By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Julius Wilhelmi (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) won the men's 100-yard freestyle for Willamette University and Alayna Kisiday (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) took first place in the women's 100-yard freestyle for the Bearcats, but Linfield University won the team competition during a Northwest Conference dual swimming meet on Friday, Nov. 4 at the WU Natatorium. The Linfield men's team outscored the Bearcats 128-60 while the Linfield women's team won 120-68.
Both swimming teams for the Wildcats moved to 1-0 overall and to 1-0 in the NWC. Willamette's swimming teams fell to 0-1 on the season, 0-1 in the NWC.
Wilhelmi took first place in the men's 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.27 seconds. He won by more than a second over Rocco Velie of Linfield, who placed second in 50.77 seconds. Carson Washburn of Linfield was third in 50.79 seconds. Kisiday won the women's 100-yard freestyle in 57.16 seconds, as she edged out Lauren Bobo-Shisler of Linfield. Bobo-Shisler finished .08 behind Kisiday with a second place time of 57.24 seconds.
Linfield swam exhibition in the opening and ending relay events, so WU grabbed wins in the men's and women's 400-yard medley relays and the men's and women's 400-yard freestyle relays. In the women's 400 medley relay, Willamette's time was 4:25.16, with Tatum Good (So., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy), Sarah Jenner (So., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS), Ava Reich (Fy., Reno, NV/Robert McQueen HS), and Kisiday swimming the four legs of the race. The Bearcats earned a time of 3:54.16 in the men's 400 medley relay. Swimmers on the men's medley were Logan Copeland (Jr., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS), Ben Nickell (Sr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS), Wilhelmi, and Kevin Olmedo (Fy., La Canada, CA/St. Francis HS).
The WU women's 400 freestyle relay team registered a time of 4:23.45. Swimming for the Bearcats during the relay were Jacqueline Hall (So., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS), Reich, Alicia Robbins (So., Henderson, NV/Coronado HS), and Jordan Edner (Sr., Colorado Springs, CO/Doherty HS). In the men's 400 freestyle relay, Willamette finished in 3:50.57, with William LaDuca (Fy., Salem, OR/South Salem HS) swimming the first leg, followed by Asher Kiel (Fy., Carson City, NV/Carson City HS), Dorsey Pearson (Fy., Osburn, ID/Wallace HS).
"Today was an opportunity for us to get our first head-to-head racing in against one of the top teams in the conference," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers said. "It was the first chance for us to swim the 200s of strokes in addition to the longer distance races. We raced well considering we're in full training. I'm excited about the progress we're making in the pool and I'm looking forward to our next meet tomorrow at Pacific University."
Sarah Jenner (So., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) of Willamette placed second in two events, while Wilhelmi and three other Bearcats each took second place in one event. Jenner was second in the women's 200-yard freestyle in 2:12.83 and finished second in the women's 200-yard breaststroke in 2:42.75.
Also placing second in a women's event were Good in the 200-yard backstroke and Emma Noffsinger (Fy., Arvada, CO/Northglenn HS) in the 500-yard freestyle. Good earned a time of 2:20.76 in the 200 back. Noffsinger completed the 500 free in 5:59.27.
Wilhelmi attained second in the men's 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.18 seconds. He was .13 behind the winner, Garrett Sutton of Linfield, who won in 22.05. Willamette's Ben Nickell (Sr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS) was second in the men's 200-yard breaststroke in 2:24.26. He held off Sasha Moore of the Wildcats by .83, as Moore claimed third place in 2:25.09.
Willamette will take on Pacific University on Sunday, Nov. 5 in Forest Grove, Oregon. The meet is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. (PDT).
