TACOMA, Wash. - Last week two Pacific Lutheran University student-athletes had the opportunity of a lifetime, heading down to Portland for a photoshoot with Under Armor.

First-year Kiana Gutierrez of the Northwest Conference Champion women's soccer team and Darius Chaffin, a junior All-American javelin thrower and a quarterback for the Lutes' football program, were the two Lutes taking advantage of the Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) opportunity with the shoe and apparel manufacturing giant.

"The experience (of the photoshoot) was really fun. It was something I never thought I'd experience before. Getting my hair and makeup done by actual professionals was really interesting and then getting fitted as well. I actually had to get my shirt hemmed so it was pretty cool to see how they did all that," said Gutierrez.

"This was a top five experience for me (in my lifetime)," said Chaffin.

"It was such a unique experience. It felt surreal like I was in a dream. Because you really only see those types of pictures in a magazine, you rarely ever actually know that person."

Gutierrez and Chaffin were selected after the Lutes were identified as one of the brand's top partners located near the photo shoot location in Portland.

"As a brand, we are committed to creating the most authentic content with our Team Sport athletes. We began working internally to identify Under Armour collegiate partners who were located in the Portland, Oregon area and PLU was identified as one of the top options to support the content capture," said Under Armour representative Rebecca Pongetti.

"Darius and Kiana did an amazing job throughout the capture! Both we're very professional and easy to work with. Overall, working with the PLU team was smooth, seamless and a positive experience. Under Armour will continue to keep PLU athletes in mind for photoshoots that are executed on the West Coast, and thanks so much to everyone for their support and partnership throughout this process."

While they enjoyed the experience in Portland, the duo can't wait for what the final product will look like with their images set to appear in stores around North America this summer.

"It's going to be insane to see all that stuff come out. I heard it's supposed to come out in July so hopefully be getting our own pictures and seeing those around. It will be really interesting to see me out there. I never would have thought I would have been doing this. I'm definitely glad I got the chance to do it and it was a really fun opportunity," said Gutierrez.

The Under Armour deal was Gutierrez's first NIL deal while Chaffin was already familiar with NIL deals, having done a promotional post for a delivery app on his personal instagram account.

While the scale of their NIL opportunity might be large; Gutierrez and Chaffin aren't unique among the fellow student-athletes on campus. This academic year, 34 total Lutes have secured at least one NIL deal, involving student-athletes in 13 sports (seven women's and six men's).

Several of those deals have been secured through PLU's partnership with Opendorse which was announced back in October of 2021. Since then, PLU has proven to be one of just a handful of schools around the nation in Division III to invest resources in empowering student-athletes to effectively maximize their NIL potential. In August, PLU launched the Luteville Marketplace to better connect student-athletes to fans and potential DIL dealmakers while providing educational sessions throughout the academic year.