2008 Woodie Awards
Women swim past Div.-II Redhawks
Men, women split dual meet with Seattle Univ.
Danika Heatherly, Sports EditorSenior Sam Kephart won the 200-yard butterfly, 100-yard butterfly, and 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.44 to lead the Pirate women to a win over Division II Seattle University last Saturday, Nov. 10.
The women won the meet 134-128.
"We had a few first place finishes but it was our depth that won the meet," freshman Kristin Nielsen said.
Sophomore Natalie Turner agreed.
"It truly came down to our depth in the last few races," Turner said.
Turner won her three individual events to bring home the non-conference win for the Pirates. She finished with a 10:45.28 in her 1,000-yard freestyle, a 1:55.46 in the 200-yard freestyle, and won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:13.58.
Team captain junior Brittany Gresset won the individual 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.80 and teamed with Kephart, Turner and freshman Brenda Foster to win the 200-yard Medley Relay with a time of 1:51.13.
"That's what we wanted to do," Nielsen said. "Our goal was to come out tough by winning that first relay so they knew we were serious about the meet."
The women were inspired by Gresset and senior Jorie Turner before the meet began.
"We were all putting in our best races and we knew it was going to take everyone swimming their events well to win," Natalie Turner said.
Kephart's 2:07.01 finish in the 200-yard butterfly gave her a provisional national qualifying time for NCAA Division III.
"We were all excited for Sam's great race," Natalie Turner said. "All those times just get us closer and closer to nationals in March."
This weekend was Whitworth's first win against the Redhawks since 1999 when they left the Northwest Conference and headed to Division II.
More than eight years later, the Redhawks are in the process of moving up another division (to NCAA Division I) and are expected to swim at that level next season.
"We knew if we could win this meet we would feel more comfortable against our conference dual meet opponents for the rest of the season," Nielsen said.
According to this week's issue of Swimming World magazine, the teams' matchup was the magazine's Meet of the Week.
"The article pinned us as the underdogs, since we're Division III and Seattle is on their way to Division I, but we wanted to come out hard and take the meet. That's exactly what happened," Natalie Turner said.
The Whitworth men's team had a more difficult outing, losing the dual meet 170-92.
Senior David Dolphay won the only men's individual event for the Pirates (the 1,000-yard freestyle) with a time of 9:59.46. Dolphay turned in a second place finish in the 500 yard freestyle.
Freshman Michael Woodward barely lost to Gordon Smith in both the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle, reaching the wall less than a half second behind Smith in each event. Woodward also took second in the 200-yard IM.
Sophomore Quinton Darling and junior Jason Hunter also added second place finishes.
Both the men and women will swim next weekend at Lewis & Clark College on Friday, Nov. 16, and Willamette University on Saturday, Nov. 17. The meets start at 6 and 1 p.m., respectively.
Contact Danika Heatherly at danika.heatherly@whitworthian.com.
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