By Charlie McGuire, Athletic Communications Assistant
SALEM, Ore. – The Willamette University women's swim team battled visiting Whitworth University all the way to the end, before the Pirates slipped away with a 105.5-95.5 decision on Saturday, Nov. 18. The Bearcats trailed by just five points heading into the final event, but Whitworth finished first in the 400-yard freestyle relay to secure the win.
Alayna Kisiday (Jr., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) led the way for the Bearcats, winning three events on the day. She swam the anchor leg of the 400-yard medley relay to a top time of 4:13.57. She clocked times of 2:03.57 and 55.87 in the 200 and 100-yard freestyle, respectively.
Tessa Ciatti (So., Bellevue, WA/Squalicum HS) joined the medley relay and placed second in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard butterfly with times of 2:25.65 and 2:27.27. Anna Hornbeck (Jr., Bend, OR/Bend HS) won the 200-yard breaststroke with a mark of 2:36.12 and swam the third leg of the medley relay.
Ana Kaldy (Fy., South Beach, OR/Newport HS) showed well in the distance events, claiming second in the 1,000-yard freestyle (11:59.06) and third in the 500 freestyle in 5:53.13. Sarah Jenner (Jr., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) came in just behind Kaldy in the 1,000, touching the wall in 12:12.07. Jenner also claimed third in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:43.09.
In the freestyle sprints first-year Lydia Schmitt (Olympia, WA/North Thurston HS) tied for second in the 50 with a mark of 26.56 and was third in the 100. She joined the 400 free relay to post a time of 3:53.24. Emma Noffsinger (So., Arvada, CO/Northglenn HS) anchored the free relay while Leah Howell (Fy., Bremerton, WA/Central Kitsap HS) was part of both the medley and free relays.
Jacqueline Hall (Jr., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS) led-off the free relay while Tatum Good (Jr., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) added a third place showing in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:26.71.
The Bearcats have concluded their dual meet schedule for the fall semester. Head Coach Brent Summers was pleased with performance. "It was another close meet with one of the top teams in the Northwest Conference. Even with this being our first competition swimming the 200-yard events, and while we were very tired, we swam incredibly well," said Summers.
The Bearcats will have some recovery time going into the break. They look forward to preparing for the midseason invitational in December. Willamette will travel to George Fox University for the Bruin Invitational on Dec. 2-3.
