Lutes swim past Missionaries

Tricia Johnson

Mast Sports Intern

Lute pride was in the air on Nov. 17 when the PLU swim team went up against the Whitman Missionaries in a long distance Northwest Conference dual meet held at the PLU pool.
The men’s team shut the Missionaries out of all but two events and the women out of all but four at the meet that was supposed to be a tight race between the two schools.

The PLU men’s swim team crushed the Missionaries for the 30th time in a row, winning by a score of 126-79.

The women’s team won with a score of 111-94, putting an end to a three-year winning streak for the Missionaries against the Lutes. After the meet, both the men’s and women’s teams improved to a 3-1 record overall and in NWC competition.

The men’s team produced two triple winners for the meet with first-year swimmer Alex Limoges and junior Andy Stetzler taking first place in all their events.

Limoges won the 400-individual medley and 200 backstroke for the team. He also swam the opening leg on the winning medley relay team along with first-year Trevor Olson, first-year Jay Jones and sophomore Ben Lilley.

Stetzler also made an amazing sweep of all of his events taking first place in the 1000 freestyle and the 500 freestyle. He also swam on the winning 400-freestyle relay team, along with Olson, Lilley and junior Luke Thomas.

Other Lute winners include Olson in the 50 freestyle, Jones in the 200-yard butterfly and Lilley in the 100 freestyle.

“Both the guys and the girls swam real well. We won the events we were supposed to win and won most of the close races,” Stetzler said. “We though the meet was going to be closer than it was.”

After a rough start for the women’s team, first-year Dayna Blauvelt helped turn things around for the Lutes by shutting Whitman out of the top spot in the 200-freestyle event.

“[Kendi] Thomas and I were pretty much neck and neck the entire race, so when I beat her by a second, I was excited,” Blauvelt said.

Blauvelt also contributed to the overall win for the team by taking first place in the 100 freestyle and swimming on the winning 400-freestyle relay team along with sophomore Jessie Donovan, first-year Katie Knee and first-year Jessie Klauder.

As for the rest of the season, the Lutes will return home for good. During January, most of the meets will be taking place at the PLU swimming pool.