Ned Martin
Contributing Writer
While we were eating big and napping all day, our Bearcat athletes had victory on their minds. The swim team hosted Whitman on Friday and Saturday (18th & 19th) in Sparks Pool. Both basketball teams took road trips, sending the men to Southern California and the women to Idaho and Montana.
On Friday Willamette Swim struggled to gain footing for both men's and women's competitions. Whitman’s men won 154-46 and women won 135-65. This win continues the Blues' dominance this season. Both Whitman teams won again on Saturday to improve to 4-0 going into the break.
It was not a day without success for the Bearcats. In multiple short events, including butterfly, freestyle and backstroke, Willamette swimmers won races. Cole Linderberg dominated the 100-yard butterfly, finishing four seconds ahead of second place. Alayna Kisday and Tatum Good won their 100-yard races by around two seconds each.
On Friday, Willamette Swim had a much better showing. The women won six events and finished second in 11 more. They only lost 126-105, a major improvement against Whitman’s unbeaten squad. Among the winners were Anna Hornbeck and Alayna Kidnsey. Each finished with two victories and a second-place result. Jordan Edner also added a win in the 1000-yard freestyle.
The men’s events were highlighted by Cole Linderberg with a win in the 200 butterfly. He also notched a couple of silvers. Ben Nickell was the first to the wall in the 200 backstroke. After the pair of losses, the men fell to 1-3, and the women dropped to 0-4.
In Southern California , Men’s Basketball played La Verne, Redlands and Whittier. The Bearcats opened the break with a hard-fought victory against La Verne, led by a career-high 24 points from sophomore Josiah Frank. Unfortunately, they struggled in the next two games and fell to both Redlands and Whittier.
In Idaho and Montana, Women’s Basketball battled Montana State-Northern, Carrol (9th ranked NIAA), College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon. Their last two games were hosted in Caldwell by the College of Idaho. The women's team jumped out to win in their first game, beating Montana State-Northern 71-58. Carolyn Ho scored 23 points in the victory. In their bout with 9th-ranked Carrol, the Bearcats couldn’t get it going on the offensive end and lost 74-35. To end the break, they fell to the College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon in much closer affairs.
All four teams will have until next weekend to get rest and prepare for the rest of the season. The basketball teams will play a double header Friday night in Salem. The swim teams will ship off to Newberg to compete in the Bruin invitational on Saturday.
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