Whit men take 5th straight NWC swim title

Whitworth won its fifth straight men’s title and Puget Sound captured its 11th straight women’s title at the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships on Sunday in Walla Walla.

The Pirates men overcame a 17-point deficit on the final day behind wins from David Dolphay and Bryan Clarke to beat runnerup Linfield 627-609.

Puget Sound’s women held off second-place Whitworth 703-654.

Dolphay, who won three events overall, shared the men’s outstanding swimmer honors with Linfield’s Kevin Caple and Dom Rieniets.

Whitworth’s Natalie Turner, who also won three events, was named the women’s outstanding swimmer.

The Pirates’ Steve Schadt was named women’s coach of the year. Linfield’s Gary Gutierrez was named men’s coach of the year.

Track and field

Whitworth’s Cody Stelzer tied for first place in the men’s high jump at the University of Washington Indoor Open meet in Seattle.

Stelzer and Jeffrey Skiba, who was competing unattached, both cleared 6 feet, 8 3/4 inches.

Mead High School senior Dylan Hatcher finished third in the men’s 1-mile run with a time of 4 minutes, 16.5 seconds.

Ben Spaun of Whitworth placed third in the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.52.

Whitworth’s Justin Farris, Dusty Caseria, Brandon Howell and Spaun placed second in the men’s 4x400 relay with a time of 3:25.92.

Volleyball

Gretchen Killebrew has been hired as an assistant coach at Washington State and her husband Mark has been hired as coordinator of operations, coach Brian Heffernan announced.

Gretchen Maurer Killebrew was an All-Pac-10 setter at Washington. She was an assistant at Seattle Pacific University last season.

Junior hockey

The visiting Nelson Leafs (37-10-2) scored a pair of third-period goals to slip past the Spokane Braves 3-2 in KIJHL play.

Lane Bitz and Steven Phillips scored for Spokane (29-18-4).