NEWBERG, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College men's swimming won four events on Friday night in a rare meet that saw the Pioneers face off against two Northwest Conference teams at the same time.
THE BASICS
Men's Swimming 171, George Fox University 144
University of Puget Sound 184, Men's Swimming 123
HOW IT HAPPENED
Juniors
Ezra Billings (two) and
Michael Spicer and senior
Micah Rysavy all earned event victories, as the Pioneers competed against swimmers from host George Fox University and the University of Puget Sound.
Billings continued his red-hot start to his Pioneers career with wins in the 50 and 100 Free. In the 50 Free, he swam the second-fastest time ever by a Lewis & Clark swimmer. He finished first out of 10 swimmers with a time of 20.90 (just 0.11 seconds off his own program-record time). Sophomores
Colin Ziegler (25.54) and
Aidan Beatty (26.95) placed seventh and eighth.
Billings came back in the 100 Free and posted the fifth-fastest time in program history. He beat 10 swimmers to the wall with a time of 46.90. First year
Sam LoCurto (49.65) took third and Beatty (59.37) finished in fifth place.
Spicer posted Lewis & Clark's first event win of the night in the 1,000 Free. He finished in 10:30.40 to place first out of six swimmers. Senior
Aidan Ringel took second when he touched the wall in 10:46.55.
Rysavy notched the Pioneers final win of the night as he beat 12 other swimmers in the 100 Fly. The senior closed in 53.32 to win by the race by over a second. LoCurto (54.41) added a second-place showing and senior
Ian Holmberg (56.53) finished seventh.
Spicer and Rysavy also added second-place showings. Rysavy took second out of 10 swimmers in the 200 Free. He touched the wall in 1:47.00. LoCurto (1:50.51) placed third and Ringel (1:57.64) finished in sixth place.
Spicer took second out of seven swimmers in the 500 Free. The junior ended the race in 5:05.81. Ringel placed fourth overall with a time of 5:19.19.
Senior
Isaac Anderson added the Pioneers final individual podium finish. He placed third out of 10 swimmers in the 200 Breaststroke with a time of 2:20.52.
Anderson also led Lewis & Clark in the 100 Breaststroke and 200 IM. In the 100 Breaststroke, Anderson took fourth place out of 11 swimmers with a time of 1:04.37. Ziegler finished in 10
th place with a final time of 1:10.90. Anderson notched a time of 2:11.07 in the 200 IM to place fourth of 10 swimmers. First year
Isaiah Frei placed sixth in the event with a mark of 2:12.53.
Frei led Lewis & Clark in the 100 and 200 Backstroke. He took fourth place in the 200 Backstroke with a final time of 2:07.70. Holmberg came in sixth in the event with a mark of 2:15.78. Frei placed fifth out of 10 in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 58.49. Holmberg (59.73) finished seventh and Beatty (1:13.33) placed 10
th.
Lewis & Clark also competed in two relays on Friday night.
In the 200 Free Relay, Lewis & Clark closed out the night with a second place finish out of seven teams. The quartet of Billings, Holmberg, Spicer and LoCurto posted a time of 1:30.12.
The Pioneers took third out of six teams in the 200 Medley Relay. The team of Frei, Anderson, Rysavy and Billings finished in 1:40.44.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Billings improved his season PR time in the 100 Free by 0.27 seconds.
- The Pioneers are 2-2 in NWC dual meets this season with wins over Pacific and George Fox.
- Billings' time of 20.90 in the 50 Free was just 0.11 seconds off his program record and 0.07 seconds faster than the previous program record.
WHAT'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark will travel to California next week for their mid-season meet. The Pioneers will compete at the Winter Collegiate Swim Invite, hosted by the University of La Verne, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
