In the two-day Northwest Swim Invitational hosted by Lewis & Clark College, both Whitman swim teams showed that they are forces to be reckoned with in the Northwest Conference. Each team finished third overall, the men out of nine schools and the women out of 10. The University of Puget Sound won the women’s meet with 801 points, second place Whitworth College racked up 607 points and Whitman was a distant third with 398 points. Whitworth and Puget Sound switched spots on podium in the men’s meet as the Pirates nipped the Loggers 647-628. Whitman rounded out the top three with 533, besting fourth place Pacific Lutheran University by over 200 points.
The Northwest Swim Invitational was Whitman’s first multi-school meet of the season. The format tested the Missionaries’ endurance by requiring them to compete in a preliminary round with up to 47 other swimmers for a spot in the 16-swimmer finals.
The first day of the meet, first-year Katie Chapman recorded the only Whitman victory with a season best time of 2.14.07 in the 200-yard butterfly. Fellow first-year Kevin Dyer just missed a first-place finish with his season best 4.52.35 in the men’s 500-yard freestyle, but had to settle for second.
The Whitman women showed well in the 100-yard freestyle, with fifth, sixth and eighth place finishes by first-year Charlotte Graham, junior Lauren Flynn and first-year Helen Jenne, respectively. The women also had good finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke by first-year Cari Cortez and sophomore Monica Boshart who combined to score 13 points for the Missionaries. Junior Natalie Reilly also contributed four points to the Missionaries cause with her 13th-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley. Jenne, Chapman, Graham and Flynn also tied for second place in the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay.
The Whitman men had a good first day as well. The Missionaries racked up 43 points in the 100-yard freestyle with junior Jamie Nusse, first-year Paul Chang and sophomore Mitchell Lee finishing third, fourth and seventh, respectively. The Whitman men demonstrated their depth in the 200-yard butterfly, racking up 37 points thanks to fourth-, sixth-, 11th- and 14th-place finishes from senior Eric Molnar, sophomore Matt Liedtke and first-years Brett Clark and Tyler Hurlburt, respectively. Additionally, first-year Joey Gottlieb earned 14 points for his fifth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke.
Molnar and Gottlieb also combined to contribute 11 points in of the 200-yard individual medley, finishing 10th and 13th, respectively. Whitman also picked up points in the 500-yard freestyle as sophomore Chris Bendix led the the Missionaries with his eighth-place finish.
Both Whitman teams stepped up their game on the second day. Dyer led the way for the men with his impressive 20-point victory in the 1,650-yard freestyle, beating his nearest competitor by an astounding 24 seconds. Bendix also contributed 14 points to the Missionaries cause, finishing fifth.
Freestyle specialist Nusse added 33 points to the mens’ tally on day two by finishing second in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 50-yard freestyle. Whitman racked up 33 more points in the 400-yard individual medley as Molnar, Wood and Bendix finished sixth, eighth and ninth, respectively.
Gottlieb and Chang kept things going for Whitman in the 100-yard backstroke combining for 24 points with their sixth- and eighth-place performances.
The women also had a strong second day, highlighted by Chapman’s third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Flynn and Jenne were on her heels the whole way, taking fourth and fifth, respectively.
Coach Jennifer Blomme reflected on the teams’ success this season.
“Our team has always prided itself on its closeness, and this year is no different. In fact, team dynamics are stronger than ever,” she said. “Our captains [Flynn, senior Sidney Kohls, Wood and Hurlburt] are offering great leadership. They’ve been bringing a lot of focus and energy to their swim training.”
Blomme spoke also to the role that the coaches play.
“We also have a great assistant coach, Eric Hisaw, who is coordinating a new and dynamic strength program that is going to have big pay-off as the season progresses,” Blomme said. “But our hardest work in the water is yet to come; we’ll continue to get stronger and refine our strokes even more.”
Overall, both Whitman swim teams competed well against the Northwest Conference teams, defeating most of the teams, with only perennial powerhouses University of Puget Sound and Whitworth College causing any difficulty for the Missionary swimmers. With their performance at the Northwest Swim Invitational, Whitman solidified themselves as one of the top three programs in the conference. The Missionaries will only need to step up their game if they are to challenge Puget Sound and Whitworth for conference supremacy.
