SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Whitworth University swimming teams will host the Northwest Invitational this Friday and Saturday. The meet will be a two-day, prelims-finals format. Preliminary heats will begin each morning at 9:30 a.m., with the finals beginning each evening at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Rory Buck

The meet will feature ten schools - all eight Northwest Conference schools as well as the College of Idaho and Cal State East Bay. The Northwest Invitational will be the largest collegiate competition at the Whitworth Aquatic Center, in terms of number of competitors, since Whitworth hosted the 1986 NAIA Swimming and Diving championships.

The meet will be a good gauge for the Pirates' chances at defending their NWC titles. Both the men and women are 3-0 so far this season.

The Whitworth men extended their NWC dual meet winning streak to 60 wins in a row with victories over Linfield, Pacific and Pacific Lutheran. Rory Buck (Fr., Dubai, U.A.E.) has already posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time and broke a 12 year old school record in the 100-yard breaststroke (57.48). Michael Woodward (So., Springfield, Ore.), the defending NWC champion in the 200-yard individual medley, has the conference's best time in that event this season (1:58.41).

Brittany Gresset

The Whitworth women ended the 11-year NWC championship run of Puget Sound last winter and hope to return to the top spot this year. The Pirate women have posted the conference's best times in 16 of the 18 events that will be contested this weekend and at the NWC Championships in February. Brittany Gresset (Sr., Seattle, Wash.) leads the NWC in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles, while Ashley Lecoq (So., Renton, Wash.) has the conference's best times in the 200-yard free and 100-yard butterfly and Jennifer Benson (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz.) has posted the best marks in the 100 and 200-yard backstrokes.

Following this weekend, the Pirates will take a few days off for Thanksgiving, then return to action at the 2008 Husky Invitational December 5-7 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington.

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