By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
NEWBERG, Ore. -- The Willamette University women's swimming team held first place in the team standings after winning four events on the first day of the 2022 Bruin Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 3 at the Chehalem Parks and Recreation Aquatic Center. Willamette ended the day with 392 points, while host George Fox University was second with 367 points, and Pacific University was third with 353 points. Soka University (Calif.) was fourth with 125 points and a partial squad from Linfield University was fifth with 22 points.
George Fox topped the men's team standings with 431.5 points, while Soka was second with 281 points. Willamette followed with 254 points and Pacific was fourth with 123 points. The Bearcats won two men's events.
Winning individual events for the Bearcats were Anna Hornbeck (So., Bend, OR/Bend HS), Alayna Kisiday (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS), and Tatum Good (So., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) from the women's team and Cole Lindberg (So., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy) and Julius Wilhelmi (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) from the men's team. In addition, the Bearcats took first place in the women's 400-yard medley relay.
"It was a fantastic day of racing for our teams," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers commented. "We had a great prelims session that set us up well for the finals. A lot of hard racing and fast swimming led to many personal and season best times for our swimmers. I'm excited to watch them continue to swim fast tomorrow."
Hornbeck won the women's 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:25.96. The time ranks ninth on WU's all-time list. Hornbeck set the school record of 2:21.95 at the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships this past spring. In Saturday's race, Hornbeck led a 1-2 finish for the Bearcats as Sarah Jenner (So., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) took second place in 2:32.76.
Kisiday prevailed for first place in the women's 100-yard freestyle in 55.47 seconds. She won by 1.31 seconds over Jaz Capron-Graves of Pacific, who placed second in 56.78 seconds. Good won the women's 200-yard individual medley as she led a 1-2 finish for Willamette in 2:18.26. Jacqueline Hall (So., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS) finished second at 2:21.81. Good achieved second place in the women's 200-yard backstroke in 2:15.09.
All three of the individual winners on the WU women's team also competed on the 400-yard medley relay unit. Ava Reich (Fy., Reno, NV/Robert McQueen HS) also swam on the relay team, as the Bearcats claimed first place in 4:14.61. Good swam the opening leg and was followed by Hornbeck, Reich, and Kisiday.
Other strong finishes for the Bearcat women's team were attained by Jenner in the 500-yard freestyle and by Journey Brown (Fy., San Pedro, CA/Valley Christian HS). Jenner took second place in the 500 freestyle in 5:33.98. She was just 6.03 seconds out of first place. Brown won the consolation final in the 200-yard backstroke at 2:30.73.
The WU team in the women's 200-yard freestyle relay was second in 1:44.45, just 0.38 out of first place, which went to Pacific in 1:44.07. Swimming for the Bearcats were Kisiday, Hornbeck, Good, and Gwyn Fritz (Jr., Los Gatos, CA/Leigh HS).
Lindberg moved into fourth on Willamette's all-time list in the men's 100-yard butterfly as he provided the Bearcats with a winning time of 51.21 seconds. He edged out AJ Stewart from Soka, who took second place in 51.36 seconds. The Willamette record in the 100 butterfly is 50.87 seconds, set by Derek Ludwig at the NWC Championships in 2020. Lindberg is second on the list with a time of 50.97 seconds at the 2022 NWC Championships.
In addition to taking first place in the 100 butterfly, Lindberg also earned a close second place finish in the men's 200-yard individual medley at 2:03.26. He was just 0.14 behind the winning time of 2:03.12 earned by Zachary Holt of Soka.
Also winning for the Bearcats was Julius Wilhelmi (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) in the men's 100-yard freestyle. He won the race in 47.65 seconds to hold off Carson Washburn of Linfield. Washburn placed second in 47.98 seconds.
Willamette's entry in the men's 400-yard medley relay earned second place in 3:41.58. The relay unit included Logan Copeland (Jr., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS), Ben Nickell (Sr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS), Lindberg, and Wilhelmi.
The final day of the Bruin Invitational will be Sunday, Dec. 4 with prelims in the morning and finals starting at 4 p.m. (PST).
