Erin Pettersen goes to Nationals!

Erin Pettersen is representing Whitman for the first time at the NCAA Div. III National Meet. She placed 45th in the 50 Free, 24th in the 100 Fly, and 18th in the 200 Fly (2nd Alternate!). Getting to Nationals is an amazing feat and we are all incredibly proud of Erin.

As Erin said, "I've had a really awesome experience and I'm very proud of how I swam even though I didn't swim any best times. I feel honored to have been able to represent Whitman at the National level."

You can see complete results at http://athletics.wooster.edu/swim/ncaa2008/women/.

Way to go, Erin!

Making Waves in Federal Way

Whitman ladies place third, men place fourth at Northwest Conference Championship!

Whitman took the Conference by storm this past weekend! Not only did our men place higher than they have in recent history, but their swims this weekend were strong enough to make Linfield, historically a men's team powerhouse, sweat. Eric Molnar and Ysbrand Nusse represented the men's team extraordinarily well in the 400 IM. Ys was the number 1 seed after the morning prelims, and Eric ended up achieving the first individual title on the men's team in 7 years. In fact, Whitman represented 50% of the podium for that race with Chad Trexler (8th), Nick Wood (7th), Ysbrand (2nd) and Eric (1st). In addition, the men's team broke school records in the 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay, and 200 Free Relay, and Jamie Nusse posted a new record in the 500 Freestyle, breaking the current record, set in 1999.

The ladies had an equally spectacular meet. The 200 Free Relay team of Lauren Flynn, Erin Pettersen, Kate Pringle, and Courtney Fitzpatrick set a new school record. Erin also posted new school records in both the 100 and 200 Fly, having two swims strong enough to post very strong provisional qualifying times for the NCAA Div. III Nationals. We'll find out at the end of the month if she will be invited to attend that meet, and if she is, it will be the first time Whitman swimming has gone to Nationals since becoming NCAA almost 15 years ago. Nancy Alexander had a fabulous 200 Backstroke, being crown Conference Champ for her third consecutive year (see picture!). Everyone had great swims, and our depth helped make the meet a success.

Thank you to all the parents, alums, and fans who helped make this meet such a success. Whitman is the loudest, most enthusiastic team, and this is true for our fans as well as our athletes. Thanks for being there!

Two of our swim moms were right when they made our sign... all you need is STL!


For more information, check out our athletics page!
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Great meets in Portland!

Whitman Swimming has returned to Walla Walla undefeated!
Today's scores: Women: Whitman, 112 and Lewis and Clark, 92. Men: Whitman, 141 and Lewis and Clark, 49.

After swimming at Willamette last night, the Whitman swimmers found enough energy to cheer louder and swim faster than Lewis and Clark this afternoon. Everyone did great, and the close women's team victory wouldn't have been possible without every member of the team.

Some standout swims were:
- Whitman's A team (Nancy Alexander, Claire Noone, Erin Pettersen, and Lauren Flynn) touching out Lewis and Clark in the 400 Medley Relay. The men's team also emerged victorious.
- Elizabeth Roberson swimming stroke for stroke against L&C's Claire Jordan in the mile, finally emerging at the 1000 mark to claim a nearly 20 second victory. Elli Matkin placed fourth in this race, posting a 22:07... a very respectable time for her first mile ever. Max Hennings placed first in the men's mile, beating the Lewis and Clark swimmer by two minutes.
- Jamie Nusse winning the 200 Free by nearly ten seconds, and Colin Gibson touching out an L&C swimmer in that event by .07 seconds.
- Erin Pettersen winning the 200 Fly by 26 seconds, and Jessie Neill placing second, after an amazing second hundred to touch out the L&C swimmer.
- The women's 500 Free when Rhea Edelman, Elli Matkin, and Elizabeth Roberson all had strong races in the pool. Rhea and Elli both had great finishes, winning by a little more than a second.
- The men's 200 Breast, where once again, our breaststroke squad went 1, 2, 3 with Nick Wood, Chad Trexler, and Brian Wakefield, respectively.

All in all, some great swims! Thanks to all the parents and fans who came out for the meet - we really appreciate your support!!! For more information on this meet, check out our athletics page!

We're in Portland!

After swimming approximately 48 miles a person (which calculates into 1654 miles as a team), the Whitman swim team has left California. We celebrated all our hard work on Thursday with a 10,000 yard practice in the morning and Buca di Beppo in the evening (see picture)

We had a very good meet tonight against Willamette. Both the Whitman men's and women's teams escaped victorious. The men's team final score was 144 v. 52 and the women's team scored 104 v. 93 . These scores are great - especially considering where we are at in the season. We have swum a lot of yards, put a lot of time into the pool, and flew from Southern California to Portland today, so with all the factors combined, the team did a really great job.

