Two more school records fell and more times were entered into the program’s all-time top times lists as Seattle University competed on the second day of the 2015 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships Thursday at the Palo Alto College Natatorium.
Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.) earned her third school record of the meet, advancing to the “A” final in the 200 individual medley by finishing sixth in the morning preliminaries in 2:04.30. She further lowered her record time in the evening final, finishing fifth for Second Team All-WAC honors with a time of 2:04.08.
Annika Perry (Reno, Nev.) qualified for the “B” final in the 200 IM with a preliminary time of 2:07.73, the fourth-best time in program history. She also improved in the evening session, finishing fifth in her race and 13th overall with a time of 2:06.79. After posting a preliminary time of 2:10.29, Kate Sabourin (Santa Rosa, Calif.) posted a personal-best mark of 2:08.35 to finish third in the “C” final.
In a closely-contested race, the Redhawk quartet of Carlee Bock (Bellingham, Wash.), Rachael Rodriguez (Round Rock, Texas), Kristin Hoffman (Mercer Island, Wash.), and Paige Treff (Orland, Calif.) set a new school record in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:35.50, finishing in eighth place.
Madi Lydig (Spokane, Wash.) kicked off the morning preliminaries by qualifying for the “A” final in the 500 freestyle, finishing eighth overall with a time of 4:59.64, becoming the second person in program history to break the five-minute mark. She swam 2/10ths of a second quicker in the finals, earning Second Team All-WAC honors by finishing sixth with a time of 4:59.44.
Elsewhere in the 500 freestyle, four Redhawks earned spots in the “C” final thanks to top 30 finishes in the prelims: Bethany Gehrke (Lynnwood, Wash.) went from 5:06.38 to 5:09.82, Sidney Pinger (Tualatin, Ore.) went from 5:07.98 to 5:06.84, Jane Liggett (Portland, Ore.) swam 5:08.87 in the morning and 5:16.68 in the evening, and Allie McGavock (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) went from 5:09.69 to 5:09.75. Emma Foster (Clancy, Mont.) finished in 34th place in the preliminaries with a time of 5:15.02.
Treff broke the 24-second barrier in the 50 freestyle, becoming the second Redhawk swimmer to accomplish that feat, as she finished in a tie for 16th place in the preliminaries with a time of 23.94 seconds. After missing out on a spot in the “B” final with a swim-off time of 24.15 seconds, Treff finished second in the “C” final with a time of 23.85 seconds, 1/100th of a second off the school record.
Rodriguez posted the third-fastest time in program history in the 50 freestyle at 24.06 seconds, qualifying for the “C” final, where she finished fifth in 24.08 seconds. Hoffman finished 30th in the preliminaries at 24.22 seconds, followed by Bock in 31st place in 24.28 seconds, both moving up in the Seattle U top times list.
Elsewhere in the 50 freestyle, Caroline Van Maren (Bellevue, Wash.) posted a preliminary time of 24.85 seconds, followed by Melissa Randolf (Everett, Wash.) in 24.92 seconds, Alexis Martinez (Granite Bay, Calif.) in 24.95 seconds, and Maddie Dickman (Sacramento, Calif.) in 25.42 seconds.
The Seattle U women ended the second day of the meet in eighth place in the team standings with 111 points. Northern Arizona leads with 228 points, followed by Northern Colorado with 204 points.
The WAC Swimming and Diving Championships continue Friday, Feb. 27, starting at 10:30 a.m. local time with the preliminaries of the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and 100 backstroke. The finals of those events as well as the 400 medley relay will take place Friday 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).