TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University men's and women's swimming teams open up the 2022-2023 competitive season this weekend, hosting the NWC Sprint Pentathlon on Friday evening before racing at the NWC Relays the following day across town at the University of Puget Sound. 
 
Last winter, the Lute women finished runner-up at the Northwest Conference Championships and finished the dual meet season a perfect 8-0, securing the NWC "dual meet title" for the seventh consecutive season. The Lute men meanwhile, placed fifth at the conference championships and closed the winter with a 2-4-1 dual meet record. 
 
This season, the pool deck will look a bit different with Andrew Lum taking over for longtime swim coach Matt Sellman. Lum is no stranger to the NWC, competing in college at conference rival Willamette University before spending time as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, California Institute of Technology, and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. 
 
"It's always an interesting challenge when you come in as a new head coach, especially when you inherit a program that has such a strong legacy as PLU. I know what this team is capable of, and what this team has already accomplished. It's a very daunting but exciting task that I'm looking forward to," said Lum.
 
"I think the biggest challenges are always building a team culture together with a new head coach and that comes from building trust with one another. What I shared with the team at the beginning of the season was that my philosophy is they'll never care about how much I know until they know how much I care. And it goes both ways. I can't just care for them all the time and no reciprocation on their end. That's something we've done a good job with, is building up trust this season and establishing that we have each other's back."
 
The women's squad returns three conference champions from a season ago in Sidney Chan-Orcutt, Annika Eisele, and Malia Wisham. 
 
"We have student-athletes that have the capability to score a lot of points for us. Malia and Annika are a big part of that. They're two people that score top three, top five, in all their events last season. But we also have some promising talent. Jersey Razzano's a transfer from Chowan University and she's a distance swimmer and we don't have a lot of those in our conference."
 
Chan-Orcutt was an NWC Champion as a member of the 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relays while Eisele was a member of the champion 200-yard medley and 400-yard medley relay teams while also securing First Team All-NWC honors in the 100-yard backstroke. 
 
Wisham is the third returning league champion, winning the 200-yard freestyle last February while also swimming on the champion 400-yard medley, 200-free, and 400-free relays.
 
Also back is Makenzie Chan-Orcutt, a Second Team All-NWC selection in the 100 free, 100 breaststroke, and 200 breaststroke, along with Maya Lovre who was Second Team All-Conference in the 200-yard backstroke. 
 
Claire Cranch, the 2020 NWC Freshman of the Year, returns for the Lutes. Cranch was runner-up at the NWC Championships in both the 200-yard and 400-yard individual medleys at the 2020 meet. 
 
"All the women on the roster, all 13, are going to be such integral pieces on how other people will do. There are point performers that I'm really looking towards for what they can do on paper, but what they do on paper isn't necessarily the whole story of their total contributions to the team."
 
This year the men's program will have a small roster, but it hasn't hampered their aspirations as a team from competing at a high-level within the conference. 
 
"We did goal setting and one of the things the men's team mentioned was wanting to feel satisfied with what they're able to accomplish at every single meet. We're very aware that our team is small, but we're mighty. We're mighty in spirit, we're mighty in work ethic, we're mighty in team culture. But they're also mighty in what they can do in the pool."
 
Charlie Cutter headlines the returners as a fifth-year. Cutter placed ninth last winter in both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly at the NWC Championships. 
 
Devin Stanley returns after placing 11^th in the 100-yard backstroke at the NWC meet while Na'inoa Loo is back after a 12^th-place showing in the 200-yard breaststroke at the conference championships. 
 
"We have some promising returners. Devin swam some different events last year, but I think the conference will see Devin in a few different things which should shake things up."
 
Four first-years dot the roster this winter, including Tyler Tanaka who comes to the Lutes from Anahola, Hawaii.  
 
"I do know we have some very promising prospects. Our first year Tyler Tanaka has the capability to break some of our school records and be a high impact swimmer for our team."
 
Despite the inherent disadvantages of a small roster size, Lum sees the positive side for the Lutes with increased cohesion and engagement of his squad. 
 
"It's always hard. We'd love to have double digits on the team but at the same time, I know all nine team members are engaged with one another and they're engaged with the women. At the end of the day, we're looking at individually how they perform and how they progress this season but also how they progress as a team."

As the season begins, Lum expects to see the Lutes be the loudest, most supportive teams on the pool deck from meet to meet. 
 
"At the end of the day it's about the whole team supporting each other. Something that I've challenged our team to do at every single meet and every single practice is that we're the champions of the support battle. There is no lane that's unsupported. No lane that's quiet. There's no swimmer that feels alone out there. Whether it's a 50 for 25 odd seconds or they're doing a mile from somewhere from 17 to 20 minutes."
 
This weekend kicks off the competitive season with the NWC dual meet slate beginning on Nov. 4 on the road at Whitworth University. The Lutes will compete in 12 meets leading up to the 2023 NWC Championships, including nine dual meets. 
 
"I love how our conference starts off with the sprint pentathlon and the relays. It's just fun. They're events that are non-traditional so there's not really a whole lot we're looking to take away data-wise. We're just looking at the finer details. What tools do we really need to sharpen going into the competitive dual meets while also shaking off the rust."
 
Friday's meet begins at 6 p.m. inside the PLU Pool. Spectators are not allowed but fans can tune into the livestream at GoLutes.com/livestream.