BOISE, Idaho—Seven individuals notched All-Conference performances and the men's 800 Free Relay added a second-place finish, as part of a strong day two for Lewis & Clark College swimming at the 2026 Northwest Conference Championship Meet. 
 
THE BASICS
 
Men's Swimming – 6^th out of 9 Teams – 188 points 
Women's Swimming – 8^th out of 9 Teams – 151 Points 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
Nine swimmers earned spots in the Finals in the morning session and the River Otters posted two second-place finishes and five top-10 performances in program history on Saturday. 
 
The men's team set the program record in the 200 Medley Relay and then notched the second-fastest time in school history in the 800 Free Relay to place second overall. Senior Ezra Billings added a second-place finish in the 100 Fly to help Lewis & Clark move up a spot in the team standings. 
 
Seniors Elise Barton and Aniqah Gaffoor and junior Angie Cummings all made "A" Finals and the women's 200 Medley Relay team notched the sixth-fastest mark in school history. 
 
MEN'S RECAP 
 
The men's team started and ended the day in a big way. Lewis & Clark placed three swimmers in the Finals of the 100 Fly and then the 800 Free Relay team put together a tremendous performance to take second. 
 
In the morning session, Billings, sophomore Sam LoCurto and senior Michael Spicer all made the Finals in the 100 Fly. Billings finished in a tie for third place with a mark of 50.12 LoCurto punched his ticket to the A Final as well when he touched the wall in a career-best time of 50.95 to finish seventh. Spicer qualified for the B Final after notching a career-best time of 51.56. His time was just 0.12 seconds away from eighth place and the final spot in the A Final. 
 
The trio all posted strong swims in the nightcap. Billings nearly matched his program record in the event as he posted a season-best time of 49.35 to finish in second place. He was just 0.05 seconds behind the winner from Whitworth. LoCurto placed seventh overall with a mark of 51.06. Spicer won his heat going away with a new career-best time of 51.46. 
 
Senior Zach Martin earned a spot in the A Final of the 200 Free. He registered a season-best time of 1:44.22 to place fourth in prelims. He came back in the A Final and placed fourth with a time of 1:44.71. First year Reid McAllister just missed a spot in the B Final with an 18^th-place finish. He recorded a collegiate and career-best time of 1:52.69. 
 
Junior Isaiah Frei was the fifth and final men's swimmer to qualify for the Finals. He placed 15^th in the 100 backstroke with a season-best time of 55.74. He added a mark of 55.94 in the B Finals to finish in 15^th place. First year Max Zuberbuhler recorded a collegiate-best time of 1:06.40 to take 24^th place. 
 
Junior Colin Ziegler and first year Kofi Franklin represented Lewis & Clark in the 100 Breaststroke. Ziegler placed 22^nd with a season-best mark of 1:06.30. Franklin came through with a collegiate-best time of 1:11.79 to take 25^th place. 
 
Lewis & Clark put together big performance in both relays - despite the fact that all four swimmers were competing in three events during the evening session. 
 
In the opening event of the night, LoCurto, Martin, Spicer and Billings combined for a program-record time of 1:35.25 in the 200 Medley Relay to come in sixth place. 
 
The 800 Free Relay team registered an All-Conference performance. Despite coming in seeded third overall, the River Otters took control of second place within the first half of the race and never relented to finish second behind only Whitworth University. The quartet of Billings, Spicer, LoCurto and Martin notched the second-fastest time in program history with a time of 6:58.79. 
 
WOMEN'S RECAP 
 
Four individuals qualified for Finals and both relay teams finished in the top-seven as part of a stellar performance on Day Two. 
 
Gaffoor set the tone early when she placed fourth in the 100 Fly prelims. Gaffoor touched the wall in a season-best time of 58.48. She came in seventh in the A Final with a time of 59.07 to earn her first All-Conference honor since her first season. 
 
Barton led a quintet of River Otters in the 200 Free. She qualified for her first A Final of the weekend with a season-best time of 1:58.47 to place fourth overall. She improved her season-best time of the year with a mark of 1:58.37 in the Finals to finish in fourth place. 
 
First year Zoe Thorpe took second on the team and 18^th overall in the 200 Free. She registered a collegiate-best and career-best mark of 2:07.13. Sophomore Claire Hurty finished in a tie for 24^th with a time of 2:10.09. First year Emily McAnally touched the wall in a collegiate-best time of 2:13.43. Junior Ainsley Rios shaved off nearly five seconds off her PR time in the event with a mark of 2:26.65 to come in 39^th place. 
 
Cummings earned a spot in the A Finals of the 100 Backstroke to make it three-straight events for women's swimming with a swimmer in the Finals to start the day. The junior tied her season-best time with a mark of 1:00.58 to finish in third in the prelims. She shaved off 0.23 seconds in the A Final to finish in fourth place with a season-best time of 1:00.25. Senior Kyra Milner finished 25^th in the prelims with a collegiate-best time of 1:10.44. She improved her PR in the event by three seconds. 
 
Senior AJ Schroeder qualified for the B Finals in the 100 Breaststroke. Schroeder improved her season-best time by five seconds when she touched the wall in 1:12.42. She came in 16^th place in the prelims. In the B Final, the senior improved their season-best time again, when they came in 15^th place with a time of 1:11.35. Senior Ella Gimon posted a collegiate and career-best time of 1:17.72 to come in 27^th in the prelims. 
 
Women's swimming opened the Finals with a top-10 mark in program history. The quartet of Cummings, Barton, Gaffoor and Schroeder notched a time of 1:51.75 to place seventh overall. Their time moved them up to sixth all-time in the event. 
 
The 800 Free Relay team put together the team's best relay finish of the weekend thus far. The grouping of Cumming, Hurty, Thorpe and Barton placed second in the first heat and sixth overall – including finishing ahead of one of the teams in the faster heat. Barton jumped into the pool with a deficit of nearly eight seconds to Linfield University. She ate up ground on the Linfield anchor leg and ended the race just 0.15 seconds behind the fifth-place team. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• The men's 200 Medley Relay team's time of 1:35.25 broke the 2022-23 team's former record mark of 1:35.97. Martin was a member of the 2022-23 relay during his first season. Billings posted an anchor leg of 19.88 in the 50 Free. 
• Barton, Cummings and Gaffoor all earned their second career All-Conference honors in their events. 
• LoCurto (fourth) and Spicer (sixth) each moved up in the program record book for the 100 Fly. Billings' Finals time of 49.35 was the second-fastest in program history behind his mark from the 2025 Finals in the event. 
• The men's 800 Free Relay team's time of 6:58.79 is second all-time to the 2024-25 team that notched a mark of 6:58.18. LoCurto and Martin were members of both relay teams.  

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will close out the 2026 NWC Championship Meet on Sunday. The prelims will start at 8:30 a.m. Pacific and the Finals will kick off at 5 p.m. Pacific. The swimmers will compete in the 200 Backstroke, 100 Free, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Fly and the Mile on Sunday.