Results
TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University women's swimming team picked up its second consecutive dual win by the thinnest of margins on Friday evening at the PLU Pool, slipping past Northwest Conference rival 104-101.
The Lutes opened the meet strong with the 200-yard medley relay team of
Kiyomi Kishaba,
Whitney Mundle,
Bailey Hamilton, and
Lauren Kearney winning the race in one minute, 51.83 seconds to set the tone for the day.
"Another nail biter. I love these meets because it allows this team to show its heart," said Head Coach
Matt Sellman. "We were down and out about halfway through the meet and were in a bad place regarding the score. But they responded with great attitude and toughness, finishing with a flurry of wins to get the dual win. The breaststroke was huge with all three women going big. I'm so impressed with the winning attitude this team exudes when under pressure. Great teams with a success focused culture do that. It was lots of fun."
Kaycee Simpson blew away the field in the 400-yard individual medley, winning in 4:41.80 before finishing second in the 100-yard butterfly in 59.04. Kearney notched her second win of the night in the 100-yard freestyle, touching the wall 0.03 seconds ahead of the rest of the field and clocking a time of 56.15.
Kishaba netted a victory in the 100-yard backstroke, stopping the clock in 1:00.14 while
Victoria Nguyenle and Mundle went one-two in the 100-yard breaststroke. Nguyenle touched the wall in 1:08.03 while Mundle was a split second back in 1:08.80.
The Lutes ensured the dual win in the final event of the night with the Lutes' 200-yard freestyle relay team of
Sydney Bishoff,
Alex Shannon, Simpson, and Nguyenle finishing second in 1:44.09, a mere two-hundredths of a second behind the winning Linfield relay, but earning enough points to collect the win.
PLU received additional runner-up finishes from
Taylor Bingea in the 1,000-yard freestyle (11:21.31) and 500-yard freestyle (5:36.32), Kearney in the 50-yard freestyle (25.50),
PLU returns to the pool tomorrow afternoon, hosting NWC rival Pacific University at 1 p.m.
