The Seattle University swim teams got off to a fast start Wednesday evening, setting three school records to begin the 2015 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at the Palo Alto College Natatorium.
The women’s 200 medley relay quartet of Carlee Bock (Bellingham, Wash.), Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.), Jane Liggett (Portland, Ore.), and Paige Treff (Orland, Calif.) finished sixth with a time of 1:44.10, one-and-a-half seconds quicker than the previous school record set at last year’s conference championships.
The men competing in the 200 medley relay followed suit, as Morgan Montemayor (Seattle, Wash.), Tanner Schelling (Boise, Idaho), Jack Baldoni (Applegate, Calif.), and Bart Wanot (Federal Way, Wash.) finished sixth in 1:30.25, 33/100ths of a second faster than the old school record set four years ago.
After the diving break, Wittenauer-Lee set the pace in the 800 freestyle relay with a 200 free split of 1:51.03, the third-fastest time in school history. Kristin Hoffman (Mercer Island, Wash.) blitzed through her 200 split in 1:48.99, the second-fastest split by any swimmer in the entire event, and then Sidney Pinger (Tualatin, Ore.) and Madi Lydig (Spokane, Wash.) swam consistent splits to put the Redhawks in third place at the end with a school-record time of 7:25.20, an amazing 15.4 seconds faster than the previous school record set five years ago.
“It was a really good start tonight, as the team created a lot of momentum with their swims,” Seattle U head coach Craig Nisgor said. “They are excited to be here competing, and they are making things happen. We just need to keep it going.”
The Redhawk women enjoyed their best opening session since joining the WAC, ending the night in sixth place with 58 points. Northern Colorado leads with 100 points, followed by Northern Arizona with 89 points.
Unfortunately, the men’s 800 freestyle relay was disqualified, putting the Redhawks in seventh place at the end of the opening session with 26 points. Wyoming leads the team standings after the first day with 107 points, with Air Force right behind in second place with 103 points.
Of note in time trials, Bock posted the second-fastest 100 freestyle time in program history at 52.43 seconds, Bethany Gehrke (Lynnwood, Wash.) moved into seventh place on the 200 butterfly top times list with a mark of 2:09.39, and Annika Perry (Reno, Nev.) posted the eighth-best time in the 100 butterfly at 58.47 seconds. For the men, Connor Webb (Hood River, Ore.) moved into seventh place on the 100 breaststroke list with a time of 57.51 seconds.
The WAC Swimming and Diving Championships continue Thursday, Feb. 26, starting at 10:30 a.m. local time with the preliminaries of the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, and 50 freestyle. The finals of those events as well as the 200 freestyle relay will take place Thursday evening beginning at 6 p.m. Central time. Live results for the entire meet are available through a link on the schedule pages for both men’s and women’s swimming on GoSeattleU.com. Live video of the finals sessions will be streamed online by the WAC Digital Network (www.wacsports.com/watch).