PORTLAND, Ore.—The 400 Medley Relay team won the first-ever event as River Otters, to kick off the 2025-26 Lewis & Clark College women's swimming season on Friday night at Zehntbauer Swimming Pavilion.
 
THE BASICS
 
Whitman College 119, Lewis & Clark 74
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Junior Angie Cummings won Lewis & Clark's lone individual event of the night and the River Otters posted second-place finishes in eight of the nine events they didn't win. 
 
Lewis & Clark started their season with a dominant performance in the 400 Medley Relay. Cummings and seniors AJ Schroeder, Aniqah Gaffoor and Elise Barton crushed the Blues relay team by 15.15 seconds to win their first-ever race as River Otters. The quartet combined for a time of 4:13.57, with all four Lewis & Clark swimmers stretching their advantage on the Blues during their leg. 
 
Cummings added a huge win of her own in the 200 Backstroke. She finished first out of seven swimmers in the event and touched the wall in 2:14.44 to finish 11.3 seconds ahead of second place. First year Zoe Thorpe came from behind to help Lewis & Clark finish first and second in the event. Thorpe touched the wall in 2:25.74. First year Emily McAnally and sophomore Xandra Kuenz finished fourth and fifth overall with times of 2:37.32 and 2:48.02.
 
Barton claimed a pair of second-place finishes. The senior took second out of seven swimmers in the 200 Free. The Colorado native closed in 2:05.59 to edge Cummings (2:05.85) who placed third overall. McAnally, who was swimming her first collegiate event, came across in fifth place with a time of 2:21.65. Senior Ella Gimon finished sixth overall with a final mark of 2:24.12.
 
Barton also paced Lewis & Clark in the 100 Free. She touched the wall in 56.34 to finish just .07 seconds behind Whitman's Teague Monahan. Gimon placed second on the team and fifth overall with a time of 1:01.23. First year Kyra Milner (1:09.09) and junior Ainsley Rios (1:10.39) came in sixth and seventh overall. 
 
Gaffoor tacked on a pair of second-place showings of her own. Gaffoor placed second out of seven swimmers in the 50 Free. Gaffoor touched the wall in 26.23 – just .08 seconds behind Monahan. Thorpe, Milner and Kuenz all made their collegiate debuts in the race. Thorpe took fourth overall with a mark of 28:59. Milner (29.91) barely edged Kuenz (30.37) - with the duo finishing fifth and sixth overall. 
 
Gaffoor was Lewis & Clark's lone swimmer in the 200 Fly. She finished second out of three swimmers with a time of 2:29.04. 
 
Sophomore Claire Hurty led Lewis & Clark in the two distance swims of the evening. Hurty placed second out of four swimmers in the 1,000 Free when she touched the wall in 12:11.04. Junior Sophie Justus finished the race in 12:19.29. 
 
Hurty and Justus also competed in the 500 Free. Hurty took second out of five swimmers in the event. She sat in fourth place for most of the race but made up a ton of ground in the final 100 yards to finish in 5:54.90. Justus took fourth overall with a time of 5:56.85. 
 
Schroeder paced Lewis & Clark in both of their events. The senior competed with Whitman's Elly Rectenwald in a back-and-forth 200 IM. The pair traded the lead several times with Rectenwald (2:24.22) barely edging Schroeder (2:24.87) in a three-swimmer race. 
 
Schroeder took third place out of four swimmers in the 200 Breaststroke. The senior closed in 2:44.02. 
 
In the final race of the night, Lewis & Clark placed second out of two teams in the 400 Free Relay. Thorpe, McAnally, Justus and Hurty combined for a time of 4:10.47. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Kuenz, McAnally and Thorpe all made their collegiate debuts for Lewis & Clark on Friday night. 
• Gaffoor's time of 2:29.04 in the 200 Butterfly would have been the fastest time by a Lewis & Clark swimmer last year by over 17 seconds. 
• Gimon's time in the 100 Free (1:01.23) was a collegiate-best. She swam a season-best time of 1:01.35 at last year's Northwest Conference Championship best. 
• Justus also beat her season-best time from last year in the 1,000 Free. She posted a 12:19.29 on Friday which was 1.33 seconds fastest than her 2024-25 season-best mark. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will host defending Northwest Conference Champions Whitworth University on Saturday at 11 a.m.