Both the men's and women's swim teams dominated tonight against Linfield, racing in their first regular season dual meet of the year. The women outscored the Wildcats 139 to 65; the men won with 157 points to Linfield's 40. 

"Given that it was our first dual meet, we had no particular expectations in terms of times," said Head Coach Jennifer Blomme after the meet. "We set out to race hard, and in many cases, to take on new challenges and unfamiliar events. And the team did a phenomenal job of that."

The men's team swept all 11 events in the two-hour meet, taking first place in every race. The women won eight events outright, and took both second and third in the other three. And although the team's focus was largely on technique and performance, the results reflected a tremendous amount of speed on both sides of the roster.

"Despite really encouraging the team to focus on preparation, race strategy, and components of races, rather than the final times, I have to admit we saw some pretty great times tonight!" said Blomme.

The meet started with a decisive 1-2 finish by the women's 400 yard medley relay teams. The quartet of Cameo Hlebasko '16, Johanna Brunner '16, Melanie Notari '14 and Ellen Banks '14 took first in the event with a time of 4:09.76. 

Zoey Watts '17 led a troupe of three first-year swimmers in the 1000 yard distance, finishing first in 11:43.47. Shanley Miller '17, another member of the talented first-year class, battled back a groin injury to take an impressive win in the 200 yard Individual Medley.

Backstroker Cameo Hlebasko '16, who enthusiastically smashed a seven-year-old 200 yard backstroke school record at last year's NWC Championships, swam a sizzling time of 2:11.53 in the event tonight. "Her race was really smart and controlled. That was an incredible time for right now in the season," said Blomme of the swim. Elise Tinseth '16 and Allie Smith '16 made impressive first-ever passes at the 200 yard backstroke, and rounded out the event with 3rd and 5th place finishes. Tinseth also took second place behind current school record-holder Claire Collins '14 in the 200 yard breaststroke. 

A standout event for both the men's and women's teams was the 50 yard freestyle, in which both teams posted the fastest three finishes. Newcomer Tai Hallstein '17 cruised to a first-place finish for the women, finishing in 25.32, nearly a full second ahead of the field. Ellen Banks '14 and Josie Furbershaw '17 took second and third. 

Sam Starr '16 led the men's 50 freestyle sweep, finishing in 22.19. Like Hallstein for the women, Starr also took first in the 100 yard freestyle. Finishing second and third for the men were Loic McGiverin-Odeide '16 and Will Erickson '16. 

The men's 200 yard butterfly provided another exciting race, with first-years Sean Terada '17 and Dane Kawamoto '15, former teammates from their home state of Hawaii, battling for first place. They finished only .2 seconds apart, with Terada taking the win in 2:03.11. Kawamoto also swam a brave 200 yard freestyle, pulling out an explosive last 50 yards to snag second place in the event.

Two first years on the men's side swam their way to all-time personal best times tonight: after duking it out with first-place finisher Nick Wechter '16, Dalton Cooper '17 took second with 5:12.07 in the 500 yard freestyle; Terada '17 led off the men's winning 400 freestyle relay with a personal best of 49.95 in the 100 yard freestyle. 

The swim roster this year on both sides reflects an incredibly young set of athletes. Out of 36 swimmers, just seven are juniors or seniors. But so far, the teams have shown the depth of their confidence and talent in the water.  

"I am so proud of the not just the outcome of the meet, but of the way our swimmers are racing," said Blomme. "Between the quality of their strokes, which is just outstanding, and the maturity with which they are swimming races, this team doesn't look like a young team in the water."

The teams will compete against Willamette University tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Salem, Ore. 


See full results of the meet here.



This story was contributed by Elizabeth Arnosti.