PORTLAND, Ore. – The Puget Sound women and the Whitworth men captured team titles at the Northwest Invitational held at Lewis & Clark College’s Zhentbauer Pavilion.

Linfield’s men were fifth among nine teams. The Wildcat women were also fifth in a field of 10 teams.

Puget Sound’s Aleksander Jeremic nipped Wildcats star Dominic Rieniets (Sr., Sherwood, Ore.) at the wall to win the 100-yard butterfly by .02 seconds, 52.75 to 52.77. Linfield’s Yusuke Kobayashi (Sr., Honolulu, Hawaii) was third in 53.40. Rieniets was also runner-up in the 50 freestyle in 22.18.

Linfield frosh Seth Ruwitch (Fr., Canby, Ore.) placed third in the 200 breaststroke in 2:19.59. He also placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.62. Miles Phillips (Fr., Richland, Wash.) was third in 200 butterfly in 2:07.34.

For the Linfield women, newcomer Chrissy Baumgartner (Fr., Kenmore, Wash.) provided some excitement, winning the 200 individual medley. Her time of 2:15.57 was a full three seconds faster than her preliminary time of 2:18.73. Baumgartner went on to finish as runner-up in the 100 butterfly (1:01.51) and was third in the 100 backstroke in 1:01.68.

Felicia Weller (Jr., Puyallup, Wash.) earned seventh place in the 200 butterfly in 2:25.83 and claimed 11th in the 400 IM in 5:11.14.
Catherine Nakamura (Fr., Mililani, Hawaii) captured seventh place in the 100 butterfly (1:02.86). The Linfield frosh also earned 10th in the 100 freestyle (57.76), just ahead of fellow Wildcat newcomer Megan Sandall (Fr., Bellevue, Wash.) (57.86), who placed 11th.

Puget Sound swimmers won three individual events and multiple competitors in nearly every final event.

With a solid pair of performances in the 1,650 freestyle and a dominant win in the 400 freestyle relay, Whitworth pushed aside Puget Sound in the men’s team race.

Whitworth star Natalie Turner took home the honors for the women, with wins in the 200, 500 and 1,650 freestyle events. Two Pirates shared the honors for the meet’s highest scoring male, with Rory Buck and Michael Woodward each taking home three individual wins and sharing in the relay success of the Whitworth men to tie for high points honor.

NEXT: The Wildcats host Pacific on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 1 p.m. at the Linfield Aquatics Center.