Feb. 9, 2008

Whitworth Leads Men’s and Women’s Races in NWC Swimming

Second Day Final Results

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Whitworth holds the lead over Puget Sound in both the women’s and men’s standings after two days of the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships being held at the King County Aquatic Center.

The Whitworth women scored 294 points during six second-day finals to extend what had been an 18-point lead into a 48-point advantage. The Pirates have 520 points entering Sunday’s final day of competition, while 11-time defending conference champion Puget Sound has 472 points. Rounding out the women’s team scoring are Lewis & Clark with 281, Whitman 274, Willamette 189, Linfield 176, Pacific Lutheran 149 and Pacific 100.

On the men’s side, five-time defending champion Whitworth opened up a sizable 83.5-point lead over second place Puget Sound. The Pirates have 477.5 points while the Loggers sit at 394 points. After a strong second day, Linfield is in third place with 329 points, followed by Whitman with 321.5, Pacific Lutheran 253, Lewis & Clark 159, Willamette 117 and Pacific 111.

“Our men have put together a solid meet overall,” said Whitworth head coach Steve Schadt. “There hasn’t been one thing that has stood out. We’ve been chipping away and chipping away the whole meet.”

The Puget Sound women made a strong statement in the night’s first final, the 200 medley relay. The Loggers rode strong legs from Jessie Kuwada in the backstroke and Amy Polansky in the breaststroke to establish a 1.1-second lead, and they held on to defeat hard-charging Whitworth in a time of 1:50.49. The Pirates finished second in 1:50.79.

The Loggers highlight reel continued in the next final, the 400 individual medley, where Sarah Mirick stayed closed enough to Whitworth’s Yasi Kheshgi through 300 yards to use her superior strength in the freestyle. Trailing by about a second entering the final 50 yards, Mirick swept past Khesghi in the final 25 yards and touched out for the victory, clocking 4:39.40 to Kheshgi’s 4:39.67. Mirick’s time was a nearly nine-second improvement over her preliminary time from Saturday morning. Defending champion Lindsay Nixon of Lewis & Clark was third in 4:42.68.

Whitworth got back on track when Samantha Kephart became a four-time event champion, swimming away from the field to win the 100 butterfly in a time of 56.74. Whitman’s Erin Pettersen improved her preliminary time by more than a second to finish second in 58.16.

Following the butterfly, Whitworth held a 330-325 lead over Puget Sound, but the Pirates got some separation from the Loggers by taking the top three spots in the next event, the 200 freestyle. As she had the night before in the 500 freestyle, Natalie Turner successfully defended her title in the 200, winning with a 1:53.19 clocking. With Ashley LeCoq and Christine DeHaven finishing second and third for Whitworth, the Pirates increased their lead to 395-355.

“The 200 freestyle was big for us,” Schadt said. “UPS is still out there, so we’ve got to finish strong.”

In the next event, the Loggers came right back with Amy Polansky defending her conference title in the 100 breaststroke with a winning time of 1:07.59. Kelley O’Dell made it a 1-2 UPS finish, clocking 1:10.59 to nip Whitworth’s Brenda Foster by .35 seconds.

Linfield picked up its first women’s event win of this meet when Rose Hollingsworth captured her second straight Northwest Conference 100 backstroke with a time of 58.65.

With the top three finishers in the 200 freestyle each swimming a leg in the closing 800 freestyle, the Whitworth women closed the night’s women’s finals with a meet record 7:45.45, shattering the old record of 7:51.55 set by the Pirates one year ago.

The Logger men got off to a strong start in the first men’s event of the evening session, setting a new meet record and easily defeating runner-up Whitworth to win the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:34.45. The old conference meet record was 1:34.68 set by Whitworth in 2003.

Whitman, which had a solid first day while setting four school records, continued its strong showing with a 1-2 finish in the men’s 400 individual medley. Eric Molnar and Ysbrand Nusse trailed Pacific Lutheran’s Jay Jones through 300 yards before moving past the PLU swimmer and taking the top two spots, Molnar winning with a time of 4:13.95.

Dom Rieniets successfully defended his title in the men’s 100 butterfly and became the first-ever Northwest Conference male swimmer to go under 50 seconds, winning the event in an all-time Northwest Conference record 49.57. His time is ranked No. 2 in the country this year.

Josh Parfitt picked up Linfield’s second consecutive event victory, winning the 200 freestyle in a meet record 1:42.61. Parfitt beat a strong field that included a pair of Whitworth swimmers in second-place finisher Michael Woodward, and defending conference champion and former record holder David Dolphay, who placed third.

Puget Sound’s Hughes brothers, Paul and Aaron, finished first and second in the 100 breaststroke. Paul clocked a winning time of 56.14, breaking his own all-time Northwest Conference record of 56.35 set in 2006 in winning his third straight 100 breaststroke title. Paul’s time currently ranks him second in the nation among NCAA Division III swimmers. Aaron’s second-place time was 58.03.

Kevin Caple became Linfield’s third winner in four events when he won the 100 backstroke in a time of 52.82. Caple beat the defending champion, Puget Sound’s Jackson Kowalski, who placed second in 52.97.

The Wildcats finished off a strong second day with a meet record-setting time in the men’s 800 freestyle relay. With 200 freestyle champion Parfitt leading off, Linfield clocked 6:52.89 to break the old record of 6:53.50 set by Whitworth in 2004.

The Northwest Conference Swimming Championships concludes on Sunday with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals starting at 5 p.m.

LUTE NOTES: Jay Jones had PLU's best finish on Saturday, placing third in the 400 individual medley in a time of 4:16.03. His time ranks him second on the all-time PLU list. Andy Stetzler also raced in a championship final, placing fifth in the 200 freestyle with a 1:46.17. Alex Limoges moved up one spot from qualifying, finishing seventh in the 100 butterfly in 54.83. On the women's side, Jessie Klauder jumped two spots to sixth in the 400 individual medley, clocking 4:55.58. Lacey Wear had the women's best individual finish thus far in the NWC meet, placing fifth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.28. Casey Jackson also raced in a championship final, placing eighth in the 100 backstroke in 1:02.39.