SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Whitworth University men's and women's swimming teams have each taken the lead after the first day of competition in the Northwest Invitational on Friday at the Whitworth Aquatic Center.

Click here for Friday's results.

The Pirate women won six of the nine events, including three relay victories. Ashley Lecoq was the only Whitworth swimmer on all three relays and she also pulled away to win the 200-yard butterfly in 2:10.18. Natlie Turner won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:15.10, while Brittany Gresset took the 100-yard freestyle in 53.78, over two seconds ahead of her nearest competitor in the sprint.

Whitworth won the 800-yard freestyle relay on Friday afternoon with a time of 8:05.43. In the night's session, the Pirates won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:39.86, then finished with a win in the 400-yard medley relay (4:09.90).

Lewis & Clark got a win in the 200-yard individual medley from Lindsay Nixon with a winning time of 2:15.45. Sierra Phillips of Puget Sound won the 100-yard breastroke in 1:09.70, while Linfield's Rose Hollingsworth won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:13.37.

The women's team scores are: Whitworth 490, Puget Sound 384, Lewis & Clark 356, Whitman 219, Linfield 153, Pacific Lutheran 148, Pacific (Ore.) 133, Cal St. East Bay 122, College of Idaho 59.

Pacific Lutheran's Jay John had the strongest individual performance on Friday in the men's competition. He pulled away from Whitworth's Michael Woodward to win the 200-yard individual medley in 1:57.74, then crushed the field while winning the 200-yard butterfly in 1:58.23.

Linfield's Josh Parfitt posted a strong time of 4:47.49 to win the 500-yard freestyle, and Puget Sound's Jackson Kowalski led a 1-2 Logger finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:57.04. John Green of the College of Idaho rolled to a two-body length win in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.14.

Whitworth's Rory Buck easily won the 100-yard breastroke in 57.81 after he anchored the Pirates to a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:28.77). He was also part of the winning 800-yard freestyle relay in the afternoon (7:13.68).

UPS won the final men's event of the night - the 400-yard medley relay - in 3:38.01.

The men's team scores at the meet's halfway point are: Whitworth 463, Puget Sound 391, Whitman 342, Pacific Lutheran 322, Linfield 201, College of Idaho 158, Pacific (Ore.) 149, Lewis & Clark 10.

The meet will conclude with 18 more events (nine each for the men and women) on Saturday.

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