For the second straight day, the Seattle University men’s swim team won both relays contested, plus picked up an individual event victory along with several top performances as the Husky Invitational continued Saturday at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
The quartet of Lee Van Farowe (Edmonds, Wash.), Tanner Schelling (Boise, Idaho), Jack Baldoni (Applegate, Calif.), and Kyle Moline (Mercer Island, Wash.) won the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:32.67, moving into eighth on Seattle U’s all-time top times list. Sam Donohue (Portland, Ore.), Gabe Wheeler (Round Rock, Texas), Michael Cox (Maple Valley, Wash.), and Alec Barnard (Everett, Wash.) combined to finish fifth in the same event in 1:35.86.
Schelling won the 100 breaststroke, earning the best time in both the preliminaries (55.23) and the finals (55.37), with his preliminary time lowering his own mark in third place on the top times list as well as meeting the NCAA “B” cut standard. After finishing seventh in the preliminaries in 58.21 seconds, Wheeler finished fifth in the finals in 58.06 seconds, while Connor Webb (Hood River, Ore.) finished fifth in the “B” final in 59.69 seconds after posting a time of 59.50 seconds in the preliminaries.
Schelling capped off the night by leading off the 800 freestyle relay, joining with Moline, Barnard, and Will Wertz (Richland, Wash.) to win the event in a time of 6:55.52, the ninth-best time in program history. Nick Connors (Richland, Wash.), John Fulmer (Kent, Wash.), Morgan Montemayor (Seattle, Wash.), and Ben Nussbaum (Issaquah, Wash.) finished in fifth place with a time of 7:13.30.
In the 100 butterfly, Baldoni finished second in both the preliminaries (50.00) and the final (49.18), posting the fifth-best time in program history in the evening session. Moline finished third in both sessions, lowering his preliminary time of 50.13 seconds to a mark of 50.10 seconds in the final. Barnard won the “B” final in 51.51 seconds, the same time he posted in the morning session, while Cox finished sixth in the “C” final in 52.36 seconds after earning a preliminary time of 52.16 seconds.
Van Farowe lowered his personal-best time in the 100 backstroke, finishing in third place in the evening session in 51.97 seconds after posting a preliminary time of 52.39 seconds. Donohue parlayed a preliminary time of 53.28 seconds into a spot in the “B” final, where he finished in sixth place in 53.79 seconds.
Connors earned the best preliminary time in the 200 freestyle with a mark of 1:41.35, while Moline finished in seventh place in the morning session in 1:43.27, but neither swimmer chose to compete in the evening finals. After finishing eighth in the preliminaries in 1:43.46, Wertz maintained that position in the “A” final with a time of 1:46.36.
Webb advanced to the “C” final of the 400 individual medley, where he finished in fourth place with an evening time of 4:15.00, almost three-and-a-half seconds faster than his preliminary mark of 4:18.47. In total, the Seattle U men contributed 426 points Saturday to the combined total of 970 points, putting the Redhawks in second place in the overall team standings.
“We are continuing to swim well. Today Tanner had a great day with the NCAA ‘B’ cut in the 100 breaststroke, plus we won the two relays again and other swimmers posted lifetime bests. The team is performing well so far this weekend,” Seattle U head coach Craig Nisgor said.
The third and final day of the Husky Invitational will begin Sunday, Dec. 7, with the preliminary session at 9:30 a.m., followed by the finals at 5 p.m.