Swimming sweeps the Bearcats on the highway to open the 2025-26 season

SALEM, Ore. — Linfield males’s and ladies’s swimming dove into the beginning of the 2025-26 season on Saturday morning at Willamette, as each groups took down the Bearcats.
 
The ladies’s workforce captured eight wins in 11 races, with senior Kirsti Keppo liable for three on her personal. The meet opened with the 50-yard freestyle, the place Caley Haydu claimed first with a time of 25.69, edging out the following three swimmers from Willamette. Taila Patterson rounded out the point-scorers in fifth. 
 
Three occasions later, Keppo made her first look since final season’s Northwest Conference Championships, the place she earned Co-Swimmer of the Year alongside teammate Sarah Arpag. Keppo picked up the place she left off, claiming the title within the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:36.75, almost 16-seconds quicker than the next-best swimmer. 
 
Keppo went back-to-back, returning to the pool to win the 1650 freestyle by over 15-seconds. The Wildcats would win-out from there, with Kira Etheredge dominating the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:09.66, and a profitable margin of seven seconds. Ruby Bentz took third, grabbing three factors for the ‘Cats. Etheredge additionally gained the 100-yard butterfly, her 1:00.25 was three-seconds quicker than the Bearcats greatest. Patterson and Bentz additionally positioned within the occasion.
 
Senior Keppo’s third win got here within the 400-yard IM, incomes a six-second margin with a 4:56.15, whereas Manda Reso earned fourth within the race as nicely. Both of the closing relays have been gained by the ‘Cats, as Sarah Arpag, Caley Haydu, Chloe Lazaraton, and Taila Patterson gained the 200-yard freestyle relay. 
 
Lastly, the workforce of Sarah Arpag, Kira Etheredge, Caley Haydu, and Chloe Lazaraton gained by three-tenths of a second within the 20—yard medley relay. The ladies’s workforce took down the Bearcats, 118-86, for his or her first win of the season.
 
On the lads’s facet, six occasions have been gained by the Wildcats, claiming a slim 104-98 win within the first meet of the season. Carson Washburn and Jack Sappington positioned within the 100-yard freestyle, with the previous profitable by lower than three-tenths of a second over a Bearcat swimmer. Washburn’s time of 49.58 earned the ‘Cats their first factors of the season.
 
Rocco Veile led the best way within the 200-yard freestyle, cruising to a time of 1:49.05. Elijah Ng positioned fourth amongst the sector with a time of 1:00.53. After Willamette responded with two extra wins, simply beating out Kai Laitinen of Linfield, the ‘Cats earned the top-three spots within the 100-yard backstroke. Samuel Postlewait completed first at 55.83, whereas Andrew Seale took second with a 58.96. Ng rounded out the top-three swimmers with a 1:00.91.
 
Veile and Andrew Lee mixed for the top-two end within the 100-yard butterfly, with Veile incomes a three-second margin over Lee for the title. In the closing relays, the workforce of Veile, Washburn, Sappington, and Lee labored collectively to beat the Bearcats workforce and win the 200-yard freestyle relay by over five-seconds. Postlewait, Ivan Tontchev, Lee, and Washburn simply beat the Willamette workforce within the 200-yard medley relay, the win the Widlcats wanted to only beat the Bearcats of their pool. 
 
The 104-98 win gave the lads’s workforce their first win of the season, and meant each squads swept the Bearcats within the first meet of the season.
 
Linfield swimming makes their house debut subsequent Friday night within the Linfield Pool, internet hosting the Pacific Boxers at 5 p.m. 
 
To observe Linfield Wildcats protection all season lengthy, go to golinfieldwildcats.com. Please take into account following Linfield Athletics on Facebook, and @LinfieldSports activities on Instagram and X.com.