Whitman College unseated Whitworth University as the men’s champion and Pacific Lutheran University as the women’s champion as the 2016-7 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships concluded Sunday night here at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
In the women’s division, Whitman had 622.5 points, followed by Pacific Lutheran with 576, the University of Puget Sound 458, Linfield College 445.5, Whitworth 378, Lewis & Clark College 296, Willamette University 239, and Pacific University (Ore.) 180.
In the men’s division, Whitman had 547 points, followed by Pacific Lutheran with 533, Whitworth 529, Linfield 464.5, Puget Sound 378.5, Willamette 265, Lewis & Clark 212, and Pacific (Ore.) 189.
Several NWC and NWC Championship meet records were set during the evening finals. Mara Selznick set new records in the women’s 200 backstroke with a 2:02.10. Tai Hallstein of Whitman broke her own records in the women’s 100 freestyle with a 51.28. Whitman’s 400 freestyle relay team established new records with a time of 3:39.65. In a time trial, the Whitman women’s team broke the records they had set the day before with a time of 1:44.98 in the 200 medley relay.
In the men’s 100 freestyle, Clark Sun broke the NWC Championship meet record he had set earlier in the day in the preliminaries with a 44.83. In a time trial, Noah Cutting of Linfield set a new NWC Championship meet record in the 100 backstroke with a 49.99.
Other women’s winners included Erica Muller of Pacific Lutheran with 17:27.11 in the 1650 freestyle, Victoria Nguyenle of Pacific Lutheran with a 2:23.15 in the 200 breaststroke, and Alexis Murphy of Linfield with a 2:10.17 in the 200 butterfly.
Other men’s winners included Cole Weinstein of Whitman with a 16:00.39 in the 1650 freestyle, Patrick Wilber of Whitworth with a 1:51.06 in the 200 backstroke, Jonah Rodewald of Whitman with a 2:08.00 in the 200 breaststroke, and Noah Cutting of Linfield with a 1:49.87 in the 200 butterfly. The Whitman men’s 400 freestyle relay team clinched the championship by winning the final event of the meet with 3:06.24.
2017 NWC Swimmers of the Year awards went to Evette Dow and Kaedi Fry, both of Linfield, for the women, and Cutting of Linfield and Weinstein of Whitman for the men.
The Freshmen of the Year, a new award this year for all NWC sports, was presented to Selznick of Whitman for the women and Linfield’s Cutting for the men.
The Coaches of the Year were voted on by their peers, and Jennifer Blomme of Whitman captured both awards after guiding her charges to the 2017 championships.
