Feb. 6, 2007

SWIMMING: Lutes Travel To Walla Walla For Conference Meet

THIS WEEK: The Pacific Lutheran swimming team will be competing at the Northwest Conference championship this week. Eight of the nine conference schools will bring their varsity swimmers to the meet, which is being hosted by Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. The meet will take place Friday through Sunday.

MORE ON THE NWC CHAMPIONSHIP: Since the first Northwest Conference men’s meet in 1966, Pacific Lutheran has won 18 championships with the last one coming in 1989. Willamette is second with seven titles, followed by Lewis and Clark and Whitworth each with six, and Puget Sound with three. The Pirates of Whitworth have won the last four conference championships. The first women’s Northwest Conference meet was held in 1978, and Pacific Lutheran has won the most team titles with 12. Puget Sound has the second most with ten. Willamette has won four, while Linfield, Lewis & Clark and Whitworth have each won once. Puget Sound has been the most dominating team for a decade now, winning ten straight conference crowns. The streak is longest active streak in the Northwest Conference in any sport.

REGULAR SEASON FINISHED: The men’s squad left the regular season behind them with a impressive 5-2 record in NWC action and 6-2 overall. That was good enough for third place in the conference standings behind 7-0 Whitworth and 6-1 Linfield. The women’s team could not muster up a winning record in the NWC finishing at 3-4, which left them in a tie with Whitman and Linfield for fourth place in the standings. The PLU women finished with a 4-4 overall record.

PSYCH SHEET RELEASED: With the conclusion of the regular season the NWC released a psych sheet, which compiles a list of the top times in each event. Jessie Donovan is the best hope for an individual championship at the conference meet after being ranked in the top three in multiple events. She currently has the fastest times in the 100 backstroke (59.49) and 200 backstroke (2:11.05). The freshman also has the third fastest time in the 100 individual medley (1:02.66). On the men’s side, Andy Stetzler is the top dog after clocking the second fastest times in the conference in the 1650 freestyle (17:03.02). Stetzler is also ranked third in the 200 freestyle (1:48.96) and forth in the 500 freestyle (4:57.14). The men’s 800 freestyle relay is looking to place well after being ranked third in the conference.

- PLU -