One school record was matched, and several other swims were fast enough for the Seattle University all-time top 10 times lists as action resumed Friday at the 2014 WAC Swimming and Diving Championships at the Palo Alto College Natatorium.
“The team swam well today, I feel that they are getting better session by session,” Seattle U head swim coach Craig Nisgor said. “We are hoping for a big day tomorrow with more records to cap off the week.”
In the 100 backstroke, Bart Wanot (Federal Way, Wash.) moved into third place on the Seattle U all-time list with a preliminary time of 50.32 seconds, while Nicolas Morrell (Bend, Ore.) posted a mark of 50.46 seconds, both times good enough for the “B” final. Morrell tied the school record in the evening session, finishing third in the “B” final with a mark of 50.03 seconds, with Wanot ending up in sixth place in the race in 50.39 seconds.
Morrell led off the 400 medley relay, joining Gabe Wheeler (Round Rock, Texas), Tomas Mendez-Beck (Hillsboro, Ore.), and Tanner Schelling (Boise, Idaho) to post the second-fastest time in school history at 3:19.40.
Mendez-Beck finished 10th in the preliminaries of the 100 butterfly with a mark of 48.97 seconds, third on the Seattle U top 10 list. He won the “B” final to finish ninth overall in the evening session with a time of 48.90 seconds.
Kyle Moline (Mercer Island, Wash.) moved into sixth place on the list with a preliminary time of 49.83 seconds, while Alec Barnard (Everett, Wash.) posted the ninth-fastest time in school history at 50.32 seconds. Michael Cox (Maple Valley, Wash.) earned a preliminary time of 50.76 seconds, and Ali Abadi (Edmonds, Wash.) finished the 100 butterfly in 51.20 seconds. In the “C” final, Moline finished in 49.79 seconds, Cox improved his time to 50.38 seconds, and Barnard finished in 51.10 seconds.
Schelling advanced to the “B” final of the 100 breaststroke after posting a preliminary time of 55.74 seconds, third-best in program history. Wheeler also earned a second swim in the evening with a personal-best time of 56.81 seconds. Schelling won the “B” final for ninth place overall with an evening time of 55.60 seconds, while Wheeler ended up in 15th place overall after touching the wall with a time of 56.57 seconds.
Also in the 100 backstroke preliminaries, Nick Connors (Richland, Wash.) posted the eighth-best time in school history at 51.88 seconds, with Lee Van Farowe (Edmonds, Wash.) moving into ninth place on the list with a time of 52.05 seconds. John Fulmer (Kent, Wash.) finished the morning race with a time of 54.04 seconds. In the “C” final, Connors improved to a time of 51.39 seconds, Van Farowe notched the same exact mark of 52.05 seconds, and Fulmer swam faster, finishing in 53.52 seconds.
Connor Webb (Hood River, Ore.) started off the day by qualifying for the “B” final in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:08.96, at the time seventh-best in school history. In the evening session, he finished sixth in the “B” final and 14th overall by lowering his personal-best time to 4:06.05, moving up into sixth place on the all-time list.
Douglas Pizac (Salt Lake City, Utah) earned a personal best time of 1:41.75 in the 200 freestyle preliminaries, followed by Sascha Stipe (Seattle, Wash.) in 1:44.12, Chris Weinert (Gresham, Ore.) in 1:45.72, Fulmer in 1:45.80, and Kieran Schaefer (Sweet Home, Ore.) in 1:47.25.
The men ended the day in seventh place in the team standings with 130 points. UNLV leads the competition heading into the final day with 545 points, ahead of Wyoming with 506 points.
The WAC Swimming and Diving Championships concludes Saturday, March 1, starting with the preliminary session at 10 a.m. local time and culminating with the finals at 6 p.m. Central time.