Willamette Men's Swimming Passes Pioneers in Final Event, 101-97

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

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University men's swimming team trailed by three points entering the final event, but the Bearcats won the 400-yard freestyle relay by a sizable margin to earn a 101-97 victory over Lewis & Clark College on Saturday, Jan. 19 at the WU Natatorium. In the women's competition, L&C defeated Willamette, 140-65.

Willamette held a slim lead after five events and again after nine events, but L&C won the 200-yard breaststroke, giving the Pioneers a 93-90 lead entering the final event. The Bearcats won the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:30.56, while the Pioneers took second place in 3:54.50.

Swimming on the 400 freestyle relay team for the Bearcats were Zander Le Bel (So., Dallas, TX/Richardson HS), Alex Burkhart (So., Los Gatos, CA/Los Gatos HS), Nick Barton (Fr., Oregon City, OR/Clackamas HS) and Aran Johnson (So., Seattle, WA/Garfield HS).

With the team victory, Willamette's men improved their dual match record to 3-6 overall, 1-5 in the Northwest Conference. The Pioneers fell to 0-7 overall, 0-6 in the NWC. It was Willamette's first NWC dual meet triumph in men's swimming since a 97-85 win over the Pioneers on Nov. 7, 2008.

L&C started the women's events with a narrow triumph in the 400-yard medley relay and went on to win nine of 11 events. Both Willamette's wins were recorded by Annie Marinello (Fr., Corvallis, OR/Philomath HS), who took first place in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard breaststroke.

The Pioneer women's team moved to 2-5 on the season, 2-4 in the NWC. Willamette slipped to 2-7 overall, 0-6 in the NWC.

In addition to the win in the 400 freestyle relay, the Bearcat men's team gained strength from a strong showing in the sprints.

Kulananalu Tarnas (Fr., Kamuela, HI/Hawaii Preparatory Academy) won the 100-yard freestyle for WU in 52.69 seconds, leading a 1-2-3 finish for the Bearcats. Johnson took second place in 53.32 seconds and Chris Whitehead (Jr., Sherwood, OR/Sherwood HS) finished third in 54.59 seconds.

Tarnas also won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.42 seconds, helping Willamette claim a 1-3-4 finish. River Poze from L&C placed second in 24.52 seconds, while Barton of WU was third at 24.72 and Burkhart from WU was fourth at 25.13.

Willamette freshman Alex Guffey (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) prevailed in the men's 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:49.70. He won by more than eight seconds, with Josh Stegman from Lewis & Clark taking second at 1:57.97. Johnson finished in third place for WU at 1:58.34.

Guffey also earned first place in the 500-yard freestyle. He completed the 20 lengths in 4:58.74. Seth Anderson from L&C was second in 5:06.13.

L&C received two wins each from Trevor Shapiro and Tyler Moody.

Shapiro won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:26.73 and placed first in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:04.19. Moody took first place in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09.93 and was first in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:23.16. Whitehead of Willamette achieved second place in the 200 breaststroke in 2:26.81.

For the WU women, Marinello led the way with her two victories. She won the 200-yard individual medley in a season-best 2:17.49. Ali Brauer of L&C placed second at 2:19.85. Marinello also achieved her top time so far this season in the 200-yard breaststroke, as she claimed first place in 2:32.67.

Rachel Cazden and Leslie Pfeiffer each won two events for the Pioneers. Cazden was first in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.18 and won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:12.83. Pfeiffer triumphed in the distance races, winning the 500-yard freestyle in 5:49.33 and the 1,000-yard freestyle in 11:22.32.

L&C opened the meet by holding off the Bearcats in the 400-yard medley relay. The Pioneers won the event with a time of 4:18.86, while Willamette finished second in 4:19.72.

Swimming in the 400 medley relay for WU were Michaela Zuber (Fr., Sacramento, CA/Sheldon HS), Marinello, Malia Santos (Fr., Kailua-Kona, HI/Kealakehe HS) and Erin Parkinson (Jr., Everson, WA/Ferndale HS).

It was Senior Day for the Bearcats. Seniors Kayla Kosaki (Sr., Hilo, HI/Waiakea HS) and Austin Williams (Sr., University Place, WA/Curtis HS) were honored prior to the start of the first event.

WU will close out the dual meet portion of the season on Saturday, Jan. 26, when the Bearcats travel to McMinnville, Ore., to take on NWC rival Linfield College. The meet is slated to begin at 1 p.m. (PST).