By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

PORTLAND, ORE. -- The Willamette University men's swimming team opened its Northwest Conference dual meet schedule with a 97-85 victory over Lewis & Clark College on Friday, Nov. 7 at the Zehntbauer Swimming Pavilion. Willamette's women split a double dual meet, as the Bearcats downed Mills College, 60-35, but fell to Lewis & Clark, 79-16.

Willamette's men are 1-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Northwest Conference. The WU women's squad is 1-1 on the season, 0-1 in the NWC.

Michael McGeehan (Fr., Moscow, ID/Moscow HS) led the Bearcat men's team by winning three individual events. He took first place in the 100-yard freestyle in 51:64 seconds to start a 1-2 finish by the 'Cats. Matt Tanigawa (Jr., Kailua, HI/Hawaii Baptist Academy) placed second with a time of 52.23 seconds.

McGeehan won the 200-yard freestyle by 0.48 seconds over Steven Carreno of L&C. McGeehan clocked in at 1:56.11, while Carreno reached the finish at 1:56.59. McGeehan also won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:36.31.

John Schmidtbauer (So., Whittier, CA/Whittier HS) and Kevin Tangeman (Jr., Sherwood, OR/Sherwood HS) each took first place in one event for the Bearcats. Schmidtbauer won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.42 for a narrow margin of victory over Noah Boring of L&C at 23.51 and Sam Palmer of L&C at 23.61. Tangeman finished first in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 12:06.66.

WU also won the men's 400-yard medley relay, as the 'Cats recorded a time of 4:15.51 to win by 55.17 seconds. Swimming on the relay were Jacob Munson-McGee (Fr., Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces HS), James Huang (Sr., Portland, OR/Sunset HS), Tangeman and Noah Wilcox (Fr., Oakley, UT/Oakley School).

Lewis & Clark won all 11 women's events. Willamette took second place in seven events, while Mills was second in one event.

Jenna Larrow (Jr., Boise, ID/Timberline HS) of Willamette placed second in the the 500-yard freestyle and the 1,000-yard freestyle. She trailed only Claire Jordan of Lewis & Clark (5:30.49) in the 500, as she clocked in at 5:50.05. In the 1,000, Larrow took second place with a time of 11:51.91, while Jordan won in 11:17.96.

The Bearcats also received a pair of second-place finishes from Janelle Higashida (Fr., Kaneohe, HI/Hawaii Baptist Academy) in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard breaststroke. Higashida finished the 200 I.M. in 2:30.13 and was just 0.6 seconds away from the winner, Abbie Hebein of Lewis & Clark (2:29.53). Higashida won the 200 breaststroke in 2:45.75.

Hanna Connett (So., Pullman, WA/Pullman HS) of Willamette was second in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:06.46. Koy Collier was L&C placed first in 2:03.13.

The Bearcat women placed second in the 400-yard freestyle relay. WU's relay team included Laura Coddington (Fr., Seaside, OR/Seaside HS), Lauren Gard (Jr., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putnam HS), Chelsea Ibarra (So., Santa Cruz, CA/Georgiana Bruce Kirby HS) and Larrow. Willamette's time in the relay was 4:19.27. L&C won the race in 3:31.58.

Willamette will swim again on Saturday, Nov. 8, when the 'Cats host the University of Puget Sound at the WU Natatorium. The dual meet is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. (PST).