The Seattle University women’s swim team put together another strong performance Friday evening, competing with the Washington State Cougars in several events before the depth of the Pac-12 school took over as Washington State won the meet, 176-80.
Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.) won all three individual events she competed in, starting with the 200 freestyle, nearly matching her time from two weeks ago in finishing first at 1:52.95. In the 200 breaststroke, she posted a time of 2:18.49, and then won a tightly-contested race in the 200 individual medley with a mark of 2:06.09, the third-fastest time in the event in Seattle U history.
Jane Liggett (Portland, Ore.) once again swam well in the butterfly events, finishing second in both the 100 butterfly and 200 butterfly. Her 200 butterfly time of 2:06.44 is third-best in program history, while her mark of 57.68 seconds in the 100 butterfly moves her into fourth place on Seattle U’s all-time list in that event, 4/10ths of a second faster than the mark she established at last season’s WAC Championships.
The women started off the meet well, as the quartet of Carlee Bock (Bellingham, Wash.), Wittenauer-Lee, Liggett, and Kristin Hoffman (Mercer Island, Wash.) finished second in the 400 medley relay in 3:54.80, the fifth-fastest time in school history. Bock improved upon her season-best in the 100 backstroke by 15/100ths of a second, finishing third in the event in 59.01 seconds, and her time of 2:09.49 in the 200 backstroke was 8/10ths of a second faster than the mark she posted two weeks ago, moving her into sixth place in the top times list in that event.
“The women put together another series of strong swims today, highlighted by several lifetime bests. Overall, we are doing well, but we still have things to work on, because several minor details are hurting us in our swims,” Seattle U head coach Craig Nisgor said.
In the distance events, Bethany Gehrke (Lynnwood, Wash.) finished third in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:15.04, followed by Emma Foster (Clancy, Mont.) in fourth place in 5:17.14. Foster established a season-best time of 10:50.93 in the 1000 freestyle, finishing behind Gehrke’s mark of 10:37.84. In the sprints, Nicole Doi (Pleasanton, Calif.) led the Redhawks in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.96 seconds, while Hoffman was the top Seattle U finisher in the 100 freestyle with a mark of 54.71 seconds.
Seattle University (0-3) welcomes its former swimmers back for the annual Alumni Meet exhibition Saturday, Nov. 2, starting at 12 noon at the Connolly Center Pool. Next weekend, the Redhawks will host Oregon State Friday, Nov. 8, beginning at 4 p.m. and Idaho Saturday, Nov. 9, starting at 12 noon.