After helping the Seattle University women’s swim team to its best-ever performance at the Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, sophomore Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.) has been named the Featured Student-Athlete of the Week on GoSeattleU.com.
On the first night of the meet, Wittenauer-Lee was part of both school record-setting relays, first swimming the second leg of the 200 medley relay that posted a time of 1:44.10. She led off the 800 freestyle relay with a split of 1:51.03, helping the team cut 15 seconds off the old record as they finished third in the event in 7:25.20.
Last Thursday night, she finished fifth in the 200 individual medley for Second Team All-WAC honors with a school-record mark of 2:04.08. The next night, she earned the silver medal in the 100 breaststroke with a second-place finish in 1:02.65, the second-best time in program history. She also swam the second leg of the 400 medley relay that set another school record with a time of 3:48.80.
She capped the meet Saturday by first posting an NCAA “B” cut time in the 200 breaststroke preliminaries with a mark of 2:15.56, and then she finished third in the evening finals in 2:15.72. She led off the 400 freestyle relay with a 100 freestyle split of 51.42 seconds, third-best on the Redhawk 100 free list, as she helped the team earn its fifth relay school record of the meet with a time of 3:27.48.
“Things really have come together for Blaise, and this was capped off by a tremendous showing at the WAC Championships. She has worked very hard both in the classroom and the pool, and it has definitely paid off. She puts her all into everything she does, and her showing both in her individual events and on the relays was great for her sophomore season here at Seattle U,” Redhawk head swim coach Craig Nisgor said.
After earning a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the fall 2014 quarter, Wittenauer-Lee is currently carrying a 3.363 GPA as a pre-major in the College of Arts and Sciences. She helped the Seattle U women’s swim team receive the College Swimming Coaches Association of American (CSCAA) Fall Scholar All-America Team Award.
The Seattle University swim teams will take a couple of weeks off to finish up the winter quarter before starting again after Spring Break.
The Seattle University athletics department names a Featured Student-Athlete each Tuesday based on performances both in the classroom and in competition.