Willamette Swimmers Place Fifth at NWC Relays

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

SALEM, ORE. -- Willamette University hosted the 2014 Northwest Conference Relays in swimming on Friday, Oct. 31 at the WU Natatorium. The Bearcats took fifth place in the combined standings for women's events, men's events and coed events.

Whitworth University and Pacific Lutheran University tied for first place with 64 points each. Whitman College finished just one point out of the lead with 63 points in third place. Pacific University was fourth with 39 points, with Willamette in fifth with 29 points and Linfield College in sixth with 24 points. Each college or university was allowed one scoring relay per event.

The University of Puget Sound and Lewis & Clark College did not participate. George Fox University does not compete in swimming.

Willamette's top result was a third place finish in the men's 300-yard butterfly relay with a time of 2:44.74. Whitman won the event in 2:38.17, while Pacific Lutheran placed second at 2:42.15.

Swimming on the 300-yard butterfly relay for Willamette were Mark Yuvienco (Fr., San Jose, CA/Bellarmine College Prep), Dan Aki (So., Union City, CA/James Logan HS) and Andrew Lum (Jr., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School).

The Bearcats earned fourth place in in six events. The events were the coed 200-yard medley relay, women's 300-yard backstroke relay, women's 300-yard breaststroke relay, men's 300-yard breaststroke relay, men's 600-yard freestyle relay and men's 300-yard medley relay.

In the coed events, each relay team included two men and two women. Willamette's time in the 200-yard medley relay was 1:49.53. Members of the relay were Alika Masei (So., Salem, OR/West Salem HS), Ashlyn Witherwax (Fr., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School), Cassie Tallman (Fr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS), and Jason Bayang (Wahiawa, HI/Hoala School).

Swimming for WU in the women's 300-yard backstroke relay were Michaela Zuber (Jr., Sacramento, CA/Sheldon HS), Witherwax and Tallman. They achieved a time of 3:18.32 to edge out Pacific for fourth place by less than one second. Pacific finished in fifth in 3:19.08.

Witherwax swam the first leg for the Bearcats in the women's 300-yard breaststroke relay. Also swimming were Summer Elias (Sr., Elko, NV/Elko HS) and Tallman. Their combined time was 3:39.01.

In the men's 300-yard breaststroke relay, Willamette's time was 3:14.91. Masei started the relay, which continued with Josh Bumgarner (So., Walla Walla, WA/Walla Walla HS) and finished with Kulananalu Tarnas (So., Kamuela, HI/Hawaii Preparatory Academy).

The WU team in the men's 600-yard freestyle relay included Yuvienco, Reuben White (Fr., Portland, OR/Westview HS) and Lum. They registered a time of 5:34.85 and missed third place by just 0.32. Whitman was third at 5:34.53. The winner of the event was Pacific in 5:27.53.

Masei opened the men's 300-yard medley relay, with Aki and Yuvienco also swimming. The Bearcats achieved a time of 2:53.43. Whitworth took first place in 2:43.65.

Willamette will compete at the NWC Sprint Pentathlon on Saturday, Nov. 1. The meet will be hosted by Linfield College, with the action getting underway in McMinnville, Ore., at 11 a.m. (PDT). Swimmers will be able to participate in a 100-yard individual medley as well as 50-yard races in each stroke.