TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University men's and women's swimming teams cap off the dual meet season this Saturday, making the quick jaunt across town to face Northwest Conference rival University of Puget Sound.
 
Last weekend, the Lute swim team returned from Oregon 3-1, with the women's squad triumphant over both Linfield College and Pacific University, and the men falling short against Linfield before dominating Pacific the next day. For the women, Saturday's win over Pacific clinched its sixth consecutive dual meet title and gives the squad a chance to close out its first undefeated conference slate since the 2016-2017 season.
 
Junior swimmer Hayden Mortensen, a communications major with hopes of working in the entertainment industry, recognizes the effects of January's tough training on the team's racing. However, going into this Saturday's meet against rival t Puget Sound, Mortensen is confident in a victory. 
 
"We aren't looking for anything magnificent at this point in the season because we are so broken down from our final week of hard training," Mortensen said. "We will beat the Puget Sound Loggers if we focus in and perform as well as we did last week against the more powerful Linfield."
 
Despite having the last NWC dual competition on Saturday, Mortensen's mind is already set on conference championships coming up in two weeks. During the fall, Mortensen achieved personal records in three of his events at the George Fox and Husky invitationals, and hopes to improve those times at conference. As a squad, Mortensen is optimistic of the damage their 14-person men's team can do at champs.
 
"It's been hard to get my full sprint speed back, but I'm confident everything will come together at conference championships like it always does," Mortensen said. "As a team, we are guaranteed to place higher than we did last year if we don't disqualify any relays this year. I wouldn't be surprised if we got third in conference, but it would take everyone's best performance. We are already handicapped having so few men on the team, but we are a quality squad and have performed very well this year."
 
But before conference, the Lutes still have to beat the Loggers. Mortensen is excited to race in the luxurious Puget Sound aquatics center, and plans to use the meet as a rehearsal for champs.
 
Senior swimmer Lauren Kearney also has beating Loggers and dominating conference on her mind, but her athletic involvement won't be over after champs. Kearney is now a four-time dual sport athlete competing in both swimming and tennis. Despite the absurdly long swim season followed immediately by tennis, Kearney continues to come back and train year after year because of her love for both the sports and her teammates. 
 
"I dive into the tennis season right after swim ends which means I'm sweating chlorine, but I'm ready to work hard and get into shape for the season," Kearney said. "It also helps that my doubles partner Kylie Rademacher is coming onto the tennis courts from the basketball court, so we get to make the transition into tennis season together."
 
Kearney is grateful for google calendar and her coaches for keeping track and being accommodating of her busy schedule. Although stressful, Kearney believes the pay-off of participating in two Lute athletic teams is well worth it.
 
Heading into her last ever dual meet this weekend, Kearney is ready to beat the Loggers one last time. The women's squad has already secured their sixth consecutive NWC Dual Meet title with a completely undefeated season, so winning against the Loggers will just be the cherry on top. 
 
"I am very excited for our team to race UPS this weekend. It is our last meet before conference championships so I think we are ready to show the Loggers what we are made of," Kearney said. "There are going to be some really great races where we hopefully finish on top and head into conference undefeated."
 
Come watch the Lutes beat the Loggers this Saturday at 1 p.m. at UPS.