Local colleges: Tixier opens strong at NAIA swim championships

Former Hanford High School swim standout Lisa Tixier might have won an NAIA national swim title Thursday.

The 50-yard freestyle results have the Biola University sophomore touching the wall in 23.92 seconds, behind Savannah College of Art and Design senior Heather Partlow (23.77), but a timing pad malfunction is under appeal. The appeal will be processed Friday morning, according to Biola’s website.

Tixier swam the anchor leg of Biola’s 200 medley relay, which finished third behind winner SCAD and Olivet Nazarene. The Eagles’ time of 1:45.80 was a school record.

The Eagles’ 800 free relay, also featuring Tixier, took fourth (7:44.57).

Tixier is set to swim in the 100 butterfly Friday and the 100 free Saturday. She is the top seed in both events.

Wayland Baptist sophomore Mylie Oberg (Hanford) was 31st in the 500 free and did not advance out of preliminaries. She still has the 200 and 1,650 free.

▪ The stretch from March 16-19 will be a big one for two local aquatic standouts.

Texas A&M sophomore Lisa Bratton (Richland) is among the top swimmers entered in the NCAA Division I women’s championships in Atlanta.

Bratton is tied for the fourth-best seed time in the 200-yard individual medley, at 1 minute, 54.97 seconds. She’s fifth in the 200 backstroke (1:50.64) and sixth in the 400 IM (4:05.44).

Trinity University sophomore Danielle Freund (Southridge) is set to compete in the 1- and 3-meter diving events at the NCAA Division III women’s championships in Greensboro, N.C.

Last year, Freund was fifth in the 3-meter event and 10th in the 1-meter competition.

Track and field

Eastern Washington’s athletic department chose senior thrower Kaytlyn Coleman (Kennewick) as a February scholar-athlete of the month.

Coleman, a communication studies major with a 3.36 grade-point average, twice was named a Big Sky Conference Female Athlete of the Week last month. She set and then broke the school record in the weight throw, and was second in the event at the Big Sky Conference indoor track and field championships. She took fourth in the shot put at the Big Sky championships.

College baseball

Trek Stemp (Kennewick) singled and stole a base in Washington State’s home opener, but the Cougars lost 8-0 to Utah Valley University.

Stemp is batting .472 (17-for-36) to lead the Cougars (3-6).

This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 10:14 PM with the headline "Local colleges: Tixier opens strong at NAIA swim championships."