Junior Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.) proved that she is the best female breaststroker in the Western Athletic Conference, winning the 200 breaststroke on the final night of the 2016 WAC Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday at the CRWC Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston.
After a preliminary time of 2:16.05, third-fastest in the morning session, Wittenauer-Lee was one of just two swimmers with a sub-30 second split over the first 50 yards. She took the lead during the second 50-yard stretch and never relinquished it, finishing over a second ahead of her nearest competitor with an NCAA B-cut time of 2:11.49, 3.7 seconds quicker than the previous school record set five years ago.
Wittenauer-Lee capped off the evening and the meet by leading off the 400 freestyle relay with a 100 free split of 52.02 seconds, third-best on the SU top times list, as she joined with Stephanie Bayless (Spokane, Wash.), Sidney Pinger (Tualatin, Ore.), and Paige Treff (Orland, Calif.) for a time of 3:30.38, fourth-best in program history.
Madi Lydig (Spokane, Wash.) qualified for her second “A” final of the meet with a time of 2:00.87 in the preliminaries of the 200 backstroke. Lydig improved upon that mark in the evening session, finishing third in the final with a time of 2:00.73, lowering her own school record twice during the day.
Also in the 200 backstroke, Katie Rottman (Phoenix, Ariz.) moved into fourth on the all-time top times list with a preliminary time of 2:05.60, followed by a 15th place finish overall in the final in 2:06.01. In the bonus final, Celeste Salopek (Farmington, Conn.) posted the sixth-best time in school history at 2:07.64, just ahead of Maddie Dickman (Sacramento, Calif.) with the seventh-best mark at 2:07.75.
Kaitlyn Overstreet (Cottonwood Heights, Utah) took 1/10th of a second off her school record in the 200 butterfly, winning the “C” final by over four seconds with a mark of 2:04.09. Jane Liggett (Portland, Ore.) finished fourth in the “B” final for a 12th place finish overall with an evening time of 2:05.93, an improvement on her preliminary mark of 2:06.64.
In the men’s 200 breaststroke, Tanner Schelling (Boise, Idaho) improved upon his personal best twice, first in the preliminaries with a time of 2:01.14, and then in the “B” final, where he finished second for a 10th place finish overall in the event in 2:00.88. Connor Webb (Hood River, Ore.) also posted his personal best time in the event twice, first in the morning at 2:02.47, and then in the evening at 2:02.24.
Austin Barnard (Mill Creek, Wash.) led the Redhawks with a 10th place finish in the 1650 freestyle with a personal-best time of 15:59.43, fourth-fastest on the Seattle U top times list. Chris Weinert (Gresham, Ore.) finished in 13th place with a time of 16:18.06, followed by Nick Connors (Richland, Wash.) in 14th place in 16:18.88. For the women, Emma Foster (Clancy, Mont.) finished in 14th place in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 17:31.53.
Schelling, Mitchell Crossen (Puyallup, Wash.), Jacob Morris (Tigard, Ore.), and Grant Gooding (Portland, Ore.) combined for a time of 3:05.20 in the 400 freestyle relay, eighth-best on the Redhawk all-time top times list.
“This was a great meet overall, with numerous entries into our top 10 times lists, several personal bests, and another WAC title tonight,” Seattle U head coach Craig Nisgor said. “With many of our top performers coming back next year, the improvement can only continue.”
The Seattle U women finished with 244.5 points, while the men earned 183 points. Northern Arizona won the women’s WAC team title with 807.5 total points, and the U.S. Air Force Academy took the men’s WAC team title after collecting 771 total points.