McMINNVILLE, Ore. -- Whitworth's men's swimming team extended its NWC dual meet winning streak to 47 in a row with a narrow 106-99 win at Linfield on Saturday afternoon, while the Pirate women rolled to a 113-87 win over the Wildcats.

Dolphay won three times

David Dolphay won three individual events, including an NWC season best in the 200 Freestyle, to lead the Pirate men (5-1 overall, 5-0 NWC). Meanwhile, the Whitworth women (5-1, 5-0) won eight of the 11 events, including both relays, to dominate the Wildcats.

Dolphay helped the Pirate men open a big early lead. After Whitworth won the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:54.04, Dolphay won the 1,000 Free (10:13.97) and 200 Free (1:44.90) back to back. The 200 time is the fastest in the NWC this season. After the 200 Free, the Pirates had a 37-19 lead. But then Linfield started chipping away by winning winning the next five events in a row, finally taking a 76-75 lead after the 200 Backstroke. But Dolphay stemmed the tied with a win in the 500 Freestyle (4:54.27), giving Whitworth back a slim lead. The Pirates then virtually clinched the meet by taking three of the top four places in the 200 Breaststroke, led by Bryan Clarke's winning time of 2:16.17. All the Pirate 800 relay had to do was finish the race without a disqualification, but the Bucs took second place for a final score of 106-99.

Erickson won three also

Samantha Kephart and Katelyn Erickson each won two individual races, and both were on the winning 400 Medley Relay to lead the Pirate women. After Whitworth opened the meet with a win in the Medley Relay, the competition stayed close as Linfield won three of the next four events to pull within 51-40. But then the Pirates went 1-2 in both the 200 Fly (won by Kephart in 2:08.58) and 100 Free (won by Natalie Turner in 54.93). Whitworth improved on that by sweeping the top three places in the 200 Back (won by Erickson in 2:13.95) and 500 Free (won by Kephart in 5:22.08) to open up a 113-53 lead. The Pirates then turned the rest of their competitors into exhibition swimmers, preventing further scoring. However, Erickson still won the 200 Breaststroke (2:35.11) and the Bucs won the 800 Free Relay. The Pirates' other winner this afternoon was Brittany Gresset in the 50 Freestyle (25.08).

The Pirates will return to the pool again next weekend with a pair of dual meets in the Tacoma area. On Friday Whitworth will take on Pacific Lutheran at 6:00 pm, then battle Puget Sound on Saturday at 1:00 pm.

Whitworth's men will put their NWC streak, which dates back to the beginning of the 1998-99 season, on the line again in both meets. Meanwhile, the Whitworth women hope to be the first NWC team ever to beat the UPS women in any kind of NWC competition - dual meet or championship meet.