Bearcat Women's Swimming Team Wins Bruin Invitational Title
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
NEWBERG, Ore. -- After winning 10 events over two days, including six victories during the second day of competition on Sunday, Dec. 4, the Willamette University women's swimming team took first place overall at the 2022 Bruin Invitational. The meet was hosted by George Fox University at the Chehalem Parks and Recreation Aquatic Center.
Willamette's women finished with an impressive 814 points. George Fox University placed second with 767 points, while Pacific University was third at 353. Soka University (Calif.) earned 202 points for fourth place, and Linfield University claimed fifth place with a partial squad and 22 points.
In the men's team competition, Willamette placed third behind George Fox and Soka. GFU won the men's title with 852.5 points. Soka was second with 624 points and Willamette was next with 547. Pacific took fourth at 123 and Linfield was fifth with 94.5 points.
"Today was another great day of racing from both of our teams," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers said. "It's always tough to get up and swim back-to-back days, especially with a prelims and finals style, but our swimmers stepped up big and swam incredibly well. Overall, I believe this is the fastest we've ever been at this meet and we've taken the opportunity to set ourselves up well heading into the spring semester. Huge congratulations to our women for taking the team title and to our men on finishing third overall."
On Sunday, Alayna Kisiday (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) from the WU women's team and Julius Wilhelmi (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) from the Bearcat men's team each won their respective 50-yard and 200-yard freestyle events.
Kisiday placed first in the women's 50 with a time of 25.50 seconds and won the 200 free in 2:01.82. She prevailed in the 50 by 0.13 seconds over Rachel Peck from Soka, who was second in 25.63 seconds. Tatum Good (So., Scottsdale, AZ/Scottsdale Prep Academy) of Willamette added a third place result in 26.24 seconds. In the 200 free, Kisiday led a 1-2-3 finish for the Bearcats, as Sarah Jenner (So., Normandy Park, WA/Stanford Online HS) placed second in 2:03.51 and Gwyn Fritz (Jr., Los Gatos, CA/Leigh HS) was third in 2:04.51.
Wilhelmi bested the field in the men's 50 by completing the two lengths of the pool in 21.40 seconds. He won by 0.32 seconds over Levi Gibson of GFU. Wilhelmi was victorious in the 200 free as he completed the race in 1:48.07. It was a close finish, with Jaeger Frazier from Soka taking second place at 1:48.59.
Also winning an individual event for the Bearcat women's team were Anna Hornbeck (So., Bend, OR/Bend HS) in the 100-yard breaststroke and Good in the 100-yard backstroke. Hornbeck took first place in the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.05, while Jenner grabbed third place at 1:10.42. Good earned her victory in the 100 backstroke in 1:01.71. Emma Noffsinger (Fy., Arvada, CO/Northglenn HS) from Willamette was third with a time of 1:03.63.
For the men's team, Cole Lindberg (So., Moses Lake, WA/Moses Lake Christian Academy) won the 200-yard butterfly in 2:02.31. He took first place by just over two seconds, as Cameron Alexander placed second for the Bruins at 2:04.55.
Willamette's women added wins in both of Sunday's relay events. In the 200-yard medley relay, WU's team of Good, Hornbeck, Ava Reich (Fy., Reno, NV/Robert McQueen HS), and Kisiday achieved the win in 1:55.48 with a margin of victory of 3.04 seconds over GFU. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Good, Fritz, Jenner, and Kisiday won in 3:50.21 with a 5.64-second margin over the Bruins.
Other Top Results for the Bearcats
WU earned second place in the men's 200-yard medley relay, completing the event just 0.06 out of first place. Swimming for the Bearcats were Logan Copeland (Jr., Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS), Ben Nickell (Sr., Boulder, CO/Fairview HS), Lindberg, and Wilhelmi. They registered a time of 1:37.60.
The Bearcats placed third in the men's 400-yard freestyle relay in a close three-way finish. George Fox won the race in 3:19.66, while Soka took second place in 3:19.90, and Willamette was third at 3:20.42. Competing for WU were Kevin Olmedo (Fy., La Canada, CA/St. Francis HS), Copeland, Lindberg, and Wilhelmi.
Nickell recorded a second place result in the men's 100-yard breaststroke. His time was 1:01.68.
Journey Brown (Fy., San Pedro, CA/Valley Christian HS) won the consolation final in the women's 50-yard freestyle. The race featured five swimmers. Brown won in 28.82 seconds.
Up Next for Willamette
The Bearcats have completed their fall schedule. They will return to action on Friday, Jan. 13 in Tacoma, Washington, against the University of Puget Sound. The NWC dual meet is set to begin at 6 p.m. (PST).