Wednesday, October 31, 2012

First Meets of the Season!


As usual, Whitman had the loudest team cheer and the most team spirit in our first weekend of Northwest Conference competition.  Last weekend's Sprint Pentathlon at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, and NW Relays at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, were Whitman's first look at the rest of the conference. 

Whitman had a very strong showing on Saturday evening.   Freshman, Cameo Hlebasko was the highest placing Whitman woman, getting fourth overall with a time of 3:02.85.  The meet is scored by adding together times from the five events swum by each athlete: 100IM, and a 50 of each stroke.  Freshman Kendra Clinton also placed in the top 10 with a time of 3:06.34, enough for 10th place.  The Whitman men put three in the top five overall.  Sophomore, Karl Mering won the meet with a combined time of 2:38.49, just beating out Whitworth's Aaron Vaccaro.  Senior, Galen Sollom-Brotherton was 4th with a combined time of 2:39.88, and sophomore, Nic Win, was 5th at 2:41.01.  There were also several individual event winners: Nic Win: 50 backstroke, 25.53; Genay Pilarowsky: 50 breaststroke, 31.90; Paul Chang: 50 breaststroke, 28.04; Karl Mering: 50 freestyle, 21.99. 

Sunday's relay meet was no less impressive as the men and women combined for a second place finish.  Whitman took control in several relays, flashing depth and winning easily in several events.  Freshmen Cameo Hlebasko and Kendra Clinton combined with Senior Libby Arnosti for a dominant 3 X 100 backstroke relay that won the meet in 3:08.07.  Not to be outdone, Freshman Will Erickson and Sophomores Karl Mering and Nic Win followed suit with a blowout victory in their 3 X 100 backstroke relay, posting a time of 2:42.90, nearly five seconds faster than second place UPS.  Following Saturday's rarely contested 100 IM, the swimmers had another shot at the event--this time in a relay.  Seniors, Paul Chang and Galen Sollom-Brotherton combined with Sophomore, Nic Win for a victory in the 3 X 100IM relay, beating second place Whitworth, in 2:47.44. 

Standard 200 and 400 freestyle relays were turned into mixed events, using any combination of two men and two women.  After last season's multiple team relay records in the freestyle relays, it was no surprise that Whitman seized control of the mixed freestyle relays.  Senior, Helen Jenne, Junior, Shunei Asao, Freshman, Cameo Hlebasko, and Sophomore, Karl Mering teamed up to make a powerful relay that won in a resounding 1:34.41.  Exactly one second ahead of second place PLU.  Mering, Hlebasko, Jenne and Galen Sollom-Brotherton combined for an even more dominant 400 freestyle relay, winning easily in 3:26.57. 

Regular Conference dual meets begin this weekend at home against Linfield (Friday at 6pm), and Willamette (Saturday at 1pm).

Monday, October 22, 2012

Alumni in Town

Tim Welch ('95), Dana Kelleher ('96), Kathy Farrell ('94) Jason Ridle ('97), Jamie Kennedy ('96), and retired Whitman Swimming coach Lee Coleman

As usual, the alumni cheated their way across the pool, turning 100's into 4 x 25 relays and strapping on fins whenever possible.  It was a great event for everyone and a fun way to start racing.  As usual, our new swimmers rose to the occasion and laid down some very fast early season swims.

With 24 alumni competing in the meet, it was a fantastic turnout.  Kathy Farrell, class of '94 was the oldest alumni competing, followed by Tim Welch, class of '95, our own volunteer assistant coach Jamie Kennedy, class of '96, Dana Kelleher, class of '96, and former 200 breaststroke record holder Jason Ridle, '97.  The rest of the alumni were from the 2000's.  Also in attendance was Lee Coleman, head Whitman swimming coach from 1980-1997. And, although the alumni broke the rules early and often, there were some surprisingly fast--and legal--swims from many of our retired Whitman swimmers. 

This Saturday and Sunday, October 27th and 28th, the team heads to Portland for the Sprint Pentathlon at Pacific University on Saturday at 5pm, and the Northwest Relay meet at Lewis & Clark on Sunday at 11am.  It will be Whitman's first look at other NWC schools.  Saturday's Sprint Pentathlon consists of a 100 IM and a 50 of each stroke.  Each swimmer's times are added up and the cumulative time is then scored.  Sunday's relay meet consists of mixed medley and freestyle relays (two men and two women), 3 x 100 relays of each stroke, a 3 x 100 IM relay, a 3 x 200 freestyle relay and a 3 x 300 freestyle relay.  Conference dual meets start across the conference the following weekend, with Whitman at home for Friday and Saturday meets against Linfield and Willamette. 

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Running into the Season


Senior, Cari Cortez, and Junior, Claire Collins, both ran in the Walla Walla half marathon on Sunday morning.  Sophomore, Nic Win, completed the full marathon, his second marathon of the year.

In the final weekend before swimming competition gets under way, three of our Whitman swimmers competed in the Walla Walla marathon and half marathon.  For Senior Cari Cortez, it was her first ever half marathon.  It was Claire Collins' second half marathon of the year.  Sophomore, Nic Win competed in his second marathon of the year.  Cari and Claire, both breast-strokers, ran side by side throughout the race and crossed the finish line together with a time of 2:10:42.  Nic placed 4th overall in the marathon and first in his age-group.  His time of 3:27:20 knocked nearly 13 minutes off of the time he ran in July.

This weekend is the annual Alumni Meet, at 10am on Saturday, October 20th.  Over the next four weekends, Whitman will participate in the Sprint Pentathlon and Relay Meet (October 27th and 28th, in Portland); dual meets against Linfield and Willamette (November 2nd and 3rd, at home), and Lewis & Clark and Pacific (November 9th and 10th, in Portland), and the Northwest Invite (November 17th, at home).  Be sure to follow us on twitter @WhitmanSwimming for live meet updates!

Friday, October 12, 2012

Balancing School and Swimming



Galen Sollom-Brotherton was recently featured in an article on the Whitman Athletics website!  It's a great testament to the Whitman Student-Athlete experience--and to the strength of our team.  To check out the article click here