Wildcat Roundup: Swimming wraps fall with 11 career-bests; men’s wrestling makes history; women’s basketball the bigger team in Texas

Linfield men’s and women’s swimming wrapped up the Fall season on Sunday, Nov. 23, competing in the La Verne Winter Invitational at East Los Angeles College. The three-day event saw 11 Wildcats notching new career-best times at the meet.

The women’s team finished 12th of 15 teams with 105 points for the meet, while the men’s team posted 249 points to finish 10th of 14 teams.

Sophomore Kai Laitinen swam a new career-best time in the men’s 500-yard freestyle, placing third in the C Final with a time of 4:47.01. Laitinen later bested his previous best time in the 1650-yard freestyle by nearly two seconds, finishing seventh in the event with a time of 16:29.74.

Junior Ivan Tontchev placed 15th in the B Final of the 100-yard breaststroke, followed by a career-best time in the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:11.66, finishing second in the C Final of the event. Sophomore Jack Sappington also recorded career-best times in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, each coming in the preliminaries. Senior Cadogan Wheat broke his career-best in the preliminaries of the 100-yard backstroke, posting a time of 1:01.95.

On the women’s side, freshman Karmen Kendoll recorded a career-best time in the 50-yard freestyle, nearly a two-second improvement, posting a time of 29.84. It was one of three new bests for Kendoll, who also showed improvement in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke later in the meet.

Both swim teams receive December off and will hit the pool again on January 16th in a dual meet against Northwest Conference opponent Whitworth University. The Wildcats host three of their four NWC meets before heading to the NWC Championships at the Idaho Central Aquatic Center in Boise, Idaho, from Feb. 13-15.

Wrestling
Linfield junior Ethan Ensrud (197 pounds) and senior Jacob Moore (125 pounds) made history for their program on Sunday in Spokane, Washington, at the Spokane Open, becoming the first duo to become finalists in a tournament at their respective weight classes.

Moore (5-3) scored 16+ in each of his first three matches, earning a technical fall, decision, and major decision, putting him in the 125-pound championship bout. Moore trailed early in the final match (9-2 after the first period) but battled his way through to the third with a nine-point deficit. His opponent from Providence, Montana, took him down twice in the final 90 seconds, ending the match via major decision, 19-5.

Ensrud (7-2) allowed just one point to his opponents over five matches. Ensrud pinned his opponent to begin the day with a win, followed by a technical fall and two more pins that sent him to the championship match. In the biggest bout of his career, Ensrud led 1-0 after the first period due to an escape, before a three-point near fall led to a pin that gave the Wildcats the first win for the program since it was reinstated three seasons ago. Ensrud went 5-0 on the day.

McMinnville High grad Max Vander Meide (141 pounds) finished 2-2 at the Open, earning a pin and a 12-8 decision in his first and third matches. Fellow former Grizzly Lucien Lefebvre also split his four matches at 174-pounds. After dropping his first bout, Lefebvre rebounded with two dominant victories by tech fall and major decision.

Three Wildcat women had victories, beginning with freshman Cadence Fineran (131 pounds) (3-6), who trailed 12-10 following the first round of her opening match, but rebounded with two takedowns that led to a pin, giving her the first win of the day. Fineran was pinned in her next two matches, cutting her run short.
Fellow freshman Cassidy Jones-Mowen (4-6) took a dominant 10-0 technical fall victory to begin her day but got pinned early in her next match. She bounced back quickly with an 11-0 win in her third match to stay alive in the 138-pound bracket. Her last bout of the day was close throughout, ending in a 5-4 decision in favor of her opponent from Providence.

Senior Klaira Flatt (1-2) dropped her first match after two byes at 145 pounds but won her second match halfway through the first round via tech fall, 12-2. Flatt was pinned while trailing 4-0, ending her day with a 1-2 record.

The Wildcats’ men’s squad will next see the mat on Dec. 7 at the Clackamas Open in Oregon City, while the women will travel this weekend to Olympia, Washington, to face NAIA Evergreen State College in a dual meet on Nov. 30.

Women’s Basketball
The Wildcats went 2-1 at the East Texas Baptist University (ETBU) Thanksgiving Classic from Nov. 21-24. Linfield began its tourney with a 73-65 victory over Concordia University-Texas on Friday, where senior guard Amelia Solt led with a career-high 22 points. She went 8-for-14 from the field and was 5-for-8 from three-point range.

Linfield kept rolling on Saturday, defeating Piedmont University 68-47. Three Wildcats scored double-digit point totals, with senior Miki Vermeulen (10 points), senior Eve Burke (12 points) and sophomore Tana Hoekema (15 points) leading the way.

ETBU handed Linfield its first loss of the season in the final game Monday, 72-68. The ’Cats came back from an early 9-0 deficit, and the game was close until the final two minutes, when a 7-0 run by the home team made the difference.

Hoekema had 18 points of 7-of-13 shooting and junior Allie Mead finished with 15 points, seven assists and four steals.

Linfield will open NWC play on Nov. 30 on the road at Pacific University before returning to the non-league play schedule against No. 3-ranked University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh on Dec. 5 inside the Ted Wilson Gymnasium.

Article written with the assistance of Chase Fisk and Linfield Sports Communication.