The Seattle University men's swim team sent its seniors out in style, touching the wall first in all but one event during the squad's final home meet of the year, a 170-87 win over Whitworth Saturday at the Connolly Center Pool.
"We've had a tough week this week and I'm really impressed how the guys stepped up and got it going," said head coach Craig Nisgor.
The Redhawks kicked off the event with a sweep of the 400 yard medley relay, where Nicolas Morrell (Bend, Ore.), Chris Lynch (Melbourne, Australia), Bart Wanot (Federal Way, Wash.), and Murray Longbotham (Mercer Island, Wash.) combined to win the event in 3:27.02. Wanot won every race he swam, taking the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 51.32, winning the 100 yard butterfly in 50.84, and teaming up with Morrell, Longbotham, and Tyler Carriker (Everett, Wash.) to touch first in the 400 yard freestyle relay.
Longbotham added two more wins to SU's tally, swimming the 200 yard freestyle in 1:43.07 and the 100 yard freestyle in 47.21, while Morrell took first in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 1:52.54 and second in the 100 yard backstroke, finishing in 52.59.
Lynch took first in the 100 yard breaststroke, swimming the distance in 59.14, and added a second-place finish in the 200 yard breaststroke after clinching at time of 2:13.37. James Gilmore (Eugene, Ore.), swimming in his final home meet, won the 200 yard breaststroke in 2:08.91 and touched the wall first in the 400 yard individual medley, finishing in 4:09.09.
Kyle Moline (Mercer Island, Wash.)took 200 yard butterfly title with a time of 1:55.93 and swam 52.84 in the 100 yard butterfly, good for fourth place.
Carriker also won an event on his senior day, swimming the 50 yard freestyle in 21.65. He almost won the 100 yard freestyle as well, taking second with a time of 48.30. Adding to the Redhawks' list of winners on the day, Andy Cunningham (Cameron Park, Calif.) cruised to a first-place finish in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:39.06.
Douglas Pizac (Salt Lake City, Utah) tallied two second-place finishes on the day, swimming the 500 yard freestyle in 4:52.35 and the 200 yard freestyle in 1:45.94. He also finished third in the 50 yard freestyle at 22.38. Tomas Mendez-Beck (Hillsboro, Ore.) added a second place finish in the 200 yard butterfly, swimming it in 1:57.29, and he swam the lead leg for the 400 yard freestyle relay team that touched the wall second in 3:13.83.
"Overall we're putting ourselves in a good position to do extremely well at the conference tournament."
The Redhawks will next compete Friday, Jan. 18 and Saturday, Jan. 19 when they take on Air Force and North Dakota in Colorado Springs, Colo.