WALLA WALLA, Wash . -- Completing one of the most remarkable comebacks in Whitworth sports history, the Pirate men's swimming team rallied to overtake Linfield and earn its fifth consecutive Northwest Conference championship on Sunday's final day of competition. The Whitworth women completed one of their most impressive championship meet performances by winning 12 of the 18 events, but finished second to 11-time NWC champion Puget Sound in the final team scores.

Whitworth head coach Steve Schadt was named NWC Women's Coach of the Year.

Click here for complete meet results.

David Dolphay

The Whitworth men overcame a potentially devastating disqualification of its 400 Medley Relay on Friday. That DQ cost the team 34 points and dropped the Pirates from first place to third place after the first night of competition. Whitworth trailed by 29 points after the first day and by as many as 48 points during the second day of the meet before finishing with 627 to edge Linfield's 609 and Puget Sound's 546.

Led by 2007 NWC Co-Outstanding Men's Swimmer David Dolphay, the Pirates rallied behind a complete team effort. Ten different Pirates placed highly in at least one, but often more, individual events, allowing Whitworth to win the team title after only winning four of the 18 individual events and no relays. But the Whitworth depth proved superior.

Dolphay claimed three of the four Whitworth wins. He finished the meet with an NCAA provisional qualifying time while winning the 1,650 Free in 16:06.98. He had already won the 500 Free (4:39.16) and 200 Free (1:43.52) earlier in the meet.

Bryan Clarke claimed Whitworth's other individual title on Sunday by winning the 200 Breaststroke in 2:09.51. He posted a pair of runner up finishes earlier in the meet in the 100 Breaststroke (58.75 - NCAA B) and 200 Individual Medley (1:58.01).

Eight other Pirates posted solid scores throughout the meet and on Sunday to support the comeback. Luke Stocker was runner up in the 100 Back on Saturday and third in the 200 Back on Sunday. Kris Asleson was third in both the 200 Free (Saturday) and 100 Free (Sunday). Jason Hunter was second in the 200 Fly on Sunday and fourth in the 400 I.M. on Saturday. Daniel Bergman was 4th in the 200 Breaststroke and 5th in the 100 Breaststroke. Josh McDowell was 4th in the 100 and 200 Butterfly events. Nathan Newberg demonstrated great range by placing 5th in the sprint 50 Free on Friday and 5th in the 1,650 distance Free on Sunday. Justin Brandler followed a 4th place in the 50 Free with a 6th place in the 100 Fly. Tom Radke was 4th in the 500 Free and 6th in the 1,650 Free.

Whitworth finished second in the 200 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay and 800 Free Relay. The Pirates were 3rd in the Sunday's final event - the 400 Free Relay, but Whitworth needed only to finish the race without a disqualification to claim the team title by that point.

Natalie Turner

In contrast to the men, the Whitworth women had some dominating individual performances but came up just short in the team competition. Puget Sound finished with 703 points to Whitworth's 654. The Pirates actually outscored the Loggers slightly on both the first and final days of the meet, but UPS rode a dominating second day to victory.

Whitworth won 12 of the 18 women's events, including four of the five relays. Freshman Natalie Turner led the gold medal haul by placing first in the 200, 500 and 1,650 Freestyles to earn Women's Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet honors. Her preliminary time of 1:52.76 in the morning preliminaries of the 200 broke both the NWC record and the conference meet record, each of which had stood for 15 years. She came within tenths of a second of breaking meet records in the other two events as well.

Samantha Kephart continued her domination in the Butterfly events. She won the 100 Fly in 56.24 on Sunday, missing her meet record time by .01 of a second, then won the 200 Fly in 2:07.10 on Sunday. She was second to Turner in the 500 Free.

Brittany Gresset won both sprint freestyle events, taking the 50 Free (24.62) on Friday and the 100 Free (53.84) on Sunday. In between she was fourth in the 100 Backstroke on Saturday.

Katelyn Erickson won the 200 Individual Medley on the first night in 2:12.06, then added a second place finish in the 200 Back and a fourth in the 200 Breaststroke (both on Sunday).

That group of four combined to win four of the five relays. They won the 800 Free Relay (7:51.55), the 400 Free Relay (3:34.25) and the 200 Free Relay (1:37.67) in meet record time. They also won both the 400 Medley Relay.

Yasmeen Kheshgi also had a strong meet for the Pirate women, taking second place in both the 100 and 200 Butterfly races. Marjorie Turner came from behind to finish third in Sunday's 200 Backstroke.

Whitworth's men have won five straight NWC titles and six of the last seven. The Pirates are unbeaten in their last 50 NWC dual meets over those seven years. The Whitworth women's runner up performance was a great improvement over last season's third place finish.