Pirates Claim Half of the Conference's Sport Championships

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Whitworth University athletics program dominated the Northwest Conference scene in 2009-10, claiming its third straight McIlroy-Lewis All-Sports Trophy by winning half of the available conference titles over the course of the year.

Whitworth finished with 267 points in the final tally, the highest point total for any school since the NWC went to the current scoring system following the 1998-1999 season. In addition, the Pirates won or shared nine NWC titles out of 18 conference sports.

"Winning the Northwest Conference All-Sports trophy is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our coaching staff and the student-athletes at Whitworth," said Warren Friedrichs, Whitworth's Director of Athletics. "To win nine of the eighteen sports this school year was a remarkable achievement. At the end of each season we have had wide campus interest and strong enthusiasm for different Whitworth teams heading to NCAA post-season play."

Whitworth won conference titles during the fall season in women's cross country and men's soccer. During the winter the Pirates claimed NWC crowns in men's swimming, women's swimming and men's basketball. In the spring Whitworth won women's tennis, men's golf, men's track and field and shared the women's golf title with George Fox. In addition to the nine conference titles, Whitworth finished second in men's cross country and women's soccer and third in women's basketball and women's track and field.

The Pirates' success this year has extended well beyond conference play. The women's cross country team won the NCAA west region then finished sixth at the NCAA Division III championships. The men's soccer team reached the final eight of the NCAA tournament. Both swimming teams posted top-20 finishes at the national meet, while the men's basketball team advanced to the Division III final sixteen. This spring has the women's tennis team awaiting word on its opponent for the first round of the NCAA tournament. Both golf teams are headed to Division III nationals - the women in Orlando, Florida and the men in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The men's track and field team could take as many as ten athletes to the 2010 outdoor championships near Cleveland, Ohio.

The Northwest Conference is comprised of nine private, independent universities in Washington and Oregon. The NWC All-Sports Trophy recognizes athletic excellence among Northwest Conference institutions across all fields of competition. It is named in honor of John Lewis, the baseball coach (1947-72), basketball coach (1947-67) and athletics director (1952- 72) at Willamette University; and Jane McIlroy, Linfield College's women's athletics director and physical education professor from 1950- 82 who also coached field hockey (1952-81), basketball, volleyball, softball and tennis.

Whitworth has now won the NWC All-Sports Trophy four times, including the last three in a row. The Pirates' first All-Sports victory came in 2005.

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