Whitman Downs Bearcats in Men's and Women's Swimming

Schulze Wins Two Events for WU and Swims on Winning 400 Medley Relay.

Salem-News.com Sports

WALLA WALLA, Wash. - In Northwest Conference swimming on Saturday, January 17th, Whitman College defeated Willamette University in a dual meet at Whitman's Paul Harvey Pool. The Missionaries won the men's match-up, 167-22, and the Whitman women claimed a 132-65 victory.

Willamette's men fell to 1-3 on the season and 1-3 in the Northwest Conference. The Bearcat women dropped to 1-4 overall, 0-4 in the NWC. Whitman improved to 4-1 in men's swimming (4-1 NWC) and moved to 3-3 in women's swimming (2-3 NWC).

Gwen Schulze of Willamette won the women's 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:26.18 and took first in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:21.75. She was a member of WU's 400-yard medley relay team, which also defeated the Missionaries. Schulze swam the first leg of the relay, starting the 'Cats on their way to a winning time of 4:30.18.

Joining Schulze in the 400-yard medley relay were Janelle Higashida (Fr., Kaneohe, HI/Hawaii Baptist Academy), Kara Koetje (Fr., Arlington, WA/Standwood HS) and Hanna Connett (So., Pullman, WA/Pullman HS). Willamette won by 4.72 seconds, as Whitman earned a time of 4:34.90.

Chelsea Klinger, Lauren Flynn and Linnea Scott each won two events for the Whitman women's team. Klinger took first in the 200-yard freestyle (2:05.58) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:41.31).

Flynn won the 50-yard freestyle in 25.76 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 56.44 seconds. Scott prevailed in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:28.46 and finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:44.57.

Jenna Larrow (Jr., Boise, ID/Timberline HS) of Willamette placed second in the longest races of the meet. She clocked in at 5:46.17 in the 500-yard freestyle and registered a time of 11:33.93 in the 1,000-yard freestyle. In both races, she was just five seconds out of first place.

Connett took second for WU in the 200-yard freestyle (2:10.48) and narrowly missed second place in the 100-yard freestyle. Her time of 59.81 seconds was just 0.21 behind Klinger of Whitman, who claimed second in 59.60 seconds.

Led by Schulze, the Bearcats earned first and third in the 200 I.M. Schulze's time of 2:26.38 was 1.65 seconds faster than Kendi Thomas of WC. Koetje of Willamette was third in 2:33.46.

Three members of the Whitman men's team each won two events. Ysbrand Nusse took first in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:06.24 and was first in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:03.93.

Noel Sollom-Brotherton of WC won the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.97) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:54.03). Jamie Nusse claimed first place in the 50-yard freestyle in 22.71 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 49.70 seconds.

John Schmidtbauer (So., Whittier, CA/Whittier HS) placed third behind Sollom-Brotherton and Chris Bendix of Whitman in the 200-yard freestyle. Schmidtbauer's time was 1:57.81.

WU's Michael McGeehan (Fr., Moscow, ID/Moscow HS) was third in the 200-yard individual medley. He recorded a time of 2:09.92 and was 1.33 seconds behind Eric Molnar of Whitman, who took second.

The Bearcats will return to action on Friday, Jan. 23rd when they host the College of Idaho in a non-conference meet. Start time is set for 6:00 PM. (PST).

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