Over the last week of February, both the men and women Seattle University swim teams competed at the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championships. Seattle U traveled to Houston, Texas for the meet which stretched from, Feb. 27 to March 2.

The Redhawks kicked off the action on Wednesday with relays. On the men’s side, the 800-yard freestyle relay team finished with a time of 6:42.04. The team consisted of Senior Mitchell Crossen, Junior Alex Roderick, Junior Zach Zenteno, and First-year Jake Goguen. Last year at the WAC meet, the 800-yard freestyle relay broke the school record, posting a time of 6:39.79.

Thursday consisted of individual events and another relay. The Redhawks saw a strong performance from Junior Greg Raper, who swam his way onto the Seattle U top 10 list for the 50-yard freestyle. Raper completed the race in the A final with a time of 20.12 seconds, just barely missing the podium. The time sits as number two all-time at Seattle U.

The top ten list was shaken up again by the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Raper, Sophomore Isaac Parker, Firstyear Ian Keene, and First-year Tyler Goodspeed, who found themselves posting the second best time in Seattle U history at 1:21.69.

To finish Thursday off, four swimmers obtained personal bests. Goodspeed swam to a new PR in the 50-yard freestyle. Junior Ryan Shaw and First-year Kyle Bailey both set new personal bests in the 200-yard individual medley (IM) and First-year Juan Varela did the same in the 500-yard freestyle.

On Friday, Raper found himself yet again moving onto Seattle U’s top ten board. This time, in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 48.08, which put him at number two all-time at Seattle U. Joining him on that list is Marin Saric, a First-year, who now stands eighth all-time with a time of 49.57.

Four other Redhawks set personal bests in the 100-yard butterfly: Goodspeed, First-year Ryan Ascencio, and Junior Luke Christensen.

More Seattle U top ten times came on Friday from Sophomore Jack Neton, with a time of 57.2 in the 100-yard breaststroke for ninth alltime and Parker, a sophomore, who touched the wall with a time of 1:41:21 for the 200-yard freestyle, nabbing tenth on the list.

First-year Chang He also posted a personal best in the 100-yard breaststroke on Friday.

To wrap things up on Saturday, Raper took down an eight-year-old record in the 100-yard freestyle. Raper now owns the top time at Seattle U with a time of 44.52 compared to the previous record time of 44.56. Parker, Bailey and Goguen also competed in the 100-yard freestyle. Goguen now sits in the fifth fastest slot of Seattle U history with a time of 45.61. Parker and Bailey posted new personal bests.

More top ten rankings were shaken up as Varela posted a 1650-yard freestyle time of 15:53.12 for the second all-time best. Ascencio posted 1:50.66 in the 200-yard butterfly finals to be fifth of the top ten list. Zenteno swam a 1:51.19 for ninth all-time at Seattle U.

On the women’s side, Wednesday resulted in relay teams landing themselves onto Seattle U’s top ten times. Sophomore Jennifer Wong, Junior Darrian Himes, Junior Sherlyn Davadson, and First-year Allison Plamondon swam the 200-yard IM relay in a time of 1:47.05 to be eighth on the top ten list.

The 800-yard freestyle relay made up of First-year Sarah Carr, Senior Emily Gough, Junior Julia Gorman, and Junior Jayna Van Stone swam to a time of 7:37.18 for the sixth best time.

The Redhawks made sure to continue knocking the top ten list around on Thursday as Gough left her mark at Seattle U by posting the fourth fastest time in school history school in the 500-yard freestyle with 5:04.49. Both Carr and Emily Bakewell, a sophomore, found themselves at nine and ten with times of 2:09.76 and 2:10.28 respectively. Van Stone also swam the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 24.16 for eighth on the list.

First-year Marissa Chan set a new best in the 50-yard freestyle while First-year Emma McGill, Van Stone, and Gorman all set bests in the 500-yard freestyle.

Gorman and Carr both put themselves on the top ten list on Friday for the 200-yard freestyle with times of 1:52.60 and 1:54.27 for fifth and tenth all-time, respectively. McGill posted 1:06.87 for ninth on the list in the 100-yard breaststroke.

On Saturday, the women made sure to continue to take over Seattle U’s top ten times. Gorman, Van Stone, Carr, and Plamondon swam a 3:27.37 in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Plamondon also swam the 100-yard freestyle in 51.91 for fifth fastest. Bakewell, in the 1650-yard freestyle, swam a 17:57.77 taking the tenth fastest for Seattle U history.

The women’s team is only losing two seniors, Gough and Jenessa Schulte. The men’s team will be without Keene, Crossen and Austin Barnard next season as they will be graduating in the spring. Both swim teams will be in a good place as the seniors leave a strong team behind.

Michaela may be reached at
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