FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Zachary Washburn and Carly Hoff each added a second win of the weekend, while Connor Florey and Brody Faser finished 1-2 in the men's 400 I.M. for Whitworth University on Saturday night at the 2023 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships hosted by Whitman College at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
Despite the wins, the Pirates fell into second place behind the surging Whitman Blues in the men's standings, while the Whitworth women are in fifth place.
The meet concludes on Sunday.
The Pirate men opened the night with a second place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Linfield posted a winning time of 1:22.83 with Washburn, Mason Self, Haden Keener and Ryan Burch following in 1:23.96.
In the men's 400-yard individual medley, Florey was in fourth place at the halfway point. But he surged to second during the breaststroke and overtook Faser in the freestyle to win with a time of 4:05.56. It was a comeback in another way for Florey, who was called for a questionable disqualification in the same event at the 2022 NWC Championships. Faser, who had the morning's top qualifying time, finished in 4:05.78. Both Pirates dropped four seconds from the preliminary heats.
Later in the session Washburn won the closest men's finish of the night, holding off Whitman's Andrew Hanson 56.87 – 56.91. Washburn's win was his second of the meet after he took first in the 50-yard freestyle on Friday.
Isaiah Ross finished third in the men's 100-yard butterfly for the second straight season. He went 49.35 as Linfield's Eden Donaldson won in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 48.82. Mason Groth took seventh for the Pirates in 51.05.
Tannor Filion led Whitman's surge to the team lead with a pair of dominant wins on Saturday. He set an NWC record while winning the 200-yard freestyle in 1:36.54. Keener finished seventh for Whitworth in 1:45.42.
Filion won the 100-yard backstroke in 46.99, an NCAA qualifying time. Filion broke the NWC record with a time of 47.74 on Friday leading off the 400 medley relay. Ryan Burch was eighth in the 100 backstroke in 54.28.
The men's team scores through Saturday's events are: Whitman 441, Whitworth 412.5, Linfield 351, Puget Sound 232, Lewis & Clark 188.5, Willamette 175, George Fox 166, Pacific Lutheran 154, Pacific (Ore.) 89.
In a women's 200 freestyle championship final that featured Friday night's winners from the 50 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 200 I.M., Hoff won with a personal record of 1:54.94. She took an early lead and held off Puget Sound's Sara Guillen (1:55.15), who had won the 500 on Friday night. Hoff finished fourth in the 200 last season.
Hoff led off the 200 freestyle relay to open the night, helping the Pirate women finish in fourth place. Hoff, Taylor Thorne, Sarah Doncevic and Chamelle Abringe went 1:39.65. Linfield won in 1:37.54.
Abringe and Eve Ihde finished tied for seventh in the women's 100 butterfly in 59.97. Puget Sound's Madeline Brennan won in 56.83.
Thorne took eighth place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:02.37 and Doncevic won the consolation final in 1:01.24. Linfield's Avery Campbell won the event in 57.36.
Linfield's Kate Walkup won the 400 I.M. in 4:31.61. Maria Bentz was 14th for Whitworth (5:11.06).
Whitman's Erin McKinney took first in the 100 breastroke (1:05.44). Grace Oster finished 13th in 1:10.82.
The women's team scores through Saturday are: Linfield 466, Whitman 417, Pacific Lutheran 288, Puget Sound 270, Whitworth 234, Willamette 178, Lewis & Clark 156, George Fox 131, Pacific (Ore.) 98.
