Willamette Places 2nd in Women's 400 Medley Relay on 1st Day of Bruin Invite

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

NEWBERG, Ore. -- Willamette University earned second place in the women's 400-yard medley relay, and numerous Bearcats competed in the "A" finals or placed in the top eight in individual events, during the first day of the 2019 Bruin Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 23. The Willamette men's swimming team was in second place out of five teams at the end of the first day, while the Bearcat women's swimming team was fourth out of six teams. The meet will conclude with preliminary heats on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 24 followed by final heats on Sunday evening.

Swimming for the Bearcats in the women's 400 medley relay were Corinne Pierson (So., Port Townsend, WA/Port Townsend HS), Cameron Taggesell (Jr., Sonoma, CA/Sonoma Valley HS), Min Wei (Fr., Fushun, China/Cascade HS), and Olivia Frenkel (Fy., Fairfield, CA/Angelo Rodriguez HS). They achieved a time of 4:10.90. Pacific Lutheran University won the race in 4:05.17. Lewis & Clark College was third in 4:13.51.

Pacific Lutheran topped the women's standings with 526.5 points, while Lewis & Clark was second with 310 points. Host George Fox University was third at 280 and Willamette was fourth at 214. Pacific University followed in fifth place at 130.5 and Mills College (Calif.) was sixth with 38 points.

Willamette finished in third place in the men's 400-yard medley relay, as Will Reeves (Fy., Kirkland, WA/Home Schooled), Ben Nickell (Fy., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS), Derek Ludwig (Sr., Moraga, CA/Campolindo HS), and Ben Fritz (Jr., Los Gatos, CA/Leigh HS) combined for a time of 3:43.22. Pacific Lutheran took first place in 3:32.45. Lewis & Clark placed second in 3:36.09.

The men's standings were led by Pacific Lutheran with 415 points. Willamette was second with 331 points. Lewis & Clark held third place at 291, with George Fox in fourth place at 213 and Pacific in fifth place at 116.

In the individual events, the top eight swimmers from the prelims competed in the "A" finals on Saturday evening, while swimmers who placed ninth through 16th in the prelims competed in the "B" finals. Overall placings in an event were based on times from both of the finals, so swimmers in the "B" finals were able to place in the top eight if they earned better times that swimmers in the "A" finals.

Top Individual Women's Results for Willamette

Wei won the "B" final in the 100-yard butterfly and placed seventh overall with a time of 1:03.06. Pierson  competed in the "A" final of the 100-yard butterfly and placed ninth overall in 1:03.75.

Taggesell qualified for the "A" final in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:35.74 and placed seventh. In the 200-yard backstroke Pierson was fourth in 2:14.19 and Jensine Rasmussen (Sr., Tacoma, WA/Stadium HS) was sixth in 2:15.77, as both WU swimmers competed in the "A" final.

Frenkel placed fourth in the "A" final of the 100-yard freestyle. Her time was 56.09 seconds. Frenkel also competed "A" final in the 500-yard freestyle, and placed fourth with a time of 5:27.60.

Top Individual Men's Results for Willamette

Ludwig was fourth and Ben Hedman (Sr., Davis, CA/Davis HS) was sixth in the "A" final of the 100-yard butterfly. Ludwig earned a time of 52.82 seconds, while Hedman was timed at 54.18 seconds.  Nickell placed eighth overall in the 200-yard breaststroke after registering a time of 2:33.98 in the "A" final.

Reeves and Colin Hakeman (Sr., Bellingham, WA/Sehome HS) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the "A" final of 200-yard backstroke. Reeves was fourth in 2:05.67 and Hakeman was fifth in 2:08.64.

Frtiz attained fifth place in the "A" final of the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.91 seconds. Alexander Hougan (Sr., Olympia, WA/Olympia HS) of Willamette won the "B" final in the 100-yard freestyle and placed sixth overall in 49.92 seconds, just 0.01 behind Fritz. Daniel Fang (Jr., Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/Catholic HS) was second in the "B" final and ninth overall after completing the race in 50.42 seconds.

Later, Fritz added a third place result in the "A" final of the 500-yard freestyle. He was timed at 4:56.74. Will Compton (Fy., Portage, MI/Portage Northern HS) of WU placed sixth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:58.91 in the "A" final.

Three Bearcats competed in the "A" final and placed among the top eight finishers in the 200-yard individual medley. Hedman was fourth in 2:01.91, while Ludwig was fifth in 2:03.35 and Reeves took eighth in 2:10.07.