The Seattle University swim teams continued to achieve personal bests, with several swims moving into the program’s all-time top 10 lists as the 2014 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships resumed Thursday at the Palo Alto College Natatorium.
Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.) advanced to the “B” final of the women’s 200 individual medley after finishing 14th in the morning preliminaries with a time of 2:06.65. In the evening session, she finished seventh in the “B” final with a time of 2:06.22, earning 15th place overall.
Elsewhere in the women’s 200 individual medley, Kate Sabourin (Santa Rosa, Calif.) posted the sixth-best time in program history with a mark of 2:09.83, with Annika Perry (Reno, Nev.) moving into seventh place on the list with a time of 2:10.30. Mackenzie Gant (Richland, Wash.) posted a time of 2:11.97 in the preliminary session.
In the women’s 500 freestyle, Bethany Gehrke (Lynnwood, Wash.) posted a personal-best time of 5:03.48 to finish in 18th place in the preliminary session. Gehrke swam in the “C” final of the 500 freestyle in the evening, posting a time of 5:08.23.
Jane Liggett (Portland, Ore.) moved into eighth place on the Seattle U all-time list for the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:10.02, with Sidney Pinger (Tualatin, Ore.) right behind her at 5:10.15, ninth-best in school history. Emma Foster (Clancy, Mont.) just missed the top 10 with her preliminary time of 5:10.57, while Katie Rottman (Phoenix, Ariz.) posted a mark of 5:20.64.
Melissa Randolf (Everett, Wash.) notched a personal-best time of 24.44 seconds in the 50 freestyle to lead the Redhawks in that event, followed by Carlee Bock (Bellingham, Wash.) at 24.51 seconds, eighth-best in program history, Nicole Doi (Pleasanton, Calif.) with a then-lifetime-best mark of 24.66 seconds, and Stephanie Bayless (Spokane, Wash.) at 24.68 seconds.
Doi, Bayless, Bock, and Randolf combined for the fourth-fastest 200 freestyle relay time in school history at 1:36.68. Doi improved on her personal-best 50 freestyle time with an opening split of 24.59 seconds, while Bock blazed through her 50-yard split in 23.73 seconds.
Elsewhere in the 50 freestyle individual event, Caroline Van Maren (Bellevue, Wash.) was next for Seattle U at 24.89 seconds, just ahead of Kristin Hoffman (Mercer Island, Wash.) at 25.03 seconds, Rachael Rodriguez (Round Rock, Texas) at 25.16 seconds, Melanie Frey (Seattle, Wash.) at 25.47 seconds, and Whitney Dean (Campbell, Calif.) at 26.98 seconds.
Tanner Schelling (Boise, Idaho) posted the second-fastest time in school history in the 50 freestyle, finishing in a tie for 17th place in the morning preliminaries in 20.56 seconds. He followed that with a time of 20.57 seconds in the “C” final. Bart Wanot (Federal Way, Wash.) and Tomas Mendez-Beck (Hillsboro, Ore.) are now tied for ninth on the all-time list after posting identical swims of 20.95 seconds. Alec Barnard (Everett, Wash.) finished his swim in 21.67 seconds, just ahead of Michael Cox (Maple Valley, Wash.) in 21.74 seconds.
In the men’s 200 freestyle relay, the quartet of Schelling, Wanot, Lee Van Farowe (Edmonds, Wash.), and Mendez-Beck posted the third-fastest time in program history at 1:21.95. Schelling led off the relay with a 50 freestyle split of 20.63 seconds, while Wanot was the fastest among the Redhawks thanks to a 20.13-second split.
In the men’s 500 freestyle, Nick Connors (Richland, Wash.) first moved into fifth place on Seattle U’s all-time top 10 times list with a preliminary mark of 4:33.42, finishing in 20th place in the morning session. He improved to third place on the list in the “C” final with a time of 4:32.95.
Sascha Stipe (Seattle, Wash.) earned the ninth spot on the list after posting a time of 4:35.84, followed by Nicolas Morrell (Bend, Ore.) in 4:36.89 and Douglas Pizac (Salt Lake City, Utah) in 4:37.36. Kyle Moline (Mercer Island, Wash.) was next with a mark of 4:40.36, ahead of Ali Abadi (Edmonds, Wash.) in 4:40.86, Chris Weinert (Gresham, Ore.) in 4:42.46, and Kieran Schaefer (Sweet Home, Ore.) in 5:01.08.
Gabe Wheeler (Round Rock, Texas) notched the sixth-best time in school history in the 200 individual medley, finishing in 20th place in the preliminaries at 1:53.34. He was close to that mark in the evening session, posting a time of 1:53.46 in the “C” final. Van Farowe posted the 10th-best time on the Redhawk all-time list with a mark of 1:55.26, followed by Connor Webb (Hood River, Ore.) in 1:56.13 and Damon Perry (Sammamish, Wash.) in 1:58.14.
In the team competition, the men are in seventh place with 72 points, while the women are in eighth place with 68 points. Northern Arizona (273 points) holds a six-point lead over Idaho (267 points) in the women's team standings, while UNLV (274 points) is ahead of Wyoming (267 points) by just seven points on the men's side.
The WAC Swimming and Diving Championships continue Friday, Feb. 28, at 10 a.m. local time with the preliminary session for five individual events for each gender, with the finals of those events plus the 400 medley relay taking place Friday evening at 6 p.m. Central time. Links to live results and live video streaming of the finals session can be found on the swimming schedule pages of GoSeattleU.com.