Willamette Competes at First Day of NWC Swimming Championships

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

GRESHAM, ORE. -- On the first day of the Northwest Conference swimming championships, Lauren Ballinger (So., Wenatchee, WA/Wenatchee HS) of Willamette was 13th in the preliminaries of the 50-yard freestyle. She placed eighth in the consolation finals of the 50 freestyle in 26.00 seconds to take 16th overall.

Willamette was seventh in the women's 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:45.71. Swimming in the 200 free relay were Erin Parkinson (Fr., Everson, WA/Ferndale HS), Kayla Kosaki (So., Hilo, HI/Waiakea HS), Chelsea Ibarra (Sr., Santa Cruz, CA/Georgiana Bruce Kirby Prep) and Ballinger.

The Bearcats placed eighth in the women's 400-yard medley relay in 4:18.02, which was 8.09 seconds faster than WU's seed time. Members of the relay were Kosaki, Parkinson, Kara Koetje (Jr., Arlington, WA/Stanwood HS).

Koetje placed 22nd out of 32 entries in the 200-yard individual medley. Her time was 2:25.50.

For the Willamette men's team, Ian McGahan (Tacoma, WA/Stadium HS) took 21st place in the 500-yard freestyle. He completed the race in 5:36.36.

The WU women's team was in eighth place in the team standings after the first day with 47 points. The Bearcats were just three points behind Linfield, which had 50 points and was in seventh place.

Whitworth held first place in both the women's team standings and the men's team standings. The Whitworth women earned 254 points on the first day, while the University of Puget Sound was second with 172 points.

The Whitworth men's squad led the way with 289.5 points. Puget Sound was second with 167 points. Willamette's men's team did not score on the first day.

Action will continue on Saturday, Feb. 26 and Sunday, Feb. 27.