Setting the Scene: The Pacific Lutheran University men's and women's basketball teams hit the road this weekend, making a trip down to Oregon before facing its crosstown nemesis at home on Tuesday. Men's and women's golf looks to tee off the spring season down the road in Lacey at the South Puget Sound Cup while men's and women's swimming and track & field take the weekend off.
 
FRIDAY:
MBB at George Fox in Newberg, Ore. (6 p.m.)
WBB at George Fox in Newberg, Ore. (8 p.m.)
SATURDAY:
GOLF at South Puget Sound Cup in Lacey, Wash. (11 a.m.) POSTPONED
MBB at Linfield in McMinnville, Ore. (4 p.m.)
WBB at Linfield in McMinnville, Ore. (6 p.m.)
TUESDAY:
MBB hosts Puget Sound inside Olson Gymnasium (6 p.m.)
WBB hosts Puget Sound inside Olson Gymnasium (8 p.m.)

Download the PLU Athletics App: Stay connected to your favorite teams by downloading the official mobile app of the Pacific Lutheran University athletic department powered by SIDEARM Sports, available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. 
 
To download the app to your smartphone or tablet, visit the Apple App Store (DOWNLOAD LINK) or Google Play (DOWNLOAD LINK) and search for "PLU Athletics."

Celebrating Women's Sports: Wednesday was the 39th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The Lutes hosted a free clinic for girls in grades first through sixth on the previous Saturday. Learn more here: LINK

As part of yesterday's celebration, members of PLU's women's sports teams talked about the impact sports have played in their lives. Learn more here: LINK
 
Men's Basketball: The Lutes (9-10, 6-4 NWC) split a pair of games at home inside Olson Gymnasium last weekend against the Whits. Miles Nash scored 24 points off the bench and had eight rebounds and eight assists in the Lutes' 84-76 win over Whitman College, knocking the Blues out of first place in the league standings.
 
The following night, Nash dropped 23 but it wasn't enough to unseat another top NWC squad as 17th-ranked Whitworth University escaped with an 82-71 win, snapping PLU's win streak at five games.

Nash's dominant weekend earned his recognition from the league office on Monday, securing NWC Player of the Week. The Lutes currently sit in third place in the conference standings with six games left in the regular season.
 
Track & Field: Pacific Lutheran was back in Seattle over the weekend, racing at the UW Invitational at Dempsey Indoor Facility.
 
Grady Lemma was 10th overall and the top Division III finisher in the 60-meter hurdles, zooming down the track in 8.72 seconds. Kai Sorensen was fifth in his heat of the 800-meters, logging an indoor best effort of 1:54.92. 
 
Kyleigh Archer and Madison Downey both had big jumps in the triple jump. Archer had a season-best mark of 35 feet, nine and one quarter inches while Downey leaped 33' 8 ¾".
 
Reppin' the Lutes: Track & field student-athlete LeBron Smith and football's Josh Holder were among the student-athletes from around the nation to participate in the NCAA Division III Student Immersion Program last month in Nashville, Tennessee. Hear more about Smith's experience: LINK

Women's Swimming: PLU closed out its dual meet season on Saturday, coming up short 163-56 against crosstown rival University of Puget Sound.
 
Lola Chargualaf and Riley Maher both notched event wins. Chargualaf was the top finisher in the 100-yard backstroke, clocking a time of 1:02.24 while Maher was the winner of the 200-yard butterfly (2:16.06). 
 
Men's Swimming: The Lutes competed in their final meet before the 2025 NWC Championships last Saturday, falling 191.5-29.5 to nemesis Puget Sound.

Tyler Tanaka earned the squad's lone event win of the day, blowing away the field in the 1,650-yard freestyle. The junior finished in 18:21.30, enjoying a 39-second gap on the next closest finisher. 
 
Academic Attaways: Both the men's and women's swimming programs won academic honors this week, securing the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American Team Award.
 
The Lute women earned the honor after boasting a 3.40 grade point average during the fall semester while the PLU men carried a 3.39 GPA.

Women's Basketball: The Lutes (7-12, 4-6 NWC) had a tough weekend at home but still sit just one game out of the fourth and final spot for the NWC Tournament with six games left in the regular season.
 
PLU's three-game win streak came to a halt on Friday night, succumbing 71-46 to fifth-ranked Whitman before allowing a late lead slip away in a wild 62-60 setback to Whitworth that featured 11 lead changes and six ties. 
 
Coming Soon: It may not look and feel like spring but spring sports are just around the corner. Baseball opens the 2025 campaign next Thursday in California with a four-game road swing while PLU's newest sport— women's lacrosse— plays its first ever varsity game next Sunday (Feb. 16) on East Field.