Nov. 17, 2006

Lute Women Win Final Relay, Beat Linfield

Meet Results

TACOMA, Wash. – Pacific Lutheran and Linfield split a Northwest Conference swimming dual meet on Friday night at the PLU Pool.

Jaisa Farleigh - jump starts PLU with 1000 free win

Mica Bailey - 50, 100 and relay wins

Jessie Donovan - wins two events

The host Lute women won by a narrow 105-100 margin, while the Linfield men pulled away for a 134-71 victory.

As PLU head coach Jim Johnson expected, the women’s dual came down to the final event, the 200 freestyle relay. “The meet went exactly as we planned it,” he said. “We thought that it would come down to the final relay. It was every bit as exciting as the men’s meet last Friday.” In that meet, the PLU men came back in the final event to upset Puget Sound, 103-102.

The Lute women went into the final relay trailing, 96-92, but finished first and third to score enough points to pass the Wildcats. The team of Kim Wood, Tara Johnson, Shallae Eugley and Mica Bailey won the race in a time of 1:47.05, ahead of Linfield’s 1:47.82.

“Every woman played their part, and every race, every place counted,” said Johnson. “Five points is very close. It’s the difference between a first and second place. If the first and second places had been switched in one race, they would have beaten us by five points.”

For the second straight dual meet, Bailey won both freestyle sprints, taking the 50 in 25.65 and the 100 in 56.40. Jessie Donovan also was a double winner for the second straight meet. First, she beat Linfield’s Rose Hollingsworth in the 200 freestyle by sixth-tenths of a second, clocking 2:05.12. Donovan later pulled away for an easy win in the 100 backstroke, finishing in a time of 1:00.51.

PLU’s Jaisa Farleigh had a strong swim in the meet’s second event, winning the 1000 freestyle in a time of 11:39.26.

Linfield’s Andrea Thomas showed her strength, winning the 400 individual medley in a time of 4:52.92, then coming back after a 10-minute break to win the 100 butterfly in a time of 1:02.55. Thomas also swam on Linfield’s winning 200 medley relay team, which clocked 2:03.26.

In the men’s competition, Linfield took the early lead with a win in the 200 medley relay, clocking 1:43.82, and the Wildcats kept a stranglehold on their advantage throughout the 11-event meet.

Josh Parfitt won the 400 individual medley in a time of 4:20.46, the 100 backstroke with a 57.63, and also swam the opening leg on the winning 200 medley relay team. Kevin Caple was also a double-event winner for Linfield, easily winning the 200 freestyle in 1:47.63 and later adding the 100 freestyle, clocking 49.17. Caple finished the Wildcats’ impressive win, anchoring the victorious 200 freestyle relay unit to victory in a time of 1:32.31.

For Pacific Lutheran, Andy Stetzler won the 1000 freestyle in a time of 10:29.75, Luke Weinbrecht took the 50 freestyle in a time of 23.63, and Jason Hesla powered to a victory in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:02.93.

Both teams return to action at the PLU Pool at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Lutes will host the Pacific Boxers, while the Wildcats will go against the Puget Sound Loggers. Linfield and Puget Sound will swim at the PLU Pool because of a pool filtration problem at the UPS facility.

- PLU -