After three weeks of training and taper, the Seattle University swim teams leave Tuesday for San Antonio, Texas, and the 2014 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, taking place Feb. 26 to March 1 at the Palo Alto College Natatorium.
The meet will start Wednesday evening with the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay, with the next three days consisting of a preliminary session in the morning and a finals session in the evening. This will be the second year the women’s swim team competes in the Western Athletic Conference, while men’s swimming is being sponsored as a championship sport by the conference for the first time since 2000.
On the women’s side, Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.) is the team’s best hope at earning points, as she comes into the meet ranked eighth in the 200 individual medley, ninth in the 100 breaststroke, and fourth in the 200 breaststroke. Jane Liggett (Portland, Ore.) will also be a top contender in the butterfly events, as she enters the week ranked 17th in the 100 butterfly and 13th in the 200 butterfly.
For the men, Kyle Moline (Mercer Island, Wash.) holds the highest individual seed, going into the meet ranked eighth in the 200 butterfly, with Alec Barnard (Everett, Wash.) ranked 11th. Bart Wanot (Federal Way, Wash.) enters the competition ranked 10th in the 100 backstroke and 12th in the 200 backstroke, with Nicolas Morrell (Bend, Ore.) 13th in the 200 backstroke and 16th in the 100 backstroke. Tanner Schelling (Boise, Idaho) is ranked 10th in the 100 breaststroke, and Tomas Mendez-Beck (Hillsboro, Ore.) is ranked 15th in the 100 butterfly.
Seattle U should also pick up points in the longest race of the meet, the 1650 freestyle, as Nick Connors (Richland, Wash.), Chris Weinert (Gresham, Ore.), and Mark Langston (Elk Grove, Calif.) all come into the meet ranked in the top 20 in the men’s race, while Bethany Gehrke (Lynnwood, Wash.) and Emma Foster (Clancy, Mont.) both have times in the top 20 among the competitors in the women’s race.
As in recent years, the main goal for the Redhawks is to post season- and personal-best times throughout the event, as this is the final meet of the season for Seattle U. Although several times have been good enough for the program’s top 10 lists, there has yet to be a school record set so far this season, a fact that usually changes at the conference championships.
The WAC will be streaming the finals of all four nights. Viewers can sign up by visiting www.WACSports.tv. Each night can be viewed for a subscription of $6.95 per night or a full championship package can be purchased for $10.95. Links to the live video stream as well as live results will also be found on either of the swimming schedule pages on GoSeattleU.com.