Seniors Win Big at Last Home Meet

1/18/2014 4:10:00 PM

By: Libby Arnosti

Four seniors swam their final home meet of their college careers tonight at Whitman's Harvey Pool, and commemorated the occasion with a double win against the University of Puget Sound. Claire Collins, Ellen Banks, Melanie Notari and Keller Hawkins were honored before the meet by their teammates, coaches and families with flowers.

Both teams were coming off the tail end of an eleven-day stretch of training and competition with no rest; the athletes dug deep and swam gutsy races for the second day in a row. After a close run throughout the meet, the men pulled away during the breaststroke to seal in a win. The final score was 111 to 94; the Whitman women pulled away with a final score of 125-80.

Sam Starr, Karl Mering and Sean Terada did the heavy lifting on the men's side to claim four of the five Whitman wins. Starr took wins in both the 100 and 50 yard freestyle, touching the wall in the 100 with a time of 48.31. Along with Mering and Terada, Starr also took part in the final winning 400 yard freestyle relay.

Terada took off in the 200 yard IM, winning by nearly two seconds with a time of 1:58.69. Nic Win and Nick Wechter backed him up with second and third place. Win and Terada teamed up with Robby Dorn and Dane Kawamoto to take the 400 yard medley relay. Mering's top performance this afternoon was in the 200 yard freestyle, where he won with a time of 1:46.49; his 200 yard butterfly swim was good for second place.

The men's teams were just one point apart going into the final individual event: the 200 yard breaststroke. Nick Wechter and Robby Dorn stepped up to the challenge and finished 1-2 in the event, clocking in at 2:14.32 and 2:17.02 and locking in the win for the men.

Along with Cameo Hlebasko, the first women's relay event was a senior affair: Claire Collins, Ellen Banks and Melanie Notari swam to victory in the 400 yard medley relay, finishing with a time of 4:07.01. Notari and Banks also finished 2nd and 4th, respectively, in the 200 yard freestyle today, touching the wall at 2:03.33 and 2:05.77. Battling a hip flexor injury, senior Keller Hawkins took second place in the 50 yard freestyle, between teammates Tai Hallstein and Josie Furbershaw. Hallstein won the 50 yard distance in 25.11, and the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 54.64.

Claire Collins took second in the 200 yard Individual Medley and first in the 200 yard breaststroke with a time of 2:30.06.

"What a way to celebrate our seniors!" said Head Coach Jenn Blomme after the meet. "Our senior women all made their impact today on the outcome of this meet. They have provided such a strong compass for our team over the last four years, nothing could make me happier than to see them swimming so well today. To see them finishing races with such power and confidence is just awesome!"

Cameo Hlebasko showed up again to win all three of her events; after the first relay win, she swam to victory in the 200 yard individual backstroke with time of 2:13.47 - three full seconds ahead of Bailey Strom from UPS. Hlebasko led off the team of Jennifer Tornay, Ellen Banks and Tai Hallstein to win the final event, the 400 yard freestyle relay, with a time of 3:45.84.

Though they are the swim team's smallest graduating class in years, the four women have contributed enormously to the program over the last four years.

Claire Collins made history last year when she became the first female swimmer from Whitman to qualify for NCAA DIII Nationals. Collins earned 12th place and All-American status in the 100 yard breaststroke, and 16th place in the 200 yard breaststroke. Collins also holds the school records in these events, and swam on the school record-breaking 800 freestyle relay at last year's NWC Championship meet along with
Ashley Jay, Charlotte Graham and Kendra Clinton. At last year's NWC Championship meet, Collins swam to first place in the Conference in the 200 yard Individual Medley, and second place in both the 100 yard and 200 yard breaststroke. Claire has aspirations of becoming a high school English teacher.

After breaking two school records in as many days at her first NWC Championship meet in 2011, Keller Hawkins has continued on an upward trajectory in sprint freestyle and backstroke. She currently holds the 100 yard backstroke school record, in addition to two relay records for the 200 yard medley and 200 yard freestyle relays. Hawkins earned 2nd place in the 100 yard backstroke at the 2012 NWC Championships and 5th in the 50 yard freestyle. She also sits at third on Whitman's all-time list in both the 50 yard freestyle and 200 yard backstroke. Hawkins hopes to go to divinity school next year and hopes to become a Methodist minister.

Ellen Banks, one of this year's captains, has made a name for herself as one of the team's top freestyle sprinters. She is on the school record board for her role in both the 200 yard freestyle and 400 yard freestyle relays. At the 2012 NWC Championships, Banks earned 11th in the 50 yard freestyle and 12th in the 100 yard freestyle. She also holds the 6th-fastest all-time 100 yard freestyle time, and 7th-fastest 50 yard freestyle time. Banks hopes to work in nonprofits and education in the future.

Melanie Notari, a team captain, has been a strong contributor in the butterfly and in distance freestyle for all four years. Notari third in the 100 and 200 yard butterfly on Whitman's all-time list. Notari earned 4th in the 100, and 5th for the second year running in the 200 yard butterfly at the NWC Championships last year.

Notari also was part of the 400 yard medley relay team that broke the school record in 2013. After graduation, Notari hopes to spend some time traveling before applying to law school.

The swim teams have one more dual meet this season - they will be competing against Whitworth University on February 1st in Spokane, Wash.

Full meet results can be found here.

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Seniors Win Big at Last Home Meet

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