Dec. 4, 2007

SWIMMING: PLU Men Win NWI Title; Women Travel to Alaska

THIS WEEK: The Pacific Lutheran women will travel to Alaska to face University of Alaska-Fairbanks in a couple of dual meets. The Lutes and Nanooks will swim against each other at noon on Saturday, Dec., 8, and again at noon on Sunday, Dec. 9.

Jay Jones

Andy Stetzler

LUTE MEN WIN INVITATIONAL CROWN: Pacific Lutheran won the men's team title at the Northwest Invitational swimming meet held at Linfield College last Friday and Saturday. The Lutes, who previously won Northwest Invitational titles in 2001 and 2002, scored 610 points to finish 31 points ahead of second-place Whitman, which had 579 points. Host Linfield was third with 572 points followed by College of Idaho with 328, Pacific with 321, Lewis & Clark with 252, Willamette with 231 and Puget Sound with 219. Jay Jones won three events to tie with Linfield's Dom Rieniets for top point honors with 60. Jones was victorious in the 200 individual medley (1:59.30) and the 200 butterfly (1:59.93) on Friday and in the 400 individual medley (4:17.80) on Saturday. Jones had qualified second in the 400 IM prelims before improving by 10.18 seconds and defeating top qualifier Josh Parfitt from Linfield in the final. Jones’ times in the 200 butterfly and the 400 IM are ranked No. 1 in the conference. PLU junior Andy Stetzler won a pair of events on Saturday to go along with a second-place effort in the 500 freestyle (4:50.42) on Friday, giving him 58 individual points. Stetzler won the 200 freestyle (1:47.75) after qualifying sixth in the prelims with a time that was 5.3 seconds slower, and he won the 1650 freestyle (18:09.77). Ben Lilley placed fourth in the 200 freestyle (5:03.03), sixth in the 200 freestyle (1:52.37) and second in the 1650 (18:32.43). Alex Limoges had a trio of top-four finishes, finishing second in the 200 backstroke (2:01.55), third in the 100 butterfly (54.10) and fourth in the 100 backstroke (57.77). Other top finishers for PLU: Luke Thomas, fourth in both the 100 butterfly (56.28) and 200 butterfly (2:12.89) and fifth in the 500 freestyle (5:06.33); Trevor Olson, fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.38) and 50 freestyle (22.65) and seventh in the 100 freestyle (51.50); Kyle Maxwell, sixth in the 500 freestyle (5:13.34) and fifth in the 200 butterfly (2:17.25); Eric Brauser, sixth in the 100 butterfly (59.25); Adam Fuller, fourth in the 1650 freestyle (20:16.23); and Pat Carlisle, sixth in the 1650 freestyle (20:27.31). In addition, PLU placed second in the 800 freestyle relay (7:22.14), 400 medley relay (3:42.67) and 400 freestyle relay (3:18.17).

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). Pacific Lutheran, on the other hand, has won three straight and is 3-1 in dual meets this year.

HOLIDAY BREAK: Following the women’s dual meet doubleheader at Alaska-Fairbanks, both PLU teams will take a break for finals. They will return to PLU following Christmas to resume training. The teams will travel to Thousand Oaks, Calif., for winter break training and for a Jan. 2 dual meet against California Lutheran University.

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