Individual Results
WOMEN: Pacific 136, Linfield 69
MEN: Pacific 111, Linfield 94
FOREST GROVE – The Pacific swim team got an early wakeup call from Linfield, but heard the alarm loud and clear.
After the Boxer women lost the opening 200 Yard Medley Relay to Linfield in a photo finish, they swept first place in the remaining events on the way to their third consecutive Northwest Conference dual meet victory. The Boxer men also defeated the Wildcats to give Pacific a clean sweep of the weekend's duals. The women (3-3 NWC, 4-3 overall) defeated Linfield 136-69, while the men (2-4, 3-4) prevailed 111-94 at the Forest Grove Aquatic Center on Saturday.
“I think what was nice was the depth came through,” said Pacific head swim coach
Alec Webster. “We were able to We got those second through fifths on both sides.”
The Boxers were caught a little off-guard when their relay quartet of
Kristine Valdez* (Jr., Poulsbo, Wash.), Alexandria Bing (So., Roseburg, Ore.),
Amber Chase (Fr., Tigard, Ore.) and
Keely Craig (So., Federal Way, Wash.) came up .01 seconds short of Linfield in the 200 Medley Relay, as the Wildcats won by a fingernail in 1:57.14. Leave it to
Amanda Clark (Fr., Olympia, Wash.) to get the Boxers back on track.
Clark re-broke her own school record in the 500 Freestyle, finishing in 10:47.72, a nearly seven second improvement and 46.28 seconds ahead of Linfield's Jami Kenny (12:34.00). Clark continues to creep up on national qualifying times as her mark puts her in the top 30 in NCAA Division III. Clark added an even more dominating win in the 500 Free (5:16.16) before calling it a day.
Allison Clark (Jr., Keizer, Ore.) and Katherine Porter (Fr., McMinnville, Ore.) were also two time winners, while taking part in Pacific's victorious 200 Free Relay with Craig and
Nicole Koch (Jr., Longmont, Colo.) (1:45.71). Clark added firsts in the 400 Invididual Medley (4:50.06) and 100 Breaststroke (1:11.47), while Porter took top honors in the 50 Free (25.13) and 100 Free (55.68)
Linfield's men also came away with a thrilling win as Lee Rivers edged out Pacific's
Kramer Ichimura (Fr., Mililani, Hawaii) to take the 200 Free by .13 seconds (1:49.86). Ichimura would rebound with a first place finish in the 100 Butterfly (55.70), edging Linfield's Sean Iwamasa by a little less than a second.
Not all of the close calls went Linfield's way, however.
Spencer Chandler* (Fr., Weiser, Idaho) held off Linfield's Marc Pereira at the wall to win the 100 Free in 53.04, while
Michael Hargitt* (So., Oregon City, Ore.) held off the Wildcats' Seth Ruwitch to win the 100 Breast by .87 seconds in 1:02.98. Hargitt added a win in the 400 IM (4:26.31) and combined with
Dylan Cramer (Jr., Caldwell, Idaho) and
Joel Cowley (Sr., Portland, Ore.) on the first place 200 Medley Relay (1:41.94). Cowley added a first place in the 100 Backstroke (56.54), outdueling Cramer to win by 1.35 seconds.
Rivers added a second victory for the Linfield men, winning the 500 Free in 5:04.26, while teammate Ian Coker took second (5:16.45). The Wildcats also closed the meet with a win in the Men's 200 Free Relay (1:36.22), but it was not enough to keep Pacific from its second consecutive dual meet win.
“It was nice to be close to the bigger teams in the conference prior to this,” said Webster. “Then to finish up with these sweeps is nice. Everybody got up and raced and didn't back down at all.”
The Boxers return to the pool for their final conference dual meet, hosting Lewis & Clark on Saturday 11:00 a.m.
