Swimming Makes an NWC Splash
Men’s swimming put together their best performance at the Northwest Conference Championship Meet since the late 1980s this February. Led by NWC Men’s Swimmer of the Meet Ezra Billings and NWC Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year Caitlin DeNise (shown above), the Pioneers won four events and finished fifth as a team.
Billings won the 50 Free, 100 Free, and 100 Fly to become the first men’s swimmer in program history to be named the NWC Men’s Swimmer of the Meet. He teamed up with Sam LoCurto, Micah Rysavy, and Zach Martin to win the 400-Yard Free Relay. It was the program’s first win in a relay at NWCs since 1988. Seven of the team’s 11 swimmers earned All-Conference honors, and they combined to rack up 13 All-Conference awards across three days of swimming.
Buese Adds to the Record Books
Riley Buese continued building an impressive legacy in L&C’s cross country and track and field record books this academic year. In the fall, Buese won the NWC Cross Country Championship Meet and earned All-American honors at Nationals by finishing 17th for the second straight year. Junior Malia Heien (135th) and sophomore Evan Markelz (138th) also earned spots at the NCAA DIII National Championship Meet. Buese tacked on two more All-American awards during the indoor track and field season. She tied her career-best finish at Nationals by placing third in the Women’s 5K in early March. The senior came back the next day and finished in eighth place in the 3K to tie the program record with her sixth career All-American award.
