WALLA WALLA, Wash. Whitman's men's and women's swim teams took to Harvey Pool Friday night in their home opener of the season, and each easily downed their respective Pacific (Ore.) University opponent in Northwest Conference action. The Blues men raced to a 143-43 victory, and the women earned a 157-41 win.

Eight different swimmers hit the pad first in their respective races for Whitman's men, with four individual events finish with Blues in first and second.

Following a Whitman win in the opening 200-yard medley relay, Alex Izbiky began the parade of firsts with a win in the 1,650 freestyle.

Clark Sun won the first of his two events next by taking the 200 freestyle, and a 1-2 finish from Noah Schlenk and Colin Aslett followed in the 50 free.

Keith Nussbaum came next with his win in the 400 individual medley, and Fisher Munro kept the momentum rolling with his victory in the 100 butterfly.

Sun and Schlenk teamed up for a 1-2 finish in the 100 free, and Sears added a win in the 100 backstroke.

Just before the final break in the event schedule, Lucas Bergeson and Nussbaum added their own 1-2 finish, this one coming in the 500 free.

The Blues swept the top two spots in the final two events as Jonah Rodewald and Kieran Lenssen took care of business in the 100 breaststroke, and the "A" and "B" 200 free relays raced each other for a final 1-2, touching just 0.67 seconds apart.

Not only the breadth of the top finishers stood out on the night, but also the 1-2's and first's and third's.

With that depth on display Friday evening it's no wonder the league's coaches voted the reigning NWC champions to repeat, as announced in the conference's preseason coaches' poll released Friday morning.

The Whitman women were nearly as dominating, taking first in all but one race while registering five different individual event winners, six 1-2 finishes plus 1-2's in both relays, and a trio of double-event winners.

Sarah Davidson captured the 1,650 and 500 free events, Mara Selznick won the 100 and 200 freestyles, and newcomer Zoë Hill added wins in the 50 free and 100 butterfly.

Also earning first-place finishes in their individual events were Abbey Felley in the 500 free and Tara Stahlecker the 100 backstroke.

While Whitman's men spread its points out across their events, the women bludgeoned the Boxers with their six 1-2's and trio of 1-2-3 finishes.

Selznick, Felley and Gaby Thomas were the first to sweep, taking the 200 free. Midway through the meet in the 100 butterfly it was Hill, Leah Petrini and Katie Davidson. The next event was another heavy body blow to Pacific, as Selznick, Thomas and Amanda Li swept the 100 free.

The jabs that helped down the Boxers were all the second-place finishes. In addition to the others mentioned were Petrini's second in the 1,650, Jill Low's second in the 50 free, and Stahlecker's runner-up finish in the 400 IM.

Champions of the 2017 NWC season, the Whitman women equaled the same number of first-place votes in Friday's release of the preseason women's poll, but with 47 points fell just below preseason favorite Pacific Lutheran University's 50 points from the voting.

Whitman is back in its home pool Saturday when it welcomes NWC foe Lewis & Clark College to Harvey Pool for a 1 p.m. conference match-up.