Some outstanding swims:
- The women's 200 Medley Relay of Kendi Thomas, Ellen McCleery, Erin Pettersen, and Chelsea Klinger who touched out Willamette.
- The woman's 200 Yard Freestyle where Lauren Flynn, Elizabeth Roberson, and Chelsea Hollingsworth of Willamette all had a solid race against each other. In the end, Elizabeth got first place with a 2: 09.00, followed by Lauren with a 2:09.03, and Hollingsworth came in third. It was great to see the girls push each other!
- Our women took 2, 3, 4 in the Women's 50 yard freestyle. Kate Pringle came in at a 27.28 , Chelsea Klinger at a 27.91, and Courtney Fitzpatrick, just coming back from being studying abroad, swam the race in a 29.10. The men accomplished the same 2, 3, 4 placings with Clint Collier swimming the 50 in 23.28, Nick Hurlburt in 23.66, and Matt Bancaya in 24.03.
- Jamie Nusse had some outstanding swims in his 200 Free and 100 Back, beating his nearest competitor by over seven seconds in the 200, and three seconds in the back stroke.
- Whitman went 1,2,4 in the men's 100 Breast. Nick Wood touched the wall first in 1:04.5, followed by Eric Molnar (1:07.18), and Brian Wakefield, swimming a valiant race, was touched out by half a second, achieving fourth. It was great to see the team step up and cheer boisterously for their teammates on this race.
- The men's 200 Yard Free Relays got first and third sporting the teams of David Lee, Clint Collier, Ysbrand Nusse, and Jamie Nussee, and Chad Trexler, Max Hennings, Jeff Sterrit, and Matt Bancaya. This fast-paced race was a great end to an excellent meet.

For complete results, click on this link

Up next: Lewis and Clark (at Lewis and Clark) tomorrow at 1pm! If you're in the area, come join!

UC Irvine Relay Meet

Hello again from California!

Today we joined UCI, USD, CMS (whose pool we borrow for workouts), Willamette, and other schools for a relay meet at UC Irvine today. It was a great time to see swims from these other strong schools and to be at a meet to just see where we are at with our times for this season.

We have been training hard since arriving last Thursday, so our swimmers are really tired and the weather is far from ideal being cold with occasional wind and rain. Despite all the factors against us, we had some really good swims.

The Missionary ladies led off the meet with three teams in the 200 Medley Relay (A: Nancy Alexander, Claire Noone, Erin Pettersen, and Courtney Fitzpatrick. B: Jeraldine Enriquez, Sidney Kohls, Elli Matkins, and Elizabeth Roberson. C: Kate Pringle, Ali Schleuter, Clara Van Eck, and Morgan Kozek). All the ladies had good personal times for where we are in the season, and it was a great high energy event.

Our Men's 3x100 Breast relay consisting of Clint Collier, Nick Wood, and Chad Trexler finished the highest of all the teams, coming in third overall, with all three having great swims.

Jamie Nusse, Ysbrand Nusse, Clint Collier, and David Lee placed fourth overall in the men's 200 Free Relay with some excellent swims, while Eliot Stone, Colin Gibson, Kevin McCoy, and Matt Bancaya all had personally strong swims in the same event.

The Women's 200 Free Relay consisting of Lauren Flynn, Kate Pringle, Morgan Kozek, and Clara Van Eck all had some fabulous swims, consisting of great personal times for each of them.

And, most importantly, the our team had spirit! Cheering for our team and teammates, the Missionaries were definitely the loudest team on deck! (as shown in the video below)


Complete results can be found at the UC Irvine swimming webpage





(If you are receiving these in e-mail, it's come to my attention that pictures and formatting aren't coming through, so check out our blog!)

California!

Greetings from Claremont, California!

We're here in Claremont, California, enjoying a 8-day training trip together. We're enjoying diverse weather - a bit of sun yesterday, clouds this morning, and rain tonight... it's all good for swimming!

This trip is a great opportunity for the team. We have ten days where swimming is our primary focus, and the team gets to bond even closer together. Our regular daily schedule (with some variations) is to wake up, eat, swim, eat, sleep, swim, eat, sleep. The work is tough, but we know the hard work will pay off at the end of the season.

We will be competing at UC Irvine in their relay
meet Sunday afternoon - hopefully, we'll have a post up to let you know how that meet goes. Next Friday, we'll be flying to Portland for a meet at Willamette on Friday and Lewis and Clark on Saturday. If you're in the area, come cheer us on!

In this photo: Nancy Alexander, Erin Pettersen, Ellen McCleery, Elizabeth Roberson, and Kate Pringle enjoy Chipotle after a tough workout