The Whitman swim teams rolled through another double win for both men and women tonight against the Lewis & Clark teams. The final scores for the men were Whitman 143; Lewis & Clark 53. The Whitman women won with 138 points to Lewis & Clark's 66. The wins bring both teams up to a 3-0 NWC record.

In front of a lively crowd, the swimmers took on tonight's competition with surprising pluck and verve. Though the athletes are in the middle of a conditioning and strength period of the season, with little rest for their bodies to gear up for swim meets, some exciting swims tonight came close to Whitman all-time record times.

"There were some great early season times!" said Blomme. "There was also a wonderful energy from the team and crowd."

Newcomer Cole Weinstein '17 swam an outstanding 1000 yard freestyle, racing Trevor Schapiro all the way to the finish. Cole finished second in 10:10.82, good enough for fourth all-time at Whitman, behind current Assistant Coach Chris Bendix '12. 

"It was one of the closest and most exciting races of the evening, and showed off the talent and versatility of our freshman class," said Bendix.

Cameo Hlebasko '16, Tai Hallstein '17 and Karl Mering '15 shone brightly, each winning all three of their events. With an uncommon level of intensity and energy, Hlebasko started the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke with speed and finished far ahead of the field in both individual events. She posted a 200 yard backstroke time of 2:08.46 - only half a second short of her own school record in the event.

"Cameo is swimming with such confidence and maturity. Her swims were just incredible," said Head Coach Jennifer Blomme. 

Hlebasko was not the only swimmer to come close to her own school record; Mering cruised through the 200 yard butterfly in a 1:54.10, just .06 off the school record that had been held from 1993 to 2013 by Gary Ames; Mering's new record, swum at NCAA Nationals last spring, is 1:47.50.

"That was as smart as I've seen him swim outside of the championship season. It's a wonderful start to his season," said Blomme of Mering's swim.

Mering and Sam Starr '16 finished a quick 1-2 in the 50 yard freestyle, sprinting far ahead of the field to finish in less than 22 seconds.

First-year sprinter Hallstein led a 1-2-3-4 Whitman women finish in the same event with a sizzling time of 24.57, making her the third-fastest 50-yard sprinter in school history. Her 100 yard freestyle time of 54.56 beat out the next-closest competitor by more than 2.5 seconds.

In a dominating Whitman finish, Nic Win '15, Sam Starr '16 and Will Erickson '16 posted the top three finishing times in the 200 yard backstroke. 

The small senior class of four women teamed up at the start of the meet to form a winning 400 yard medley relay. Keller Hawkins took it out in the backstroke in 1:04.16; Claire Collins swam the breaststroke in 1:10.26; Melanie Notari took the butterfly leg in a 1:00.94, and Ellen Banks finished it out with a 100 yards of freestyle. 

"That relay gave us our first victory of the day - it was also so special to see the four of them swimming together on a relay," said Blomme. "I love how the team is swimming for this early in the year. There are a few details we can continue to work on, and of course we get stronger every week. But our team is really racing well."


See full results here.