Bearcats Compete at NWC Relays in Portland

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

PORTLAND, ORE. -- Members of the Willamette University men's and women's swimming teams participated in the NWC Relays, hosted by Lewis & Clark College on Sunday, Oct. 28. The meet included three relays featuring two men and two women swimming for each team, plus six women's relays and six men's relays with three swimmers per team.

Willamette finished in the top six in four events.

The Bearcat men's team earned fifth place in the 900-yard freestyle relay. Competing on the relay team were Zander Le Bel (So., Dallas, TX/Richardson HS), Alex Burkhart (So., Los Gatos, CA/Los Gatos HS) and Alex Guffey (Fr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS). Their combined time was 9:21.06.

WU took sixth place in the men's 300-yard backstroke relay, the men's 300-yard medley relay and the women's 900-yard freestyle relay.

Swimming for Willamette in the men's backstroke relay were Sean Piper (So, Normandy Park, WA/John F. Kennedy HS), Guffey and Le Bel. They completed the race in 2:54.62. In the men's medley relay, Piper swam the first leg and was followed by Kulananalu Tarnas (Fr., Kamuela, HI/Hawaii Preparatory Academy) and Andrew Lum (Fr., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School), as WU registered a time of 3:01.77.

Bearcats who swam in the women's freestyle relay were Hope Nelson (So., Providence, RI/South Kingstown HS), Michaela Zuber (Fr., Sacramento, CA/Sheldon HS) and Christa Rohrbach (Fr., Concord, CA/Clayton Valley HS). Willamette's time was 10:32.82.

Whitworth won the combined team title with 89 points.

Willamette will open the dual match season on Friday, Nov. 2 at Whitworth. The meet is scheduled to get underway at 6 p.m. (PDT).