LOGGERS TAKE SECOND AT NWC CHAMPIONSHIPS
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - It could be called the end of an era but for the Puget Sound Loggers, the 2008 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships was an extremely successful meet. For the first time since 1997, the Logger women did not take home the conference championships but Puget Sound put together a pair of rock-solid second place finishes in both the men's and women's team standings.
The final session of the weekend began as a strong representation of how the meet was going as Whitworth and Puget Sound went one-two in the Women's 1650 Freestyle. Natalie Turner of Whitworth established a new meet record of 17:28.98 to take first while Sarah Mirick (Chaska, Minn.) finished second with a B-Cut Qualifying time of 17:41.79.
On the men's side of the 1650 Freestyle, the Loggers placed two swimmers in the top eight as Erik Doran (Maple Grove, Minn.) placed sixth with a time of 17:34.13 while Zach Benton (Hillsboro, Ore.) took eighth with a time of 18:08.12.
In the Women's 200 Backstroke, senior Katie Wilson (West Linn, Ore.) took third with a time of 2:11.55 after narrowly making the A Final with the eighth best time in prelims. Jackson Kowalski (Keizer, Ore.) gave the Loggers their first individual title of the session in the Men's 200 Backstroke, beating out Kevin Caple of Linfield with a time of 1:54.02, a B-Cut Qualifying time.
Freshman Katie Barton (Boise, Idaho) and senior Leesa Cotton (Keizer, Ore.) took third and fourth in the 100 Yard Freestyle with times of 54.77 and 54.93 respectively. On the men's side, Bret Schluederberg (Chapel Hill, N.C.) took fifth with a time of 48.30.
The Loggers dominated the 200 Breaststroke as expected. Amy Polansky (Menomonie, Wis.) won going-away on the women's side with a time of 2:27.65, nearly six and one-half seconds quicker than the second-place finisher. On the men's side, Paul Hughes (University Place, Wash.) won easily with a time of 2:05.94, meeting the NCAA B-Cut Qualifying time. Aaron Hughes (University Place, Wash.) took third with a time of 2:10.32 while freshman Jack Zaharchuk (Portland, Ore.) finished fourth with a time of 2:11.20.
In the final events of the evening, the Logger women finished second in the 400 Freestyle Relay with a time of 3:37.25 to clinch the second-place team finish. Whitworth concluded its championship run by taking first with a time of 3:33.97.
On the men's side, a third-place finish in the 400 Freestyle Relay was good enough to take second-place in the team standings. The Loggers finished with a time of 3:11.97 in the final event of the weekend.
On the women's side, Whitworth ended Puget Sound's NWC title streak at 11 years as the Pirates collected 793 points to win the 2008 crown. The Loggers finished with 692 points, followed by Whitman (411), Lewis & Clark (392), Willamette (258), Linfield (249), Pacific Lutheran (247) and Pacific (130).
On the men's side, the Pirates successfully defended their title with 703.5 points. Puget Sound put together a strong championship to finish in second with 601 points, followed by Linfield (489), Whitman (443.5), Pacific Lutheran (402), Lewis & Clark (206), Willamette (159) and Pacific (147).
Logger head coach Chris Myhre was named NWC Men's Swimming Coach of the Year. Whitworth's Steve Schadt was named NWC Women's Swimming Coach of the Year. The Outstanding Swimmers of the Year were both repeats of 2007 as Whitworth's Natalie Turner won on the women's side, while Linfield's Dom Rienits won the men's award.
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