McMINNVILLE, Ore. – In a meet that came down to the third-place finish in the final race of the day, the Whitworth men's swimming team saw its streak of 50 straight dual victories against Northwest Conference opponents come to an end in a 103.5 – 101.5 loss at Linfield on Saturday afternoon.  The Wildcats defeated the visiting Pirates 143-55 in the women's dual.

The Whitworth men drop to 6-1 in conference duals this season, their first setback since the 2014-15 season.  Linfield improves to 7-0. 

Thanks to Brody Faser's come-from-behind win in the 200-yard breaststroke, the Pirate men went into the final event with their first lead of the day at 97-90.

The Wildcats came from behind to win the closing 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:08.45 to edge Whitworth's 3:09.29.  But the final decision wasn't decided until the Linfield's B relay touched in third place for the clinching points.

Connor Florey finished first in both distance freestyle races for Whitworth.  He went 10:15.35 to rally to the win in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 4:58.46 in the 500-yard distance. 

Similarly, Zachary Washburn swept both sprint freestyle races.  He won the 50-yard free in 21.16 and the 100-yard freestyle in 46.49.  Ryan Burch's second place finish in the 100 free in 47.99 allowed the Bucs to get within striking distance of the Wildcats.

After Florey's win in the 500 led a 1-3-5 finish for Whitworth, Faser come from behind over the final 50 yards to win the 200 breaststroke in 2:12.22. 

Washburn gave the Pirates an early lead in the final relay with a 45.54 split.  But Linfield was able to pull even during the third leg and move into first on the final exchange.

Linfield won nine of the 11 events in the women's meet.  Carly Hoff took first in both the 50 freestyle (25.38) and 100 freestyle (55.57) for the Pirates.

Whitworth will close the dual meet season next Saturday at Whitman in Walla Walla.