SPOKANE, Wash.—Junior
Ezra Billings won the 50 Yard Free and Lewis & Clark College men's swimming closed out the night with a win in the 400 Free Relay in their first competition of 2025.
THE BASICS
Whitworth University 138, Lewis & Clark 64
HOW IT HAPPENED
Billings continued his phenomenal start to his Pioneers career with the team's lone win of the night and one of Lewis & Clark's four second-place showings.
The Pioneers quartet of Billings, first year
Sam LoCurto, senior
Micah Rysavy and junior
Zach Martin combined to beat three Whitworth University relay teams in the 400 Free. Lewis & Clark's lone team closed in 3:13.72 to finish 2.22 seconds ahead of the Pirates' top team.
Billings added an individual win in the 50 Free. He placed first out of six swimmers, when he touched the wall in 21.34. Sophomores
Colin Ziegler (24.48) and
Aidan Beatty (27.63) placed fifth and sixth overall.
Billings tacked on a second-place result in the 100 Free. He finished second out of five swimmers with a final time of 48.47. LoCurto came in fourth overall with a final mark of 49.90.
Martin led three Pioneers swimmers in the 200 Free. The junior finished in second place out of six swimmers with a time of 1:49.74. LoCurto added a third-place finish (1:50.34) and senior
Ian Holmberg (2:07.73) took sixth place.
Junior
Michael Spicer placed second out of four swimmers in the 200 Fly. He notched a final time of 2:05.04 to finish in second. Rysavy registered a mark of 2:10.25 to place fourth.
Senior
Isaac Anderson led three Lewis & Clark swimmers in the 200 Breaststroke. Anderson registered the team's final second-place finish of the day with a time of 2:20.76. Martin placed third (2:32.58) and Ziegler came in fourth place (2:36.10).
Senior
Aidan Ringel was the Pioneers lone swimmer in the 1,000 Free. He finished third out of four with a final time of 10:50.38.
Ringel led two Lewis & Clark swimmers in the 500 Free. He posted a fourth-place result with a final time of 5:15.41. Spicer came across in fifth place (5:23.15).
Rysavy paced Lewis & Clark in the 200 IM. The senior touched the wall in 2:06.76 to finish fourth overall. Anderson came across in fifth place (2:13.21) and first year
Isaiah Frei placed sixth (2:16.31)
Frei led a trio of Lewis & Clark swimmers in the 200 Backstroke. Frei finished the race in 2:10.39 to notch a fourth-place showing. Holmberg placed fifth (2:21.15) and Beatty notched a sixth-place finish (2:40.93).
In the opening race of the night, Lewis & Clark's 400 Yard Medley Relay Team finished in third place. The quartet of Holmberg, Spicer, Anderson and Ringel combined for a time of 3:53.40.
BY THE NUMBERS
- The 400 Frees Relay Team's time was the eighth-fastest in program history. It was 1.96 seconds off the team's season-best mark set at the Winter Collegiate Swim Invite.
- Billings now owns five of the six fastest times in the 50 Free by a Northwest Conference swimmer this season.
- The Pioneers were competing for the first time in nearly two months. They last competed on November 24 at the Winter Collegiate Swim Invite.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark will have a quick turnaround, as they travel to take on Whitman College on Saturday at 11 a.m.
