Results
TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University women's swimming team sent its eight seniors out in style on Friday night, winning the program's 25th consecutive dual meet with a decisive 136.5-49.5 victory over Northwest Conference rival George Fox University on Senior Night at the PLU Pool.
The 2022 seniors finish their stellar home careers a perfect 14-0 in home dual meets at the PLU Pool, including Friday night's thrashing of the Bruins (3-3, 2-3 NWC) that saw the Lutes (7-0, 6-0 NWC) win at least a share of all 10 events.
"We're really excited about the meet tonight. The seniors really showed out and led from the front. As soon as they got to the pool I knew they were going to have a good day. Bailey swam incredible - leading the charge and the rest did great as well. Mary in the 500 was so great and all of the seniors had a lot of fun. Team swam tough all night," said Head Coach
Matt Sellman.
Annika Eisele,
Isabella Valles,
Bailey Hamilton, and
Makenzie Chan-Orcutt set the tone out of the gates, winning the 200-yard medley relay by almost 10 seconds, clocking a time of one minute, 52.89 seconds.
NWC Swimmer of the Week
Malia Wisham continued where she left off last weekend, winning the 200-yard freestyle in 1:58.57 before breezing to the win in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:16.20 with teammate
Makenzie Chan-Orcutt placing second (2:22.89). Wisham would secure her third win of the night in the meet's final event, teaming up with
Jessica Ordaz, Eisele, and
Sidney Chan-Orcutt to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:43.42.
Ordaz joined Wisham by winning three events of her own, winning the 50-yard freestyle (24.71), and 100-yard freestyle (54.29) in addition to swimming a leg of the 200 free relay.
Eisele notched a win in the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.36) in addition to a pair of relays while Hamilton occupied the top spot in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing in 58.92.
Valles secured a second win of the night in the 100-yard breaststroke, clocking a 1:10.00 with teammate
Makenzie Chan-Orcutt a split second behind in 1:10.42.
The longest race of the night provided arguably the best drama with
Mary Campbell sharing the win in the 500-yard freestyle after touching the wall in 5:40.04, the exact same time swam by GFU's Gabby Wood.
The Lutes additionally received runner-up performances from Eisele in the 100-yard butterfly (1:01.03), and
Sidney Chan-Orcutt in the 100-yard freestyle (56.00).
Friday was senior night with the Lutes honoring
Allie Burke,
Mary Campbell,
Bridget Duven,
Bailey Hamilton,
Jenna Muller,
Tori Oshiro,
Tess Ritcey, and
Olivia Ross prior to the meet's start.
PLU looks to wrap up the NWC dual meet title next weekend, clashing with University of Puget Sound on Saturday, Jan. 29.
