Senior Kevlyn Richards (Gig Harbor, Wash.) ended her collegiate career productively, finishing sixth in the 200 breaststroke and leading off the 400 freestyle relay team to a sixth place finish as the 2013 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships concluded Saturday at The Aquatic Center at Palo Alto College.
In the morning preliminaries, Richards cut one-and-a-half seconds off her personal best time, finishing fourth in the prelims with a time of 2:17.02. She finished sixth in the championship final after posting a mark of 2:17.21.
Richards started the 400 freestyle relay, the final event of the meet, with a split of 52.65 seconds, joining Nicole Doi (Pleasanton, Calif.), Stephanie Bayless (Spokane, Wash.), and Melissa Randolf (Everett, Wash.) for a time of 3:32.94, the third-best time in school history and good enough to finish sixth in the event.
In the longest race of the meet, the 1650 freestyle, Bethany Gehrke (Lynnwood, Wash.) came less than two seconds away from setting a new school record, finishing the mile in 17:22.23, placing 19th in the event. Allie McGavock (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) earned the seventh-fastest time in program history, finishing in 23rd place with a time of 17:53.03, and Whitney Dean (Campbell, Calif.) finished in 28th place in 18:08.00.
Mackenzie Gant (Richland, Wash.) posted a personal best time in the 200 backstroke preliminaries with a time of 2:08.45, as did Tiffany Dang (Bothell, Wash.) with a mark of 2:10.71. Rachel Leighter (Eugene, Ore.) finished her heat in 2:11.90.
In the preliminaries of the 100 freestyle, Randolf led the Redhawks with a time of 53.13 seconds, followed by Doi in 53.75 seconds, Bayless in 54.89 seconds, and Melanie Frey (Seattle, Wash.) in 55.44 seconds. Jane Liggett (Portland, Ore.) posted back-to-back personal best times in the 200 butterfly, posting times of 2:08.71 in the preliminaries and 2:07.57 in the evening bonus final. Megan Robinson (Salt Lake City, Utah) posted a season best time of 2:11.58 in the morning session.
After swimming a time of 2:25.26 in the 200 breaststroke preliminaries, Karla Ruff (Seattle, Wash.) won the bonus final in 2:23.54, beating her personal best by 2/100ths of a second. Dilynn D'Agostino (Gresham, Ore.) also swam twice in the event, first posting a time of 2:24.65 before finishing just behind Ruff in the evening with a mark of 2:23.69. Caroline Van Maren (Bellevue, Wash.) swam a time of 2:28.94 in the preliminary session.
As a team, Seattle U finished in ninth place with 144 points. Despite being disqualified in the 400 freestyle relay, San Jose State was able to hold off Northern Arizona to win the WAC team title by seven points, 695-688.
Leighter, Richards, Robinson, and Ruff ended their collegiate careers at the conference championships.