Whitworth Men, UPS Women Capture NWC's

Whitworth University won its seventh consecutive men’s Northwest Conference swimming championship and the University of Puget Sound edged the Whitworth women to earn their 12th title overall as the 2009 Northwest Conference swimming championships concluded on Sunday night at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington.

Michael Woodward of Whitworth, who won three freestyle events in meet record time, and Jay Jones of Pacific Lutheran, who won both individual medleys and the 200-yard butterfly, were the Outstanding Men’s Swimmers of the Meet. Natalie Turner of Whitworth is the Outstanding Women’s Swimmer of the Meet for the third straight season after sweeping the 200, 500 and 1,650-yard freestyles ?" all in NWC record time.

The Pirate men won four of the six events on Sunday, including the 400-yard freestyle relay, to pull away from Puget Sound 736-675.5.

Woodward won perhaps the most anticipated race of the meet. He was facing off in the 100-yard freestyle against Dominic Rieniets, who had won the 50-yard free and 100-yard butterfly (both in record time) earlier in the meet. Woodward had won the 500 and 200-yard freestyles, both in record time. Woodward edged ahead of Rieniets over the final 15 yards to win in 45.76, while Rieniets touched in 45.94. Both were under the previous meet record time of 46.08 set by Rieniets last season.

Whitworth senior Tom Radtke won for the first time in his career when he pulled away midway through the 1,650-yard freestyle to win in 16:34.33, beating Josh Parfitt of Linfield (16:42.40). Rory Buck added a win for the Pirates in the 200-yard breaststroke, edging defending champion Paul Hughes of Puget Sound (2:04.41 - 2:07.53).

Buck and Woodward led the Whitworth men to a close win over UPS in the 400-yard freestyle relay in a new meet record time of 3:07.13, just ahead of the Loggers’ mark of 3:07.90. Both were under the previous meet record time of 3:08.40 set by Whitworth in 2000.

Jackson Kowalski of UPS pulled away to win the 200-yard backstroke for the second straight season, with a winning time of 1:51.96.

Jones clinched his spot as co-Outstanding Men’s Swimmer by out-touching Yusuke Kobayashi (Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii) of Linfield for the second straight season in the 200-yard butterfly with a winning time of 1:54.38.

The final men’s team scores were: Whitworth 736, Puget Sound 675.5, Whitman 561, Pacific Lutheran 364.5, Linfield 356, Pacific 197, Lewis & Clark 169, Willamette 136.

The Puget Sound women returned to the top of the standings in 2008 after seeing their 11-year winning streak end last season. But the Loggers used superior depth to unseat the Whitworth women 777-765 in one of the closest meets in NWC history.

Sierra Phillips was the only individual winner for UPS on Sunday, taking the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:25.08, just ahead of Whitworth’s Amy Gray (2:27.55). But the Loggers put three or four swimmers into the championship finals of four of the five events on Sunday to out-point the Pirates.

Whitworth’s Turner opened the night by winning the 1,650 freestyle in a new all-time record of 17:11.88, breaking the old mark of 17:14.37 she set at last season’s NCAA Division III Championships. Christine DeHaven and Kara Fisher gave Whitworth a 1-2-3 finish in the event.

Pirate senior Brittany Gresset added to her victory total by winning the 100-yard freestyle for the third straight season with a meet record time of 52.20. Katie Barton of UPS was second in 53.25. Ashley Lecoq (2:07.29) gave Whitworth its third individual win of the night when she out-touched teammate Yasmeen Kheshgi (2:07.55) and Kelsey Elizondo (2:07.64) of UPS in the 200-yard butterfly. Lecoq won both butterfly events in the meet.

Likewise, Linfield’s Rose Hollingsworth swept the backstroke events by stroking to a 2:05.03 in the 200-yard back. Her morning preliminary time of 2:04.81 was a new meet record.

Whitworth ran away with the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay, partly in thanks to Turner ?" who broke Gresset’s meet record in the 100-yard free while leading off the event with a split of 52.17. The Pirates’ final time of 3:32.37 bettered the previous meet record of 3:33.97 set by Whitworth last season.

The final women’s team scores were: Puget Sound 777, Whitworth 765, Lewis & Clark 456, Whitman 320.5, Pacific Lutheran 244, Linfield 241, Pacific 229.5, Willamette 162.

Chris Myhre of the University of Puget Sound was named both the Men’s and Women’s NWC Coach of the Year in a vote by his colleagues throughout the league.