Setting the Scene: It's Championships for some programs and senior days for others. Baseball and women's lacrosse close out their home slates with games on Saturday and Sunday with both programs honoring the 2025 seniors pregame on Sunday. Women's rowing is in California at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships while men's and women's track & field treks to Portland for the 2025 Northwest Conference Championships. Elsewhere, softball hits the road for a weekend series across the state in Spokane.
 
SATURDAY:
WROW at WIRA Championships in Sacramento, Calif. (8 a.m.)
T&F at NWC Championships in Portland, Ore. (10 a.m.)
BB hosts Whitman (DH) at PLU Field (12 p.m.)
SB at Whitworth (DH) in Spokane, Wash. (12 p.m.)
WLAX vs. Whitman at East Field (1 p.m.)
SUNDAY:
WROW at WIRA Championships in Sacramento, Calif. (8 a.m.)
T&F at NWC Championships in Portland, Ore. (10 a.m.)
SB at Whitworth (DH) in Spokane, Wash. (11 a.m.)
BB hosts Whitman (DH) at PLU Field (12 p.m.)
WLAX vs. Whitworth at East Field (1 p.m.)

Check out all the top clips from last week!
??????#GoLutes pic.twitter.com/f2kHCXgTmT

— PLU Athletics (@golutes) April 24, 2025

Men's Track & Field: Darius Chaffin won the javelin and Ryan Stracke was runner-up in the 1,500-meters as the Lutes competed in their final tune-up before the NWC Championships last Saturday at Lewis & Clark College's Larry Byerly Invitational.
 
Chaffin had a winning toss of 195 feet, five inches while Stracke made 3 ¾ trips around the oval in a time of three minutes, 50.84 seconds.

Stracke heads into the league meet with the top time in the 10,000-meters and the second best times in the NWC in both the 1,500-meters and the 5,000-meters. Seth Kramer boasts the best long jump in the conference this season while Grady Lemma enters ranked second in the 400-meter hurdles and third in the 110-meter hurdles— two races he won NWC titles in last spring.

Women's Rowing: The Lutes finished runner-up in both the varsity eight and second varsity eight races on Saturday at the NWC Championships on Vancouver Lake, finishing one point shy of the team title.

PLU's 1V8+ covered the 2,000-meter course in 7:27.25, finishing 6.75 seconds behind the Judy McMullen Cup winning crew from crosstown rival University of Puget Sound. In the 2V8+, PLU was 17.7 seconds behind Lewis & Clark College.

PLU's varsity four boat bested a field of six other boats, finishing a whopping 32.96 seconds ahead of the next fastest boat.
 
Riah Heil was named All-NWC for the second straight year while Kennadi Jones also earned All-Conference. Both rowers were on Lute boats that won three NWC Crew of the Week honors this spring.

Men's Golf: Pacific Lutheran wrapped up the season on Monday at the 2025 NWC Championships, finishing fifth as a team at Michelbrook Country Club in McMinnville, Oregon. 

Soren Bostrom and Koen Solis both tied for eighth overall, shooting a two-round tally of 149 in Walla Walla. Bostrom carded a 74 during Sunday's opening round and a 75 on Monday while Solis opened with a 73 and tallied a 76 in round two. 
 
As a team, PLU shot a 609 (301-308) for the tournament, tying for fifth with Lewis & Clark College and enjoying a seven-stroke edge on Pacific University. Linfield University capitalized on the home course advantage, winning the team title with a two-round score of 581 (295-285). 
 
Women's Golf: Emily Alicea finished her debut season on a high note, cracking the top 20 to pace the Lutes at the 2025 NWC Championships at Michelbrook CC.

Alicea placed 19th overall, shooting a 165 at the tournament. That included firing off a 78 during Sunday's first round and following up with an 87 on Monday. Teammate Abby Matelski was four strokes back in 24thwith a 169 (82-87).

PLU finished three strokes behind crosstown rival University of Puget Sound in the team standings, placing seventh with a score of 685 (338-347).

Women's Track & Field: PLU made the trek to Lewis & Clark College and the Larry Byerly Invitational, the final meet before the NWC Championships which will be held this weekend at the same venue.

On the track, Addisen Hering was third in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.04 and sixth in the 400-meter hurdles (1:10.29). 
 
In the field events, Abi Caprye was third in the high jump (5' 2 ¼") while Sanayia White was third in the hammer throw (128' 11"). 

Kyleigh Archer enters the NWC Championships with the top mark this spring in the triple jump with teammate and reigning league champion Madison Downey owning the third best mark in the event. Eva Wirth is the defending champion in the hammer throw and enters the meet ranked third in the event and fifth in the discus. 
 
Softball: The Lutes swept a four-game series from Pacific University over the weekend before facing a buzzsaw in fourth-ranked Linfield University on Wednesday afternoon.
 
PLU opened the Pacific series with an 8-2 victory last Friday before sneaking away with a 5-4 victory in game two. Game three was another 5-4 scoreline before closing it out with Paige Wilson tossing a three-hit shutout, striking out six in a 3-0 Lute victory.
 
Wednesday saw visiting Linfield come away with 5-0 and 8-0 wins to finish off a series that was prolonged due to inclement weather from earlier in the spring.
 
With eight games left in the regular season, PLU controls its own destiny in its hopes to punch a ticket to the 2025 NWC Tournament. 
 
Baseball: Pacific Lutheran (13-18, 6-12 NWC) dropped a three-game series in Spokane against Whitworth University last weekend before rebounding on Tuesday with an 8-2 victory over Division II Saint Martin's University.
 
Carson Burke set the tone on Tuesday with a first inning home run for the Lutes who have now earned wins against teams from all three NCAA divisions.

Burke currently leads the team with nine home runs this season with Aaron Barber leading the team at the plate with a .325 batting average. 

Carson Burke (@Carson_burke31) hit a solo HR (9) to put @PLUBaseball on the board in the top of the first in Tuesday's game against D2 Saint Martin's. It's Burke's 5th dinger in his last 6 games. pic.twitter.com/1X3knkjFRv

— PNW College Baseball Report (@PNW_CBR) April 23, 2025

 
Women's Lacrosse: The Lutes (1-12, 0-6 NWC) finish off their inaugural season this weekend, hosting the Whits. Taylee Alldredge scored five goals on Friday as the Lutes nearly knocked off host Pacfiic University before ultimately falling 9-6. Alldredge tallied her sixth goal of the weekend off a pass from Lydia Flaspohler but it wasn't enough as the team fell 22-1 to league heavyweight George Fox University.

Alldredge heads into the final weekend having scored 25 goals this season while Annie Latimer has a team-best six assists. Kassie Diller has played every minute in goal this spring, racking up 149 saves in the opening 13 games of the season. 

Superhero's look good in black & gold ????

Hear about our recent @nmdp_org donor Cameron Amoroso from @PLUFootball!#GoLutes #WhyD3https://t.co/LjEPAeiL5D

— PLU Athletics (@golutes) April 24, 2025