Postlewait headlines eight Wildcats to earn All-NWC swimming honors

Linfield males’s swimming improved within the Northwest Conference standings in 2025-26, ending third as a crew, incomes eight complete All-Northwest Conference honorees, headlined by Sam Postlewait with two First Team honors.
 
A local of Newport, Oregon, Postlewait had a robust sophomore season, ending third within the males’s 100-yard backstroke with a time of 52.04 to earn First Team All-NWC honors. He additionally earned the bronze medal within the 200-yard backstroke, beating out a Whitworth Pirates by 0.06 seconds for his second First Team honor. The sophomore swam leadoff within the third place 400-yard medley relay crew, incomes Second Team All-NWC for his contribution to the crew. 
 
Fellow sophomore Kai Laitinen proved to be the Wildcat’s high freestyle swimmer all season lengthy, proving on the massive stage in Boise, Idaho, a pair of weekends in the past. Laitinen completed fourth within the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:46.16 and likewise made the A finals within the 400-yard IM, putting seventh. His third and closing Second Team All-Northwest Conference honor got here within the 1650-yard freestyle, ending fifth. 
 
Freshman Logan Mendez bought his Wildcat profession began robust with two A finals appearances and one B finals on the 2026 NWC Championships. The Tualatin, Oregon, native completed sixth within the males’s 200-yard freestyle and seventh within the 200-yard backstroke to earn Second Team honors in every occasion. He was additionally a member of the fourth-place 800-yard freestyle relay squad, whereas successful the B closing of the boys’s 500-yard free. 
 
Transfer Jack Sappington was Second Team within the males’s 100-yard breaststroke after putting seventh within the A closing. The Oceanside, Oregon, native additionally made B finals appearances within the 200-yard IM and 200-yard breaststroke, ending first within the 200-yard B closing. 
 
Ivan Tontchev’s junior season concluded with two Second Team honors. Individually, he positioned eighth within the 100-yard breaststroke, whereas serving on the fourth-place 200-yard medley relay crew.
 
Senior Rocco Velie earned essentially the most all-conference honors of any Wildcat, being named Second Team All-NWC in 4 occasions. The Kingston, Washington, native completed in seventh within the 200-yard IM, eighth within the 400-yard IM and seventh within the 200-yard butterfly. Velie was part of 4 relay groups for Linfield on the NWC Championships, most notably a part of the third-place 400-yard medley relay squad. 
 
Carson Washburn served because the anchor to the third-place 400-yard medley relay crew, incomes him his second Second Team All-NWC honor. The Grants Pass, Oregon, native led Linfield within the 100-yard freestyle, putting fifth within the A closing with a time of 46.27. Washburn contributed on 5 Wildcat relay groups on the championships in Boise. 
 
Freshman Nathan Wilson rounded out the boys’s crew honors in 2026, ending fifth within the males’s 100-yard backstroke for his first All-Northwest Conference Second Team honor of his collegiate profession. 
 
Men’s swimming completed the season in third within the Northwest Conference, edging out Whitman College by two factors, an enchancment on their fourth-place end from a season in the past.
 
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