SALEM, Ore.  The Northwest Conference dual meet season leaped off the starting blocks Friday night for Whitman's men's and women's swim teams as both squads earned victories over host Willamette University in the Bearcats' Sparks Pool.

The Blues won the women's meet by a score of 132-73, and the men's by a count of 110-95.

A quartet of 1-2 finishes during the women's events helped propel Whitman to its victory, beginning with the 200-yard freestyle where Sarah Davidson hit the pad first in a time of 2 minutes, 4.69 seconds, out-touching teammate Tara Stahlecker by 1/10th of a second.

Maddy Gyongyosi and Erin Tyler were the next 1-2 pairing for the Blues, taking the top two spots in the 400 individual medley with times of 5:04.15 and 5:11.93, respectively.

In the next event, Stahlecker and Gaby Thomas teamed up to swamp the Bearcats with  first- and second-place swims in the 100 freestyle. Stahlecker took the top spot with a clocking of 56.76 seconds with Thomas coming in with a time of 57.69.

The last of the top-two finishes came in the 100 backstroke where Mara Selznick won the event in 1:01.38 while Abbey Felley's 1:06.22 took second.

Felley had registered the initial win of the night for the women, taking first in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a winning time of 19:29.18.

Other individual wins on the night came from Zoë Hill in the 50 free (25.80), Sarah Davidson in the 500 free (5:34.69) and Becca Hoffman in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.84).

Though the meet's outcome had been decided, for good measure the foursome of Stahlecker, Thomas, Melia Matthews and Selznick teamed up to capture the final event, the 200 free relay, with a winning time of 1:43.78.

The men's meet results were closer on the scoreboard than in the women's results.

A 1-2 finish in the 100 breaststroke iced the deal for Whitman's men, who put a stamp on the night with a victory in their 200 free relay.

Willamette had forged an 87-82 lead after the 500 free, but Keith Nussbaum and Jonah Rodewald, along with Teddy Larkin, came up big for the Blues in the breaststroke. Nussbaum (1:04.26) earned the win by edging out Rodewald (1:04.46), while Larkin (1:06.06) added a pivotal two points with his fourth-place finish.

As did the Whitman women, the men closed out the evening by winning the 200 free relay as Noah Schlenk, Colin Aslett, Fisher Munro and Jared Sears teamed up for a two-second victory with a winning time of 1:30.28.

Sears, Larkin, Munro and Aslett kicked off the men's event schedule with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:43.60) to push the Blues into the lead.

Clark Sun's win in the 200 free (1:48.23) and Aslett's triumph in the 50 free (23.21) kept the Blues churning along, but Willamette found enough points behind the event winners to keep things close.

A 1-2-3 sweep of the 100 free from Sun (48.64), Schlenck (50.77) and Rodewald (51.08) padded the Whitman advantage, but Willamette battled back in the 100 backstroke and 500 free to take that five-point lead into the breaststroke race.

Whitman, the 2017 men's and women's NWC champions, heads to McMinnville, Oregon, Saturday for another conference dual, this one against host Linfield College.