Whitworth men swim to title

There were absolutely no surprises about the teams that won the 2005 Northwest Conference swimming titles on Sunday night at the Whitworth College Aquatic Center.

The Whitworth men and the Puget Sound women wrapped up three days of competition by rolling to commanding victories.

Whitworth’s men won three of the six events on Sunday night to score 1,013 points. The Pirates earned third straight NWC title and fourth in the last five years. Linfield followed with 756 points, while UPS finished third with 634.

Whitworth’s Loren Killgore defended his title in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16 minutes, 32.81 seconds, leading a 1-2 Pirates finish. Senior Cory Bergman closed his career by capturing the 200 breaststroke for the fourth consecutive season in 2:06.50, leading a 1-2-3 Whitworth finish. Killgore and Bergman each won all three of their individual events during the meet. The Pirates then closed the meet with a dominating win in the 400 freestyle relay, defeating second-place Linfield 3:12.06 to 3:16.23.

The Loggers women won their ninth consecutive NWC title, totaling 1,041 points to easily outdistance runner up Whitworth’s 803 points

Whitworth’s women won two individual events on Sunday. Freshman Samantha Kephart set a new meet record while winning the 200 butterfly in 2:06.69. Another Pirates freshman, Katelyn Erickson, won the 200 backstroke in 2:08.82, setting a new pool record.

Whitworth’s Kephart was the NWC women’s swimmer of the year.

Killgore, Bergman and Puget Sound’s Thomas Ciesielski all shared NWC men’s swimmer of the year honors.