Senior James Gilmore (Eugene, Ore.) broke a five-year-old school record, posted an NCAA B-cut time, and became the first Seattle University individual to qualify for an "A" final as competition continued Friday at the 2013 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at East Los Angeles College.
In the morning preliminaries of the 400 individual medley, Gilmore posted the fifth-fastest time with a mark of 3:53.26, 2.7 seconds faster than the previous record set by Jakub Jiracek at the 2008 NCAA Division II Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. In the evening session, Gilmore finished in sixth place with a time of 3:55.43. Also in the 400 IM, Andy Cunningham (Cameron Park, Calif.) finished in 24th place in the morning with a time of 4:06.81, advancing to the bonus final, where he finished third in 4:04.62, collecting a 19th place finish overall.
Bart Wanot (Federal Way, Wash.) reached the scoring finals in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 14th place in the preliminaries with a time of 49.04 seconds, the third-fastest time in program history. During the "B" final, Wanot finished sixth in 49.29 seconds, maintaining his 14th place finish. Tomas Mendez-Beck (Hillsboro, Ore.) just missed the scoring finals, finishing 17th in the morning with a mark of 49.71 seconds to qualify for the bonus final, where he finished first with a time of 49.61 seconds.
Other Redhawks competing in the 100 butterfly preliminaries included Kyle Moline (Mercer Island, Wash.) finishing in 29th place in 50.88 seconds, just ahead of Ali Abadi (Edmonds, Wash.) in 32nd place with a time of 50.95 seconds. Owen Bley-Male (Portland, Ore.) finished in 40th place in 52.16 seconds, and Sam Donohue (Portland, Ore.) finished in 44th place in 53.44 seconds.
The evening session began with the 400 medley relay, where Nicolas Morrell (Bend, Ore.), Chris Lynch (Mukilteo, Wash.), Wanot, and Tyler Carriker (Everett, Wash.) finished seventh in 3:20.10, the fourth-fastest time in program history.
In the 200 freestyle, Murray Longbotham (Mercer Island, Wash.) qualified for the bonus final, finishing in 24th place with a time of 1:40.08. In the evening session, he finished second in the bonus final in 1:40.74 for an 18th place finish overall.
Mendez-Beck was next for Seattle U in the 200 freestyle preliminaries, finishing in 36th place with a time of 1:41.63, just ahead of Nick Connors (Richland, Wash.) in 39th place in 1:41.96. Douglas Pizac (Salt Lake City, Utah) ended up in 44th place in 1:43.28, followed by John Fulmer (Kent, Wash.) in 45th place in 1:43.42 and Chris Weinert (Gresham, Ore.) in 53rd place in 1:45.79.
Lynch advanced to the bonus final in the100 breaststroke, finishing in 19th place in the preliminaries with a time of 56.91 seconds. In the bonus final, Lynch posted a time of 57.33 seconds, good enough for fifth in the race and 21st overall. In the same event, Gabe Wheeler (Round Rock, Texas) finished in 30th place with a mark of 59.16 seconds.
Joe Wertz (Richland, Wash.) and Morrell qualified for the bonus final in the 100 backstroke, with Wertz posting the 19th-fastest time in the preliminaries at 51.00 seconds and Morrell finishing in 20th place in 51.02 seconds. In the evening session, Morrell finished third in the bonus final in 50.49 seconds, and Wertz touched the wall in fifth place in 50.86 seconds. Donohue finished in 32nd place in the preliminaries with a time of 53.74 seconds, and Fulmer was next in 33rd place in 54.33 seconds.
Seattle University finished the third day of the conference championships in ninth place with 105 points. With 417 points, BYU has pulled ahead of UNLV, currently in second place with 412 points, and Wyoming, in third place with 401.5 points.
The MPSF Men's Swimming and Diving Championships will conclude Saturday, Feb. 23, starting at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries for the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, and 200 butterfly. The finals of the 1650 freestyle will kick off the finals session at 6 p.m., followed by the championship heats in the four individual events previously contested, and culminating with the 400 freestyle relay.