WU Women Finish Eighth, Men Ninth, at Northwest Invitational

By Sara Brooks, Assistant Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6219

PORTLAND, ORE. -- The Willamette University swimming teams concluded action at the Northwest Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 22. The women's team finished in eighth place. The Bearcat men's team finished in ninth place. The two-day event was hosted by Lewis & Clark College.

Gwen Schulze (Sr., Silverdale, WA//Central Kitsap HS/Austin College) took sixth place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:02.84 on Saturday. Schulze also finished eighth in the 200-yard backstroke and ninth in the 200-yard individual medley on Friday.

Senior Jenna Larrow (Boise, ID/Timberline HS) also captured a sixth place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Larrow finished with a time of 19:14.93. Larrow's teammate, Hanna Connett (Jr. Pullman, WA/Pullman HS) completed the race in 20:00.15, good for tenth place. Connett also finished tenth in the 400-yard individual medley.

Freshman Lauren Ballinger (Wenatchee, WA/Wenatchee HS) took ninth place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.66 seconds. Ballinger captured thirteenth place in the 100-yard freestyle on Friday.

Kayla Kosaki (Fr., Hilo, HI/Waiakea HS) swam to an eleventh place finish in the 200-yard butterfly during the finals of that event on Friday. Kosaki touched the wall with a time of 2:29.74.

The women's 800-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard medley relay and the 200-yard relay each finished in seventh place in their respective races.

The women finished in eighth place overall with 190 points. The University of Puget Sound won the meet with 801 points. Whitworth University finished second with 607 points.

On the men's side, Jacob Munson-McGee (So., Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces HS) finished in tenth place in the 200-yard backstroke on Friday. Munson-McGee swam the race in a time of 2:22.58. Munson-McGee finished the 200-yard freestyle in 2:03.58, good for fourteenth place on Saturday.

In the men's 200-yard butterfly, WU captured twelfth and thirteenth place on Friday night. Kevin Tangeman (Sr., Sherwood, OR/Sherwood HS) finished in 12th with a time of 2:25.35. Freshman Ian McGahan (Tacoma, WA/Stadium HS) swam the event in a time of 2:29.17 to take 13th.

The Willamette men finished in ninth place with 21 points. Whitworth University won the men's side of the Northwest Invitational with 647 total points. The University of Puget Sound finished second with 628 points.