By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- The Willamette University men's 200-yard medley relay team placed fourth during the opening session of the 2023 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships on Thursday evening Feb. 9 at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. The first session of the NWC Championships included men's and women's competition in the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay.

Swimming for Willamette in the men's 200 medley relay were Logan Copeland (Jr., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS) on backstroke, Ben Nickell (Sr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS) on breaststroke, Cole Lindberg (So., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy) on butterfly, and Julius Wilhelmi (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) on freestyle. The Bearcats registered a time of 1:35.96, including a split of 20.88 seconds by Wilhelmi on the anchor leg.

Although Wilhelmi's time matched the school record for the 50 freestyle set by Steve Koga in 1981, the result does not count on Willamette's all-time list because it began with a rolling start as part of the relay. Even so, Wilhelmi's efforts provided an outstanding finish to the race. Lindberg's butterfly leg was completed in a solid time of 22.41 seconds, as the Bearcats completed the final two legs in 43.29 seconds.

The winner of the men's 200-yard medley relay was Whitman College in 1:31.82. Whitworth University in 1:32.69, and Linfield was third in 1:33.05.

"We got off to a great start for the 2023 NWC Championships this evening," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers said. "Tonight's relays gave us a chance to get some first swims in and work out any jitters. It also allowed us to get a feel for the pool before individual event start tomorrow. We'll take what we learned tonight and use it to give ourselves the best opportunities tomorrow. Huge congratulations to all the relay swimmers on having great swims and splits."

Willamette took sixth place in the women's 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:55.48. Bearcats swimming on the relay team were Emma Noffsinger (Fy., Arvada, CO/Northglenn HS) in the backstroke, Anna Hornbeck (So., Bend, OR/Bend HS) in the breaststroke, Tatum Good (So., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) in the butterfly, and Alayna Kisiday (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) in the freestyle. Linfield won the women's 200 medley relay in 1:46.72.

The Bearcats also placed sixth in the women's 800-yard freestyle relay. Swimming for WU were Kisiday, Jacqueline Hall (So., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS), Noffsinger, and Sarah Jenner (So., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS). They achieved a time of 8:08.55, as they lowered their seed time by 11.55 seconds. The NWC champion in the women's 800 freestyle relay was Linfield with a time of 7:46.41. Linfield won by 10.85 seconds over the University of Puget Sound in second place at 7:57.26.

Willamette finished seventh in the men's 800-yard freestyle relay in 7:36.55. WU's relay team included Ethan Davies (Fy., Hong Kong/Discovery College), Asher Kiel (Fy., Carson City, NV/Carson City HS), Nickell, and Kevin Olmedo (Fy., La Canada, CA/St. Francis HS). Whitman College took first place in the event with a time of 6:50.50.

A total of three relay teams were disqualified for violations during the four events. Puget Sound's teams in the women's 200-yard medley relay and the men's 200-yard medley relay were disqualified. The George Fox University team in the men's 800-yard freestyle relay was disqualified.

Linfield led the women's team standings at the end of Thursday's competition with 80 points. Pacific Lutheran University was second at 64 and Whitman was third at 64. Whitworth held fourth place at 58 points and Willamette was fifth with 52 points. Lewis & Clark College was sixth at 50, while George Fox was seventh at 48, with Pacific University in eight with 40, and Puget Sound in ninth with 34.

In the men's standings, Whitman was first with 80 points, followed by Whitworth in second at 68 and Linfield in third at 60. Lewis & Clark was fourth at 58 and Willamette was fifth at 54. Pacific Lutheran ended the evening in sixth place with 50 points, while Pacific was seventh at 44, Puget Sound was eighth at 30, and George Fox was ninth with 28 points.