By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
TACOMA, Wash. -- In a very close women's swimming battle, Willamette University's Anna Hornbeck (Jr., Bend, OR/Bend HS), Alayna Kisiday (Jr., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS), and Tessa Ciatti (Fy., Bellingham, WA/Squalicum HS) each won an event, and the Bearcats prevailed in the 200-yard medley relay on Friday, Nov. 3 at Pacific Lutheran University. Even so, PLU grabbed a slim 103-102 victory in the team standings.
Pacific Lutheran upped its record to 1-0 on the season, 1-0 in the Northwest Conference. The Bearcats ended the meet at 0-1 overall, 0-1 in the NWC.
Hornbeck was the winner in the 100-yard breaststroke after recording a time of 1:11.77 for a narrow victory over Makenzie Chan-Orcutt of PLU, who took second in 1:11.88. Kisiday placed first in the 100-yard freestyle at 55.30 seconds. She won by just over two seconds, as Sidney Chan-Orcutt placed second in 57.39 seconds.
Ciatti won the 400-yard individual medley, as she completed the race in 5:01.75. Riley Maher from Pacific Lutheran was second in 5:05.57.
In addition, Ciatti grabbed second place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:02.09. Jessicas Ordaz of PLU won the 100 butterfly in 58.92 seconds. Ciatti's time for second place was 0.10 in front of Emma Gassman of the Lutes, who finished third in 1:02.19.
Kisiday was second in the women's 50-yard freestyle in 25.39 seconds and Leah Howell (Fy., Bremerton, WA/Central Kitsap HS) of WU was third in 25.99. Ordaz won the 50 free for Pacific Lutheran in 24.72 seconds.
"It was a fantastic meet all-around from our women's team," Willamette Director of Swimming Brent Summers said. "It was a back-and-forth meet against a very good PLU team that saw us lose by one point unfortunately. However, that's the closest we've ever swam against PLU going back to the 2009-10 season. Also, I'm excited to get to see the Lutes again at the Bruin Invite (Dec. 2-3 at George Fox). We'll use the competitive break to keep working on the details of our races."
The women's 1,000-yard freestyle was exceptionally close. Jersey Razzano of Pacific Lutheran took first place in 11:48.43 and Ana Kaldy (Fy., South Beach, OR/Newport HS) of the Bearcats was second at 11:49.18, with just 0.75 between the two times. Sarah Jenner (Sr., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) placed third in 12:12.78. Kaldy also earned second place in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:52.91. Razzano won the 500 freestyle in 5:48.46.
Tatum Good (Jr., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) of WU was second in the 100-yard backstroke. Annika Eisele achieved first place with a time of 1:02.08, while Good was timed at 1:03.76. Howell placed third for the Bearcats in 1:04.37.
Willamette's win in the 200-yard medley relay featured swimming by Good, Hornbeck, Ciatti, and Kisiday. Their winning time was 1:54.27 as they narrowly completed the race in front of PLU's top team. The Lutes were second at 1:54.32, as Eisele, Makenzie Chan-Orcutt, Maher, and Sidney Chan-Orcutt finished 0.05 behind the Bearcats.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, WU gained second place in 1:47.18. Swimming for the Bearcats were Howell, Good, Jacqueline Hall (Jr., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS), and Lydia Schmitt (Fy., Olympia, WA/North Thurston HS). Pacific Lutheran's team of Sidney Chan-Orcutt, Gassman, Eisele, and Ordaz won the 200 free relay in 1:43.80.
The Bearcats will take on Whitman College at the WU Natatorium on Saturday, Nov. 17. Action is set to begin at 6 p.m. PST.
