Oct. 31, 2007

SWIMMING: PLU Open Dual Slate by Hosting Loggers

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran hosts Puget Sound, Friday, 6 p.m.

DUAL MEET SCHEDULE GETS UNDERWAY: The dual meet portion of Pacific Lutheran’s 2007-08 schedule gets underway at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2, when the Lutes host the Puget Sound Loggers in a Northwest Conference dual. The meet was scheduled to be held at UPS but had to be moved due to a temporary closure of Wallace Pool for repairs. The next action for the Lutes will come the following weekend with conference duals at Pacific on Friday and at Linfield on Saturday.

REPRISE OF A SURPRISE?: The PLU men pulled a surprising upset by the narrowest of margins – 103-102 – over the visiting Loggers last year in the PLU pool. It was only the second win for 30-year PLU head coach Jim Johnson over the Loggers, the first victory coming in 2003. Johnson called the upset “the biggest win of my career.” The PLU men fell behind 13-4 after the first relay and never led until the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Trailing 98-90, the Lutes made up the difference by placing first and third, outscoring the visitors 13-4 in the event. There were plenty of PLU heroes in this meet. Andy Stetzler won the 1000 freestyle (10:30.14), the 500 freestyle (5:00.64), and also swam the second leg on the winning 400 freestyle relay team. Jason Hesla, who has since graduated, won the 200 individual medley (2:06.11) and brought the Lutes to within striking distance of the Loggers by winning the second-to-last event, the 200 breaststroke (2:19.93). Puget Sound didn’t allow a similar result in the women’s competition, surging ahead early and pulling away for a 126-79 victory.

NEWCOMERS LEADS LUTES IN OPENER: A pair of newcomers recorded the top performances for Pacific Lutheran last Friday night at the Northwest Conference Sprint Pentathlon hosted by Whitman College. Jessie Klauder, a freshman from Mazama High School in Klamath Falls, Ore., finished fourth in the women’s division with a combined time of 3:02.52. Another Jessie, PLU’s outstanding sophomore Jessie Donovan, placed sixth with a combined time of 3:03.41. Brittany Gressett of Whitworth took first with a combined 2:56.93. In the men’s division, Pacific Lutheran’s top performance came from Jay Jones, a freshman from Mountain View High School in Vancouver. Jones had a combined time of 2:39.59, with Whitworth’s Michael Woodward clocking 2:35.83 to finish first.

RELAY MEET NOTES: The Lutes were back in the Whitman pool on Saturday morning for the Northwest Conference Relays. The top performance by the Lutes came from the women’s 300 medley relay team of Jessie Klauder, Lacey Wear and Jessie Donovan. That trio finished second in its race in a time of 3:16.93. In the women’s 300 backstroke relay, Allison Burchett, Casey Jackson and Donovan placed third with a time of 3:13.03. The Lutes also had a third-place finish in the combined 400 freestyle relay, clocking 3:36.03. Members of PLU’s free relay unit were Trevor Olson, Jessie Klauder, Dayna Blauvelt and Andy Stetzler.

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