelmi then improved to his fourth place time of 21.23 in the finals on Friday evening. Zachary Washburn of Whitworth University won the NWC title in the men's 50 freestyle with a championship finals time of 20.00 seconds as he set an NWC record.
In between Washburn and Wilhelmi in the championship final of the 50 freestyle were Garrett Sutton of Linfield University in second place at 20.64 seconds and Levi Gibson from George Fox University in third place at 21.03 seconds. All eight finalists registered times of 21.54 or faster.
Also on Friday, two swimmers on the Willamette women's team won consolation finals to place ninth overall in their respective events. In the 500-yard freestyle, Sarah Jenner (So., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) took first place in the consolation final with a time of 5:19.12. In the 200-yard individual medley, Tatum Good (So., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) won the consolation final with a time of 2:14.40. Jacqueline Hall (So., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS), also from Willamette, earned sixth place in the consolation final of the 200 I.M. to finish 14th overall.
"Tonight was a fantastic finals session for us," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers commented. "Every one of our individual swims moved up in the standings and our relays had huge time drops from our season bests. Congratulations to Julius for moving into a tie for the fourth fastest 50 performance in program history, officially becoming the second fastest men's team swimmer at Willamette (behind Koga). Congratulations also go to Sarah and Tatum for taking the wins in the 'B' (consolation) final in the 500 and 200 I.M., respectively. I'm excited for tomorrow. Saturday is usually a great day for us and I look forward to seeing how well we do."
Alayna Kisiday (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) of Willamette grabbed second place in the consolation final of the women's 50-yard freestyle to place 10th in the event. Her time in the consolation final was 24.92 seconds.
Other Willamette Results
Gwyn Fritz (Jr., Los Gatos, CA/Leigh HS) placed 20th in the women's 50-yard freestyle out of 43 entries. She registered a time of 26.25 seconds.
Kevin Olmedo (Fy., La Canada, CA/St. Francis HS) was 19th in the men's 20-yard freestyle. His time in the prelims was 22.64 seconds.
Jordan Edner (Sr., Colorado Springs, CO/Doherty HS) took 19th place in the women's 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:53.52.
Both of Willamette's 400-yard medley relay teams placed seventh while lowering their times. In the women's relay, Good, Anna Hornbeck (So., Bend, OR/Bend HS), Ava Reich (Fy., Reno, NV/Robert McQueen HS), and Kisiday earned a time of 4:09.04, dropping their previous best time by 5.567 seconds. In the men's relay, Willamette was timed at 3:33.50, as 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 Wilhelmi lowered their best time of the season by 8.08 seconds.
Team Scores Through Friday
After 12 events, the leader in the women's team standings was Linfield with 264 points. Whitman College was second at 213, with Pacific Lutheran University in third at 147. The University of Puget Sound was fourth at 126, and was followed by Whitworth in fifth at 116, Willamette in sixth at 104, Lewis & Clark College in seventh at 96, George Fox in eighth at 85, and Pacific University in ninth with 58 points.
In the men's team standings, Whitworth held first place with 241.5 points and Whitman was second with 217.5 points. Linfield was third at 175, with Puget Sound in fourth at 110, Pacific Lutheran in fifth at 103, and Lewis & Clark in sixth at 101. Willamette was seventh with 93 points, while George Fox was eighth at 88, and Pacific was ninth at 62.
The NWC Swimming Championships will continue on Saturday, Feb. 11 and Sunday, Feb. 12. On Saturday, the prelims will begin at 9:30 a.m. (PST) with the finals at 5 p.m. On Sunday, the prelims will start at 9:30 a.m. and the finals will get underway at 4 p.m. The 1,650-yard freestyle events will be held on Sunday in between the main sessions.
