Highlighted by a school record in the women’s 200 medley relay, the Seattle University swim teams posted four top-10 times in program history as the 2014 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships began Wednesday evening at the Palo Alto College Natatorium.
The quartet of Carlee Bock (Bellingham, Wash.), Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.), Jane Liggett (Portland, Ore.) and Nicole Doi (Pleasanton, Calif.) combined to post a time of 1:45.60, over a half-second faster than the previous mark set at this meet last year.
Later in the session, Wittenauer-Lee led off the 800 freestyle relay with the third-fastest 200 freestyle time in school history with a split of 1:52.79. She joined with Kristin Hoffman (Mercer Island, Wash.), Bethany Gehrke (Lynnwood, Wash.), and Katie Rottman (Phoenix, Ariz.) for a total time of 7:41.90, the third-fastest time in program history.
The men’s 800 freestyle relay also posted the third-fastest time in school history, as Nicolas Morrell (Bend, Ore.), Tanner Schelling (Boise, Idaho), Douglas Pizac (Salt Lake City, Utah), and Tomas Mendez-Beck (Hillsboro, Ore.) combined for a mark of 6:41.36. Morrell’s opening split of 1:41.10 is the fourth-fastest 200 freestyle time ever for the Redhawks.
Bart Wanot (Federal Way, Wash.), Gabe Wheeler (Round Rock, Texas), Michael Cox (Maple Valley, Wash.), and Lee Van Farowe (Edmonds, Wash.) finished the 200 medley relay in 1:31.92, the seventh-best time in program history.
Several other Redhawks competed in time trials to prepare for the week's competition. Nick Connors (Richland, Wash.) became the second swimmer in school history to swim a sub-1:40 200 freestyle, posting a time of 1:39.45, second-best in program history. Sidney Pinger (Tualatin, Ore.) moved into fifth place on the women's 200 freestyle all-time list with a mark of 1:54.53.
As a team, the Seattle U women sit in eighth place with 44 points, while the men are in seventh place after the first session with 48 points.
The conference championships continue Thursday morning at 10 a.m. local time with the preliminaries of the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, and 50 freestyle. The finals of those three events as well as the 200 freestyle relay will take place Thursday evening at 6 p.m. Central time.