Linfield outnumbers LC swimming

The men’s and women’s swim teams took on the Whitworth Pirates in a dual meet last Friday at home.  The two teams couldn’t match the Pirates, with the women falling 121-84 and the men 139-53. 

Despite the loss, the women’s team was able to take four first place finishes and six second place finishes on the night.  For the Pios, Susie Trexler (‘11) took first place in the 100 yard breast stroke, Lindsay Nixon (‘09) took first place in the 400 yard IM, Claire Jordan (‘11) took first in the 200 yard freestyle, and the Pios brought in a first place finish in the 200 yard Medley Relay.  The winning relay team consisted of Cat Menkel-Lawrence (‘11), Susie Trexler, Elle Stark (‘11), and Kim Guinn (‘11).  Also, Analise Herrera (‘08), Koy Collier (‘09), Lindsay Nixon, and Claire Jordan earned second place finishes for LC.  The Pios took second in the 200 yard freestyle relay as well, with a team of Claire Jordan, Lindsay Nixon, Raych Yarranton (’08), and Koy Collier. 

Although the women did not come away with a victory, they were extremely resilient, and made the Pirates work hard for their win.  “It was a tough loss for the women but everyone swam really well,” according to Lindsay Nixon. “We were coming off of a very tough week of training but still managed to put up some very fast times.  It was great that we were able to stay with Whitworth for the first half of the meet because [they] are the strongest team in the conference.”

The men were not quite as successful as the women, only coming away with two first place finishes, and two second place finishes.  Justin Lawton (’08) was the only one for the Pios to take home two first place finishes in individual events.  He swam to a first place finish in the 50 yard freestyle and also in the 100 yard backstroke.  The Pios also landed two second place finishes in both the 200 yard Medley Relay and the 200 yard freestyle relay.  Zac Hixson (’10), Lee Taylor (’11), Owen Kenton (’08), and Justin Lawton made up the Medley Relay team, and Zach Yeager (’11), Scott Totten (’10), Shane Harris-Lupuano (’11), and Matt Lormand (’10) made up the freestyle relay team.

The low score that the men posted against the Pirates does not reflect how well they swam as a team.  “Whitworth has been the men’s champion for the last five years and it was great to be able to swim against some fast competition.  Even though we didn’t win, I was impressed at how fast we swam.  We were all very surprised with our times,” Justin Lawton remarked on the team’s performance.  “I look forward to how well our team will do come conference time.”

The women’s team now stands 3-1 overall and 2-1 in conference.  The men’s team is 2-2 overall and 1-2 in conference.  The Pios will be travelling to Linfield tonight to swim in the Northwest Invitational Meet.