Linfield Defeats Willamette Men's and Women's Swimming in Dual Meet
By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director
SALEM, Ore. -- The Linfield College swimming teams defeated Willamette University in a Northwest Conference dual meet on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the WU Natatorium. The Wildcats won the women's competition, 111-94, while the Linfield men's team earned a 118-87 victory.
Willamette's women fell to 3-5 on the season, 3-4 in the NWC. The Bearcat men moved to 2-5 overall, 2-5 in the NWC. For Linfield, the women's team upped its record to 6-1 overall and 6-1 in the NWC. The men's team from Linfield improved to 4-3 on the season, 4-3 in the NWC.
It was the final dual meet of the season for both Willamette and Linfield. The Bearcats and the Wildcats will compete at the 2016 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships, set for Feb. 12-14 in Federal Way, Washington.
In Saturday's dual meet, Willamette won four women's events, with Cassie Tallman (So., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) and Malia Santos (Sr., Kailua-Kona, HI/Kealakehe HS) each recording two victories. The Bearcat men's team won three events, as Reuben White (So., Portland, OR/Westview HS), Alika Masei (Jr., Salem, OR/West Salem HS) and Mark Yuvienco (So., San Jose, CA/Bellarmine College Prep) each placed first in one event.
Tallman took first place in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard breaststroke. She achieved a time of 2:03.60. She held off Erin Nelson of Linfield, who placed second in 2:03.92. In the 200 breaststroke, Tallman's winning time was 2:31.66.
Santos recorded her wins in the 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly. In the 50 freestyle, she placed first in 25.89 seconds for a marign of victory of 0.03. Nikki Overton of Linfield was second at 25.92. Kiley Lin (Fr., Palo Alto, CA/Henry M. Gunn HS) of WU placed third at 26.35 and teammate Rachel Harvill (Fr., Alamo, CA/Monte Vista HS) was fourth at 26.38.
In the 200 butterfly, Santos touched out at 2:25.85. She won by 6.38 seconds over Jamie Dunn of Linfield, who placed second at 2:32.23.
Elizabeth Fry and Evette Dow each placed first in two events for the Linfield women's team. Fry won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 11:32.53 and prevailed in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:15.70. Dow was victorious in consecutive events, as she won the 100-yard freestyle in 55.65 seconds and the 200-yard backstroke in 2:10.87.
White led a 1-2 finish for the Bearcats in the men's 200-yard freestyle. White's time was 1:48.53, while Yuvienco followed closely at 1:48.72. Juan Vidal of Linfield was third in 1:49.13.
During the meet, White added two second place times for the Bearcats. He tailed only Matthew Hanson of Linfield in the 50-yard freestyle, with Hanson at 22.92 seconds and White at 23.24. In the 100-yard freestyle, Linfield's Ian White was the winner in 49.98 seconds, while Reuben White was second at 50.53.
Yuvienco won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:56.98. Joshua Luffred took second for the Wildcats at 5:00.92. Luffred won the 1,000-yard freestyle for Linfield earlier in the meet after earning a time of 10:17.59. Shelby Merrill (Jr., Thousand Oaks, CA/Westlake HS) of WU finished second in the 1,000 at 10:21.08.
Masei placed first in the 200-yard individual medley. His time was 2:02.50. Masei recorded second place finished in the 200-yard backstroke (2:04.34) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:16.87).
Alex La Rosa of Linfield won the 200-backstroke in 2:00.97. Victor Brasil was first in the 200 breaststroke for the Wildcats in 2:31.66, finishing in front of Masei by less than a second.
The win in the 200 backstroke was one of two victories for La Rosa. He also registered the top time in the 200-yard butterfly at 1:56.20.