Feb. 8, 2008

Meet Records Fall on First Day of NWC Swimming Championships

First Day Final Results
First Day Prelim Results

FEDERAL WAY – The Northwest Conference Swimming Championships got off to a hot start today at the King County Aquatic Center. Three meet records were broken in the first day of the championships, which runs through Sunday.

Whitworth leads both the men’s and women’s team scoring after day one. The Pirates, who have won five straight men’s titles, grabbed 206 points, ahead of second-place Puget Sound, which earned 183. In third place is Linfield with 132, followed by Whitman 130, Pacific Lutheran 113, Lewis & Clark 69, Willamette 57 and Pacific 47.

Whitworth is in front in the women’s standings with 226 points, followed by Puget Sound with 208. Lewis & Clark is third with 119 points, edging Whitman which earned 117. Rounding out the team scoring are Linfield with 88, Willamette 77, Pacific 46 and Pacific Lutheran 34.

The Whitworth women’s team came into this year’s meet hoping to end Puget Sound’s 11-year win streak, and the Pirates got off on the right foot by edging the Loggers, 1:38.28 to 1:38.44, in the meet’s first event, the 200 freestyle relay.

Linfield won the 2007 men’s 200 freestyle relay and the entire unit returned this year, but the Wildcats would not repeat as Puget Sound and Whitworth took the top two spots. The Loggers set a new meet record of 1:25.29, breaking the old record of 1:25.50 set by Puget Sound in 2000. Whitworth finished second in 1:25.87 and Linfield came in third at 1:26.18.

The Whitworth women swept the top three places in the women’s 500 freestyle. Natalie Turner defended her 2007 title, winning this year in a time of 5:05.26. Samantha Kephart recorded a 5:06:43 and Christine DeHaven clocked 5:09.67 to take the next two places. Another defending champion won in the men’s 500 freestyle as Whitworth’s David Dolphay finished in a time of 4:39.41 to hold off a late charge by Linfield’s Josh Parfitt, who was second in 4:40.43.

Puget Sound’s Leesa Cotton took first in the women’s 200 individual medley in a time of 2:10.82. Michael Woodward of Whitworth won the men’s 200 individual medley in a time of 1:54.12, edging Puget Sound’s Paul Hughes, second in 1:54.23, while 2007 champion Kevin Caple of Linfield was third in 1:56.96.

In the men’s and women’s 50 freestyle the defending champions outdistanced the rest of the field. Dominic Rieniets of Linfield won the men’s race in a time of 21.17. Whitworth’s Brittany Gresset took first in the women’s 50 freestyle with a time of 24.08, eclipsing the old meet record of 24.14 set by Carla Fellezs of Puget Sound in 2002.

Puget Sound clocked 4:00.55 and cruised to victory in the women’s 400 medley relay, defeating defending champion Whitworth, second in 4:02.34. On the men’s side, Puget Sound crushed the old meet record of 3:28.11 set by Whitworth in 2003, finishing with a time of 3:26.99.

LUTE NOTES: The highlight of the day was a school record performance by freshman Jay Jones in the men's 200 individual medley final. Jones finished fourth in the final with a time of 1:57.05, breaking the record of 1:57.85 set by Mike Simmons in 1997. Junior Andy Stetzler finished third in the 500 freestyle for the third straight season, clocking 4:42.45 in the final. The only other PLU swimmer to qualify for a championship final was freshman Trevor Olson, who placed eighth in the 50 freestyle in a time of 22.86. On the women's side of the ledger, no PLU swimmers qualified for the championship final. Freshman Jessie Klauder did, however, improve her preliminary time by almost 11 seconds to place first in the consolation final and ninth overall in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:16.30. That time would have netted her a fifth-place finish in the championship final.

The meet continues Saturday with a 10 a.m. preliminary session and a 6 p.m. finals session.

- NWC -