Entering the 2025 NWC Swim Championships on Feb. 16, the only active school record holders, Cole Lindberg (MBA ʼ25) and Anna Hornbeck (ʼ25), were set for their last-ever meet in Bearcat gold. However, it was sophomore Tessa Ciatti who continued their legacy, cracking the 100 and 200 butterfly records (with times of 57.83 and 2:10.82 seconds, respectively) in a single contest.
The 100 butterfly record, which Ciatti broke by almost a full second, was last set in 2018. The 200 butterfly record had been standing since 1994. Ciatti recalled, “I [wear] glasses and I don’t swim with them on. It takes me a second to focus on the board. When I realized [I’d broken the first record], my mouth dropped.” Overall, the women’s squad landed a No. 5 championship finish, up from No. 6 last season.
Ciatti hails from the Bellingham Bay Swim Club, which she describes as “kind of a butterfly powerhouse.” She readily admits she was not the fastest butterflyer on her club team growing up and often branched into other events as a way to stand out. Now, she says that versatility has helped her in her secondary role as a “utility swimmer” for the ʼCats. “I [sometimes] get put in the stuff no one else wants to do,” she explained. But her recent success has given her a role to incur envy: fastest women’s butterflyer in recorded Bearcat history.
Early in the season, a back injury kept Ciatti from two months of the team's lifting program. “I went into conference thinking, ‘I may not swim as well as I hope,’” she explained. She says her strength work over the summer kept her in the game, alongside her summer coach, her physical therapist and the Bearcat coaches. “It was all of those people together and then, of course, me a little bit in there,” she said.
Describing Ciatti’s achievement, Hornbeck, the current record holder in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, said, “It was like looking at myself in a younger mirror. It was so cool.” Hornbeck explained that when she broke her first record in 2022, she “didn’t even know it was something [she] could do,” and recalled confusion at her team’s excitement. Now, seeing Ciatti break through, she says she understands the hype.
Hornbeck, whose last meet was the recent championships, had breakout underclass seasons, securing a record in each. However, she began to suffer health issues in her later career. She says a non-life-threatening brain tumor made it such that on some days, her biggest success was getting out of bed. She continued to compete as much as her health would allow, rounding out her final championship race at nine seconds off her 200 breaststroke record. “I never felt good. I never felt like I was physically up to the challenge. I think that defines what [swim] is to me, because I did it anyway,” she said.
Cole Lindberg, who holds the school record in the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley (IM), also ended his college career at the recent championships. After entering his first year with mixed feelings about the sport, Lindberg says the improvements he made in his inaugural swim season motivated him to work harder.
Lindberg explained that he locked in on the 100 butterfly record, beat it, and earned the 200 record as a byproduct of that effort. Then he set his sights on the IM record, enlisting the help of alum and then “resident breaststroker” Logan Copeland (ʼ24), shaving less than a second off the previous record in 2024.
Although he stayed within striking distance, landing the top six times in school history, Lindberg was unable to breach his 2023 100 butterfly success. “The fastest I’ve ever gone now [is] … that record I set two years ago … that’s a little disappointing,” he said. Despite his individual accolades, Lindberg recalls an upset relay win over George Fox as the favorite memory of his career.
Although swimming is a largely individualized sport, all three record breakers hold the team aspect in the highest regard. “The things I remember are practicing with my friends and going to swim meets with my friends,” said Lindberg. When asked what message he would give to the next generation of Bearcat swimmers, Lindberg expressed, “It’s hard to understand just how limited the time is when you’re a freshman.” Hornbeck, who’s looking forward to healing now that the season is over, explained that she will miss seeing her teammates the most.
For her part, Ciatti says that now that she’s the swimmer to beat, she’s not focusing on breaking another record. She just wants to get better and let the history come where it may.
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