The Linfield men's and women's swimming teams are back in the pool this week after 13 days away from competition, competing at the Cal Baptist Invitational on Saturday at the Lancer Aquatics Center in Riverside, California.
 
It's the first meet for the Wildcats since the Bruin Invitational on Dec. 4-5 in Newberg. The teams' goals are to record peak times against strong competition.
 
The 'Cats will be traveling with 20 swimmers, 10 men and 10 women. It will be the final meet of the calendar year and the first of two meets outside of Northwest Conference competition. Conference meets will heat back up on Jan. 15 with a dual meet against Puget Sound in McMinnville.
 
Senior Daisuke Fitial won the backstroke at the Bruin Invitational in a time of 50.64 seconds, just missing the school record of 49.74. He also won the 200 backstroke in the same meet, finishing just .22 seconds short of another school record at 1:51.43. Fitial, sophomore Daniel Olson, freshman Jake Maher and senior Garrett Sutton won the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:35.44, more than three seconds faster than runner-up and host George Fox (1:39.23).
 
Junior Kate Walkup has been one of the top performers for the women all season. She last hit the pool for competition in a dual meet at George Fox on Nov. 20, leading the 'Cats to a 120-84 win over the Bruins. Walkup won the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:14.86 and turned in the third-best time in the 200 freestyle at 2:05.41. She also swam on the winning 400 medley relay team, which finished over seven seconds better than runner-up George Fox. Joining her in the relay were freshman Avery Campbell, fellow junior Claudia Velie and senior Molly Shields.
 
Also traveling with the men are senior Colby Evenson, juniors Edan Donaldson and Ben Simpson, sophomore Alex Landry and freshmen Levi Buker and Jack Gallo. Traveling with the women are juniors Annelise Hed and Kalea Mullins and sophomores Whitney Averill, Kaylee Elsom, Abbi Karsseboom and Maggie Kelley.