Willamette Wins Five Events during Soka Triangular in Swimming

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

ALISO VIEJO, CALIF. -- Freshman Alex Guffey (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) from the Willamette University men's swimming team won two events to lead the Bearcats at the Soka Triangular on Saturday, Jan. 5. The Bearcats won five events overall while competing in men's and women's swimming against Soka University (Calif.) and Lake Forest College (Illinois).

Both of Willamette's teams earned their first victories of the season, as the women defeated Soka, 111-55, and the men downed Soka, 114-95. The WU women lost to Lake Forest, 125-80, while the Bearcat men fell to Lake Forest, 120-92. Willamette's teams are 1-5 in dual matches this season.

Completing the double-dual meet, Lake Forest defeated the Soka women's team, 138-46, and downed the Soka men's team, 119-93.

Guffey won the men's 200-yard freestyle for Willamette and added a second triumph in the 100-yard butterfly.

Also winning for the Bearcats were Malia Santos (Fr., Kailua-Kona, HI/Kealakehe HS) in the women's 100-yard backstroke, Sean Piper (So, Normandy Park, WA/John F. Kennedy HS) in the men's 100-yard backstroke and Summer Elias (So., Elko, NV/Elko HS) in the women's 100-yard breaststroke.

Guffey prevailed in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:53.36, as he won by more than two seconds. Nick Peck from Soka was second in 1:55.62.

The Bearcats achieved a 1-2 finish in the men's 100-yard butterfly. Guffey's winning time was 56.93 seconds, as he won by 0.04 over teammate Andrew Lum (Fr., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School), who took second in 56.97 seconds. Jake Edelstein of Soka finished third in 57.51 seconds.

Santos won the women's 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:06.13. She won by 0.44 over Kelsey Hoeper from Lake Forest, who placed second in 1:06.57.

In the men's 100-yard backstroke, Piper won a very close three-way finish with a time of 58.04 seconds. Zachary Wenner of Lake Forest touched out in 58.12 seconds for second place and Josh Reagan from Soka was third in 58.15 seconds.

Elias won by nearly a second in the women's 100-yard breaststroke. Her time was 1:18.25. Jessica Hanch from Lake Forest claimed second place in 1:19.22, barely edging out Erin Parkinson (Jr., Everson, WA/Ferndale HS) of WU, who took third place in 1:19.39.

In addition to Lum's second place result behind Guffey in the men's 100-yard butterfly, there were several other second place finishes for the Bearcats.

Hope Nelson (So., Providence, RI/South Kingstown HS) took second place in both of the women's distance events, as she registered a time of 12:00.03 in the 1,00-yard freestyle and achieved a time of 5:50.43 in the 500-yard freestyle.

In the 500, Nelson held off Sabrina Letwein from Lake Forest by just 0.33 seconds. Letwein finished third in 5:50.76. Sarah Stoklosa of Lake Forest won the 500 in 5:46.18.

Santos added to her win in the 100 backstroke by taking a close second place result in the 50-yard freestyle. Hoeper from Lake Forest won the 50 in 26.49 seconds, narrowly edging out Santos, who was timed at 26.56 seconds.

Piper placed second for WU in the men's 200-yard individual medley in a time of 2:08.50. Elias took second place in the women's 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:01.51. Kulananalu Tarnas (Fr., Kamuela, HI/Hawaii Preparatory Academy) placed second in the men's 100-yard breaststroke at 1:07.84.

Willamette also earned second place in both of the men's relays and one women's relay.

The Bearcats took second in the men's 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:44.86. The race was won by Lake Forest in 1:43.50. Swimming for Willamette were Piper, Chris Whitehead (Jr., Sherwood, OR/Sherwood HS), Lum and Guffey.

WU placed second in the women's 200-yard freestyle relay. Lake Forest won the event in 1:47.39 with Willamette following at 1:52.99. Willamette's relay team included Kersey Bars (So., Springfield, OR/Springfield HS), Kayla Kosaki (Sr., Hilo, HI/Waiakea HS), Jessica Beach (Fr., Salem, OR/West Salem HS) and Nelson.

Willamette concluded the day by placing second in the men's 200-yard freestyle relay. Lake Forest won the race in 1:30.96 and Willamette was officially second in 1:37.96. The WU relay included Aran Johnson (So., Seattle, WA/Garfield HS), Alex Burkhart (So., Los Gatos, CA/Los Gatos HS), Zander Le Bel (So., Dallas, TX/Richardson HS) and Whitehead. The Lake Forest "B" team had a time of 1:37.90, 0.06 faster than Willamette, but was competing exhibition during the race.

The Bearcats will continue their Winter Training in the San Diego area for several days before returning home to take on the College of Idaho on Saturday, Jan. 12. Meet time at the Willamette Natatorium is slated for 11 a.m. (PST).