NEWBERG, Ore. --- The Pacific Lutheran University Women's Swimming team showed the Northwest Conference their strength as they finished third at the GFU Bruin Invitational over the weekend.
 
The first day was the Lute show as the team of Makenzie Chan-Orcutt, Sidney Chan-Orcutt, Annika Eisele, and Jessica Ordaz took the 200-yard Freestyle Relay by over a one second margin. In the next event, the 100-yard Butterfly, the Lutes showed the depth of their roster, with Ordaz taking first with a three-second margin over Eisele who took second. Riley Maher finished third as Sidney Chan-Orcutt took sixth.
 
The Lutes dropped their first event in the 200-yard Breaststroke as Makenzie Chan-Orcutt took second with a time of 2:29.27. But the squad answered back as Emma Gassman dominated the 200-yard Backstroke with a time of 2:08.77 as Eisele also finished just behind in second.
 
Maher finished in third in her final individual event of the day, the 200-yard IM, with a time of 2:16.59. The final event of day one was the 400-yard Medley Relay where the team of Eisele, Makenzie Chan-Orcutt, Ordaz, and Gassman came away with a four-second victory. At the end of day one, the Lutes squad sat in first place with 384 total points, 30 points clear of Willamette in second.
 
Day two was much of the same for the Lutes Women's squad, starting the day strong with a win in the 200-yard Medley Relay as the group of Eisele, Makenzie Chan-Orcutt, Ordaz, and Gassman finished with a time of 1:49.36, just one second clear of Willamette.
 
Ordaz continued to show her strength in the Freestyle competitions, winning the 50-yard race by just two-tenths of a second. Shortly after, Makenzie Chan-Orcutt took second in the 100-yard Breaststroke, as Anna Matisons also took third. In the 100-yard Backstroke, the Lutes stole the show as Eisele took first by a fraction of a second over Ordaz, followed by Gassman who took third.
 
Gassman added a title of her own in the 200-yard Butterfly, once again beating out Willamette, with a time of 2:14.23.
 
To wrap up an already successful weekend, the team of Ordaz, Sidney Chan-Orcutt, Maher, and Gassman earned a five-second victory over Willamette. The PLU Women's Swim team took home third place with 707, finishing two spots behind Willamette with 730 total points.
 
The Lutes will set their sights on 2024 as they will face the Whitman Blues in Walla Walla, Wash. on Friday, January 12^th at 6 p.m.
 
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