CORVALLIS, Ore. – Three new men's meet records were set, Whitman College overtook Whitworth University in the men's division, and Pacific Lutheran University tightened its grip on the women's division on the second day of the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships Saturday here at the Osborn Aquatic Center.
MENIn the 100 yard breaststroke, Victor Brasil of Linfield College swam a 55.71, improving his NCAA Division III provisional qualifying mark, to erase the NWC Championship meet record of 55.78 by Rory Buck of Whitworth in 2012. Earlier in the day, Jason Smith of Whitworth completed the 100 yard backstroke in 50.17 during the preliminaries, improving his own NCAA qualifying mark and topping the meet record of 50.30 by Wesley Walton of Whitworth in 2014.
In the final event of the evening, the Whitman 800 yard freestyle relay team posted a time of 6:45.92, also a provisional mark, to supplant its own meet record of 6:50.15 in 2013. That gave the Missionaries a team score of 447 to 438 for Whitworth. Pacific Lutheran is third at 341, followed by the University of Puget Sound at 297, Linfield at 187, Willamette University at 181, Pacific University (Ore.) at 129, and Lewis & Clark College at 112.
Other winning times which met NCAA provisional standards included a 1:32.11 by Whitworth in the 200 yard medley relay, a 3:59.91 by Walton in the 400 yard individual medley, a 48.73 by Karl Mering of Whitman in the 100 yard butterfly (his fourth consecutive title), a 1:40.30 by Mering in the 200 yard freestyle (back-to-back crowns), and a 50.64 by Sam Starr of Whitman in the 100 yard breaststroke.
Also posting NCAA marks were Matt Wehr of PLU (4:03.28) and Cole Weinstein of Whitman (4:05.30) in the 400 individual medley, Wesley Tatum of Whitworth in the 100 butterfly (49.10), Clark Sun of Whitman in the 200 freestyle (1:40.55), Joe Bowley of PLU (57.32) and Trevor Case of Whitworth (57.46) in the 100 breaststroke, and Patrick Wilber of Whitworth in the 100 backstroke (51.08). Smith finished second in the 100 backstroke finals but his 50.76 in that event did not better his mark in the preliminaries.
WOMENPacific Lutheran's lead is approaching a 200-point differential after the Lutes scored victories in both relays and one individual event. PLU's wins included the 200 yard medley relay in 1:47.12, the 800 yard freestyle relay in 7:45.58, and the 100 breaststroke in which Shanell Sullenberger posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:05.23. The Lutes now have 531 points, followed by Whitman at 344, Whitworth at 334, Puget Sound at 280, Pacific at 228, Linfield at 183, Willamette at 175, and Lewis & Clark at 109.
Melissa Norrish of UPS won the 400 individual medley in 4.31.28, an NCAA qualifier, as she repeated last year's championship. Katie Porter of Pacific took the 100 butterfly in 56.76 but had a better qualifying mark (56.64) in the preliminaries. Other winners were Alisa Stang of Whitworth in the 200 freestyle (1:54.18) and Jacqueline Beal of Whitworth with a second straight win in the 100 backstroke (58.31). Bridget Louis had an NCAA mark (4:35.03) while finishing second in the 400 individual medley.
The Northwest Conference Championships conclude Sunday, with preliminaries at 10:00 a.m. and finals at 5:00 p.m.
