Nov. 28, 2007

SWIMMING: Lutes Split Up for Upcoming Competition

THIS WEEK: The Pacific Lutheran men will compete at the Northwest Invitational scheduled for Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1, at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.

TEAM SPLIT: Breaking up, in this case, is easy to do. The Lutes will split up for the next two competitions as the men will compete this weekend at the Northwest Invitational while the women take a week off before traveling north for a couple of dual meets on Dec. 8-9 against Alaska-Fairbanks. For both squads, these competitions are their final events prior to the Christmas break.

MORE ABOUT THE NORTHWEST INVITATIONAL: Competition both days is scheduled for a 9:30 morning session and a 5:30 evening session. Linfield, which is hosting this year’s Northwest Invitational, is the defending men’s champion. The Wildcats scored 505 points compared to runner-up Pacific Lutheran, which finished with 410. Whitman placed third in the nine-team event with 299 points. PLU’s most recent Northwest Invitational men’s team titles came in back-to-back fashion in 2001 and 2002. Teams entered in this year’s event include PLU, Linfield, Pacific, Willamette, Lewis & Clark, Puget Sound, Whitman, Mills and College of Idaho. For what it’s worth, Lewis & Clark has won two straight Northwest Invitational women’s championships, ending a two-year run by the Lute women.

NORTH TO ALASKA: The PLU women are scheduled to compete on consecutive days against University of Alaska-Fairbanks. The two duals, scheduled for Dec. 8-9, will start at noon Alaska time. The back-to-back meet schedule is a normal occurrence for the Nanooks, who are 0-4 in duals this season with two losses apiece to Loyola Marymount (Oct. 20-21) and Northern Colorado (Nov. 2-3).

- PLU -