TACOMA, Wash.  The 2017-18 swim schedule kicked off Friday night for Whitman at the Northwest Conference Sprint Pentathlon Meet, hosted by the University of Puget Sound at its UPS Athletics & Aquatics Center.

Tara Stahlecker led Whitman's women's contingent, finishing sixth overall with a cumulative time of 3 minutes, 4.29 seconds from her 100-yard individual medley, 50 butterfly, 50 backstroke, 50 breaststroke and 50 freestyle races.

Her best finishes of the evening sprints were sixth places in the backstroke (29.75 seconds) and freestyle (25.60) races.

Newcomer Zoë Hill finished next highest for the Whitman women in the overall standings (11th, 3:05.91), gaining her best finishes with a second in the freestyle (25.04) and fourth in the butterfly (27.63).

Spearheading the men's efforts in the pool for the Blues was Jonah Rodewald, also a sixth-place finisher. He posted a cumulative time of 2:39.67 for his five events. The junior recorded fifth-place finishes in three events -- backstroke (25.94), breaststroke (28.43) and freestyle (22.74).

Jared Sears was 12th overall (2:42.08), garnering big points from the butterfly (seventh, 24.84), backstroke (eighth, 26.56) and freestyle (third, 22.37) sprints.

Head coach Jennifer Blomme thought here team opened the season off on the right foot. "We are really happy to finally get into competition, and I was happy with the confidence we swam with tonight. We have a ways to go until we will really be in full racing shape, but for where we are now, the team looks great."

Whitman participates in the NWC Relay Meet Saturday at Pacific Lutheran University.