FEDERAL WAY, Wash.—Junior Ezra Billings won the 50 Free to break a 30-year drought for Lewis & Clark College men's swimming and the Pioneers set five program records on Day 2 of the 2025 Northwest Conference Championship Meet. 
 
THE BASICS
 
Men's Swimming – 3^rd out of 8 Teams – 110 Points 
Women's Swimming – 8^th out of 9 Teams – 62 Points
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Three Lewis & Clark swimmers earned All-Conference honors and two swimmers and two relay teams combined for five program records on the first official day of competition for Lewis & Clark at the Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center. 
 
MEN'S RECAP 
 
Billings became the first Lewis & Clark men's swimmer to win an event at the NWC Championship Meet since 2007. He is only the second student-athlete in program history to win the 50 Free at NWCs. The junior was seeded first going into the day and broke his own program record in prelims (20.55) by 0.24 seconds to finish first out of 50 swimmers. He came back in the Finals and shaved off an additional 0.13 seconds to reset his own record and win the A Final. Billings time of 20.42 was 0.24 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. 
 
Senior Micah Rysavy set two individual program records and was part of two relay teams that set program records on Friday. He started the day by posting a huge PR time in the 200 IM to reset his own program record. Rysavy finished first out of 27 swimmers in the 200 IM Prelims with a time of 1:53.37 – resetting his own PR by 2.98 seconds. He came back in the Finals and broke his own program record a second time in less than 12 hours. Rysavy touched the wall in 1:52.80 to finish second overall and earn his first career First Team All-Conference accolades. 
 
The Pioneers set two program records in the 800 Free Relay. Rysavy swam the opening leg and posted a time of 1:41.22 to break junior teammate Zach Martin's program-record time by 0.81 seconds. The quartet of Rysavy, senior Aidan Ringel, first year Sam LoCurto and Martin dominated George Fox in a head-to-head race and just missed a spot on the podium. They finished in 6:58.18 to place fourth overall (just 0.15 seconds out of third). Their time broke the previous program record by 0.81 seconds (set at the 2022-23 NWC Championship Meet). Lewis & Clark was forced to make up the 800 Free Relay, after traffic held up Pacific University, George Fox University and the Pioneers arrival for Day One. 
 
Lewis & Clark added their fifth and final program record in the final race on Friday night. Rysavy, senior Isaac Anderson, Billings and Martin moved up from seventh to first all-time in the 400 Medley Relay. Lewis & Clark's team placed fifth overall in the event with a time of 3:27.96. They broke their season-best mark by 8.11 seconds (seventh all-time) and the program mark by 1.98 seconds. 
 
Ringel and junior Michael Spicer each advanced to the B Final of the 500 Free. In the morning session, Ringel (4:55.65) barely edged Spicer (4:55.74) with the pair placing 13^th and 14^th. Spicer finished in 12^th overall in the B Final with a time of 4:51.49. Ringel came across in 14^th place with a final mark of 4:52.37. 
 
Four other Lewis & Clark swimmers competed in the 50 Free alongside Billings. LoCurto and Martin each qualified for the B Final. LoCurto finished the prelims in 14^th place when he swam the seventh-fastest time in program history (21.66). Martin claimed the final spot in the B Final with a time of 21.71 (16^th place). In the night session, Martin moved up to 12^th place with a collegiate PR time of 21.58 (sixth in program history). LoCurto placed 15^th as he touched the wall in 21.72. Sophomores Colin Ziegler (43^rd) and Aidan Beatty (49^th) each posted PR times in the 50 Free Prelims. Ziegler's mark of 23.88 was a collegiate PR of 0.60 seconds. Beatty shaved off nearly a full second off his PR, as he crossed in 25.27 (0.95 second PR). 
 
WOMEN'S RECAP 
 
Junior Elise Barton earned her first collegiate All-Conference honors and the 400 Medley Relay team swam the fifth-fastest time in program history on Day One for the women's team. 
 
Barton came into the meet seeded fifth overall in the 50 Free. She posted a PR time of 24.66 seconds to finish seventh out of 57 swimmers and claim a spot in her first-ever A Final. Barton's time was a PR by 0.17 seconds and moved her from ninth to seventh in program history. She came back on Friday night with another big PR. Barton shaved off an additional 0.20 seconds to place fifth overall and earn Second Team All-Conference accolades. With her new PR time of 24.46, Barton moved all the way up to third place in program history in the event. 
 
Lewis & Clark closed out the night by swimming a season-best time in the 400 Medley Relay. The quartet of sophomores Angie Cummings and Dahlia Linkow, junior Aniqah Gaffoor and Barton posted a time of 4:03.41 to finish sixth overall. Their time moved them into fifth all-time and was a season-best mark by 1.97 seconds. 
 
Seven other Pioneers competed in the 50 Free. Gaffoor placed 18^th overall with a season-best time of 25.37. Senior Ella Stephan added a season-best mark of 25.80 to finish 29^th overall. Cummings swam a collegiate PR time of 25.88 (PR by 0.66 seconds) to finish in 31^st place. Junior Jane Tewinkel closed in 26.68 to finish 40^th overall. Junior Ella Gimon touched the wall in a collegiate PR of 27.65 (PR by 0.30 seconds) to place 46^th. Senior Claire Baco improved her season-best mark by 1.32 seconds to finish 50^th (28.54). Fellow senior Josephine Mann shaved off 0.68 seconds off her collegiate PR time to place 54^th (30.46). 
 
Linkow led a trio of Lewis & Clark swimmers in the 500 Free. Linkow broke her collegiate PR time by 8.46 seconds to finish 20^th overall (5:43.01). First year Claire Hurty made her NWC Championship debut by finishing in 25^th place (5:48.31). Sophomore Sophie Justus finished in 29^th overall with a time of 5:53.02. 
 
In the first relay of the day, Lewis & Clark engaged in a thrilling race with George Fox University. The quartet of Cummings, Hurty, Justice and Barton finished the 800 Free Relay in 8:17.12 – just 0.12 seconds behind the Bruins. The Pioneers finished the relay eight out of nine teams – after six of the new teams competed on Thursday night.  
  
BY THE NUMBERS

• Billings is the first men's swimmer to win an event at NWCs since Justin Lawton won the 100 Backstroke in 2006. David Cloninger is the only other Pioneer men's swimmer to win the 50 Free. He swam a 22.55 to win the title in 1988. 
• Rysavy shaved off 3.55 seconds off his previous program record time in the 200 IM (1:56.98). The senior has broken the record three times this season and now stands 4.16 seconds ahead of the previous program record. 
• Billings is the first Pioneer to win an NWC event since Kassi Kometani won the 100 Free (52.90) on the women's side in 2019. 
• Barton nearly erased a five-second deficit over the final 200 yards of the 800 Free Relay against the Bruins. The junior anchor leg cut a five-plus second deficit to three seconds over her second 50, made it a 1.5 second deficit with 50 to go and shaved the deficit to 0.12 seconds at the wall. 
• Rysavy earned his eighth collegiate All-Conference award with his performance in the 200 IM. He has now earned All-Conference honors in the 200 IM (2025), 400 IM (2022), 100 Fly (2023, 24), 200 Fly (2023, 24), 500 Free (2022) and the 800 Free Relay (2023). His previous-best individual finish was fifth place in the 100 Fly in 2023.  

 WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will compete in seven events on Day Three of the NWC Championship Meet – including making up the 200 Medley Relay. The prelims will start at 9:30 a.m. and the finals will commence at 5 p.m.