FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Willamette University registered fifth place in the women's 200-yard medley relay during the first session of the 2024 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships on Thursday, Feb. 8 at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. The session, included men's and women's races in the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay.

The Bearcats were represented in the 200-yard medley relay by Leah Howell (Fy., Bremerton, WA/Central Kitsap HS) in the backstroke, Anna Hornbeck (Jr., Bend, OR/Bend HS) in the breaststroke, Tessa Ciatti (Fy., Bellingham, WA/Squalicum HS) in the butterfly, and Alayna Kisiday (Jr., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) in the freestyle. Willamette attained an overall time of 1:50.52. The Bearcats were 1.31 seconds behind Whitman College, which earned fifth place at 1:49.21. George Fox University was just under two seconds behind the Bearcats, as the Bruins finished in 1:52.51.

Linfield University won the women's 200 medley relay. The Wildcats were timed at 1:47.92, as they took first place by .14, with Pacific Lutheran University in second place at 1:48.06.

In the women's 800-yard freestyle relay, Willamette placed seventh. Swimming on the relay for the Bearcats were Kisiday, Ciatti, Jacqueline Hall (Jr., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS), and Sarah Jenner (Jr., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS). They earned a time of 8:07.67. Linfield won the women's 800 free relay with a time of 7:50.83.

Linfield topped the women's team standings with a perfect score of 80 after two events. The University of Puget Sound was tied for second with Whitman at 64 points. Pacific Lutheran owned fourth place at 62, while Willamette and George Fox shared a tie for fifth place at 52. Lewis & Clark College was seventh with 46 points. Pacific University was eighth at 40 points, and Whitworth was ninth with 30 points.

Action at the NWC Swimming Championships will continue through Sunday, Feb. 11. On Friday and Saturday, the prelims will begin at 9:30 a.m. (PST) with the finals at 5 p.m. On Sunday, the prelims will start at 9:30 a.m. and the finals will begin at 4 p.m. The 1,650-yard freestyle events will be held on Sunday between the main sessions.