Setting the Scene: Four programs compete at home while three more hit the road this weekend, highlighting a busy week for Pacific Lutheran University's spring sports. Track & field hosts the first of two home meets on Friday and Saturday while on Saturday the baseball team opens its home slate with a three-game weekend series with George Fox University. Women's lacrosse hosts Linfield University on Saturday before taking on Lewis & Clark College on the road on Sunday. Softball flies down to California for a six-game series in the sun while the men's and women's golf programs head to Salem, Oregon for the Willamette Valley Cup. 

FRIDAY:
T&F hosts PLU Open (Track & Most Field Events) at PLU Track (9:30 a.m.)
SB at Pomona-Pitzer (DH) in Claremont, Calif. (12 p.m.)
SATURDAY: 
T&F hosts PLU Open (Throws) at PLU Track (11 a.m.)
GOLF at Willamette Valley Cup in Salem, Ore. (Creekside G.C.)
BB hosts George Fox (DH) at PLU Field (12 p.m.)
SB at California Lutheran (DH) in Thousand Oaks, Calif. (12 p.m.)
WLAX hosts Linfield at East Field (1 p.m.)
SUNDAY:
GOLF at Willamette Valley Cup in Salem, Ore. (Creekside G.C.)
BB hosts George Fox at PLU Field (12 p.m.)
SB at Chapman (DH) in Orange, Calif. (12 p.m.)
WLAX at Lewis & Clark in Portland, Ore. (1 p.m.)

Men's Golf: The Lutes reigned supreme against the rest of the Washington Division III colleges on Sunday, winning the Washington Cup by two strokes at the Oakbrook Golf & Country Club in Lakewood.

PLU carded a team score of 305, owning a two-stroke lead on Whitman College, Whitworth University, and University of Puget Sound who all closed the day with a team tally of 307.

Luke Butler and Koen Solis were the Lutes' top performers, shooting a four-over 75. Geo Pirrie was one stroke back in ninth with a 76 while Marcus Otto was 12th with a 77.

Softball: After a long wait, Pacific Lutheran (3-3) finally opened the regular season, playing six games in Georgia at the NFCA Leadoff Classic. 

The Lutes opened the tournament on Friday with a 5-3 win over College of Saint Benedict (Minn.) before coming up short 7-4 against preseason No. 1 and defending national champion Trine University (Ind.).

Saturday saw big wins for the Lutes, taking down Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) 14-6 and smashing LaGrange College (Ga.) 10-0. PLU closed the trip by getting edged 3-2 by Pfeiffer University (N.C.) and stumbling 8-0 to then fifth-ranked Saint Mary's University (Minn.).

Paola Garcia was unstoppable at the plate, boasting a .545 batting average with a .727 slugging percentage with seven RBIs and four extra base hits and was named to the Leadoff Classic All-Tournament Team. 

Inside the circle, Maiya Anderson racked up seven strikeouts and allowed no runs, limiting hitters to a paltry .147 batting average and on Monday was tabbed the Northwest Conference Pitcher of the Week.

Men's Track & Field: The Lutes opened the lid on the 2026 outdoor campaign on Saturday, competing at the University of Puget Sound's Ed Boitano Invitational.

Seth Kramer headlined the day, finishing runner-up in the long jump with a personal best leap of 23 feet, 0 ¾ inches. His performance is the best outdoor jump in D3 this season as he was named the NWC Field Athlete of the Week on Monday.

Bridger Hanis cleared 6' 1 ½" in the high jump and ranks 10th nationally while Micah Ragaza-Bourassa owns the sixth best hammer toss in D3 with a mark of 168' 9".

On the track, Tyger Willingham clocked a time of 11.26 seconds in the 100-meters while Noah Friedrich led the distance crew, clocking a time of 32:28.25 in the 10,000-meters. 

Women's Rowing: Pacific Lutheran made its spring debut on Saturday, hosting the PLU Invitational. The Lutes' varsity eight boat was firing on all cylinders, winning two races on the day.

The 1V8+ charged down the 2,000-meter course on American Lake in 7:29.7, owning a 24.2-second gap on second place Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) and a 45.3-second buffer on regional rival Pacific University.

Round two of racing saw the 1V best Lewis & Clark College by 7.9 seconds, cross the finish in 7:31.2.

PLU also earned a win in the open 4+ race, clocking a time of 9:15.9.

Women's Track & Field: PLU made its outdoor debut over the weekend at the Ed Boitano Invitational and put up Top 10 performances in D3 across seven events. 

Tajanai Huff won the shot put with a heave of 38' 6 ¼". It's a performance that currently sits as the sixth best in D3 during the outdoor season. Sandra Valmonte sits seventh in the hammer throw (145' 1") while Soukhanya Waters (100-meters), Heather Johnson (400-meter hurdles), the 4x100-meter relay (49.33), Madison Downey (pole vault), Ki Neir (pole vault), and Kyleigh Archer (triple jump) all sits eighth nationally in their respective events. Downey additionally ranks 10th nationally in the triple jump.  

Women's Lacrosse: The Lutes (1-3) got their first taste of Northwest Conference competition over the weekend, playing a pair of non-conference games against league rivals. The Lutes led at the half but ran out of gas in the second half in a 14-10 setback to crosstown rival University of Puget Sound before getting unseated 17-0 by Pacific on Sunday.

The Lutes scored the game's opening four goals against the Loggers, including two from Paige Hackman. Puget Sound fought back but the host Lutes held a slim 9-8 edge at the halftime intermission. Unfortunately for the Lutes they would only muster one goal in the second half as the Loggers escaped with the win. 

Seven Lutes finished the game with a goal, including two from Hackman, Taylee Alldredge, and Emily Mejia. 

Kassie Diller made eight saves against the Loggers on Saturday while tacking on five more saves on Sunday against the Boxers. 

Baseball: The Lutes (3-5, 1-2 NWC) had a rare bye weekend as they gear up for this week's home opener. 

Pacific Lutheran opened NWC play on Feb. 28 with an 8-3 win over Lewis & Clark but struggled over the final two games of the series, surrendering late leads in 7-6 and 11-7 setbacks to the River Otters.

Kyle Tat is the Lutes leading hitter through the first eight games with a .478 batting average with two home runs and 10 RBIs. Rutger Youch has a team-high 12 RBIs and is hitting .394. All told, four different Lutes with at least 30 at-bats are hitting above .300.

On the mound, Matthew Sherwood leads the team in innings pitched (15 2/3) and strikeouts (16) with a 2-1 record. Osei Kimura has 11 strikeouts while Chris Moreno boasts a 3.38 earned run average. 

Women's Golf: PLU will be back in action for the first time in over a month, having last competed at the West Coast Classic in Riverside, California back on Feb. 10. 

That competition saw the Lutes place eighth overall, getting strong contributions from newcomers Jayda Thomas and Maddie Downie. 

Thomas led the way, placing 27th overall with a 172 (88-84) while Downie was 38th overall with a two-round tally of 180 (91-89). 

Since that tournament, the NWC dropped its annual midseason coaches' poll with the Lutes projected to place seventh in the final standings.