TACOMA, Wash. – Whitworth University swimming picked up right where it left off a season ago with a dominant Northwest Conference dual meet win over the University of Puget Sound to open the 2026 season at Wallace Pool.

The defending NWC champion Pirate men won all 11 events in a clean sweep of the Loggers. The defending champion Pirate women won nine of 11 events, though no Logger swam in the 200-yard butterfly.  The final men's score was 142-59, while the women's final was 119.5-75.5.

Three Bucs won two individual events to lead the men.

Braiden Alexander got things started with a victory in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:36.89. Later in the meet, he narrowly won the 500-yard free in 4:42.29, just over a second before Logger Sam Lyon.

Austin Elwyn, the 2025-26 NWC men's Swimmer of the Year, took home victories in the 200-IM (1:56.83) and the 200-yard backstroke (1:57.36).

Nathanael Van Liew won the 50-yard freestyle sprint with a time of 20.96. His first-place time of 47.29 in the 100-yard freestyle was just 0.42 seconds before Puget Sound's Liam Tudor.

Both Pirate men's relay teams continued their dominance with wins in the 400-yard medley (3:24.62) and the 400-yard freestyle (3:08.60).

First-year Violet Magnuson led the Whitworth women with two event wins. Magnuson won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:59.65 and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:16.68. She also touched first in the 200 butterfly (2:16.98), swimming alongside teammate Maria Girbacea.

Sophomore standouts Kallie Badry, Paige Dangleis and Molly Konop each took home event wins. Badry won the 1000-yard freestyle (10:50.22), Dangleis won the 100-yard freestyle (54.29), and Konop grabbed a win in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:30.94).  

Isabella Hoopes touched first in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:17.75.

Both women's relay teams earned event wins in the 400-yard Medley (4:07.43) and the 400-yard freestyle (3:49.00) to complete a meet relay sweep.

Sophie Buchan (200-yard backstroke, 2:14.52) and Lelia OllenBurg (50-yard freestyle, 24.38) earned event wins for Puget Sound.

The Whitworth swimming squads are back in action on Saturday afternoon at Pacific Lutheran.