Coming off of a 2011-2012 in which the men took home their tenth consecutive Northwest Conference title, and the women accomplished their fifth consecutive top-two finish, the Whitworth swim team is back in action in 2012-2013.

The season got off to a great start the last weekend in October at the Northwest Conference Invitational in Portland, Ore. The Bucs dominated the relays, taking first place in nine of the 15. The women’s team won relays in the 300-yard breaststroke, 600 and 900-yard freestyle, and the sprint pentathlon. The men won the 300-yard breaststroke, 600 and 900-yard freestyle relays as well, in addition to the 300-yard butterfly.

The women took a dominant first overall. Sophomore Samantha Smith led the women and finished first overall in the meet. Four of the top five individual female finishers were Pirates. Sophomore Nicole Lecoq finished in second place, sophomore Alisa Stang in third, and freshman Hannah Norris finished in fifth.

On the men’s side, Whitworth finished second, after being edged out by Whitman. Junior Aaron Vaccaro finished second for the men and sophomore Callum McIntosh finished sixth.

Last weekend, Whitworth won a pair of NWC dual meets on Friday night against Willamette and on Saturday against Linfield.

On Friday, the Whitworth women took first in all nine individual events, with eight different swimmers contributing. Vaccaro placed first in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly for the men. Junior Mitchell Beck also won two events for the Bucs in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle races.

The Whitworth freshman represented well as Norris, Kori Carpenter, Bridget Louis, and Kyle Wicks all had first place finishes on the night.

The Pirates dominated the pool again on Saturday with routing victories over Linfield. Three women were double-event winners for Whitworth.  Louis took first in the 1000 and 500-yard freestyle races and Stang in the 200 and 100-yard freestyle races. Smith also earned two individual victories in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard butterfly, separated by only 20 minutes.

The Whitworth men took first place in all nine individual events, with 1-2-3 finishes in seven of those. The men also won the 400-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle relays.

Next week, the Pirates head back to Oregon to take on Pacific Friday night and Lewis & Clark on Saturday.

Contact Sena Hughes at [email protected].