The Seattle University men's swim team came close to setting several school records Saturday during the fourth and final day of the 2012 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Swimming and Diving Championships at East Los Angeles College.
Jordan Anderson (Newberg, Ore.) advanced to the championship final in the 100 freestyle with a time of 44.70 seconds in the preliminaries. In the evening finals, he touched the wall third with a mark of 44.58 seconds, just 2/100ths of a second off his own school record that he set at last year's MPSF Championships.
Both Joe Wertz (Richland, Wash.) and Nicolas Morrell (Bend, Ore.) were able to qualify for the championship final in the 200 backstroke. After posting a time of 1:48.22 in the morning, Wertz improved to a time of 1:48.01 in the evening finals, finishing in a tie for fourth place. Morrell finished in sixth place overall with times of 1:48.05 in the preliminaries and 1:48.20 in the finals.
In the final event of the night and the meet, the Seattle U 400 freestyle relay team of Tyler Carriker (Everett, Wash.), Murray Longbotham (Mercer Island, Wash.), James Gilmore (Eugene, Ore.), and Anderson finished eighth with a time of 3:01.45, only 7/100ths of a second off the school record.
Tomas Mendez-Beck (Hillsboro, Ore.) posted the second-fastest time in school history in the 200 butterfly during the morning preliminaries with a time of 1:50.71. In the consolation final, Mendez-Beck finished third in the race and 11th overall with a time of 1:50.97. Eric Pedack (Snohomish, Wash.) won the bonus final by 4/100ths of a second with a time of 1:52.53 to finish 17th overall in the event, with Ali Abadi (Edmonds, Wash.) finishing 19th overall in 1:53.05 and Kyle Moline (Mercer Island, Wash.) finishing 20th in the event in 1:54.25.
In the longest event of the championships, the 1650 freestyle, Douglas Pizac (Salt Lake City, Utah) was able to post his best time of the season, finishing in 22nd place overall with a time of 16:37.61.
As a team, Seattle U finished in eighth place with 227.5 points. BYU won the MPSF Championship with a final score of 625 points, just ahead of second place UNLV, which finished with 603.5 points.
The Seattle University men's swim team will remain in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation next year. Seattle U, along with the Seattle Sports Commission, is hosting the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., March 22-24. All-session tickets are now on sale through Ticketmaster, with single session tickets going on sale at the start of the meet.