The Seattle University men's swim team earned five event victories Friday evening, but the depth of both Pacific and Air Force was too much to overcome, as the Redhawks lost to the Tigers, 119-86, and to the Falcons, 118.5-86.5, at Kjeldsen Pool.
In the first men's event of the meet, the 200 medley relay, Keith Andrews (Hillsboro, Ore.) and Chris Lynch (Melbourne, Australia) swam well, but the team was in fifth place when Murray Longbotham (Mercer Island, Wash.) entered the pool. Longbotham's 22.53-second split was the fastest of the third leg, but the Redhawks were still in fourth as Jordan Anderson (Newberg, Ore.) dove in. Anderson posted a blistering 50 freestyle split of 20.05 seconds to bring Seattle U all the way back to a victory in 1:34.79, just 14/100ths of a second ahead of the second place team.
Anderson continued to post fast times, winning the 50 freestyle in 20.82 seconds, almost 7/10ths of a second faster than his nearest competitor, as well as the 100 freestyle in 46.41 seconds, 1.29 seconds ahead of the next swimmer. Longbotham also won two events individually, finishing first in the 200 freestyle in 1:42.91 and in the 500 freestyle in 4:41.71, coming back from over two seconds behind Air Force's Max Evans-Nolan to defeat him by just 8/100ths of a second.
Redhawk men finished 2-3 in the 400 individual medley, as James Gilmore (Eugene, Ore.) nearly came from behind, losing to Pacific's Oliver Simkovic by just 38/100ths of a second with a time of 4:06.09, and Joe Wertz (Richland, Wash.) touched the wall third in 4:12.49. Wertz also finished third in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.73 seconds, behind Air Force's Cody Deacon and Lynch, who touched the wall second with a time of 58.56 seconds.
The quartet of Andrews, Tyler Carriker (Everett, Wash.), Tomas Mendez-Beck (Hillsboro, Ore.), and Gilmore finished third in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:27.25. Air Force won the 200 freestyle relay, one of four event victories that enabled the Falcons to sweep the meet with wins over both the Redhawks and the Tigers, who had two event victories during the contest.
The Seattle University men's swim team will face Pacific and Air Force again as well as Cal State Bakersfield Saturday, Nov. 5, beginning at 12 p.m.