McMINNVILLE, Ore.  Despite a pair of individual event wins and a relay win from both Clark Sun and Mara Selznick, Whitman's men's and women's swim teams fell short of host Linfield College Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats hung on for a 104-101 win in the women's Northwest Conference dual meet, and a 113-92 victory in the men's dual.

Sun swept the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events and anchored the men's winning 400 freestyle relay. Teammate Noah Schlenk was seconds short of stealing the win from Sun in the 200 and added third-place points in the 100, then swam the third leg of the winning free relay at the end of the meet.

Selznick captured the 200 free early in the meet then later added a win in the 200 backstroke. She also anchored the women's 400 free relay with posted a five-second victory in the final event of the women's schedule.

First-year Zoë Hill joined Selznick on the victorious relay, after posting a pair of second-place finishes -- in the 50 free and 100 free -- earlier in the meet.

Also ringing up points for the Blues women was Sarah Davidson with three second-place finishes, touching in the runner-up spot in the 200, 500 and 1,000-yard freestyles.

The Whitman men picked up their other individual event win in the 200 breaststroke where Keith Nussbaum led the field to the finish. Jonah Rodewald added third-place points for the Blues in the final individual event.

In both duals the Blues fell behind early. The Whitman men were simply unable to make up enough ground, despite Sun's individual victories.

In the women's scoring, Linfield had built a 95-74 advantage after the 500 free results. But Becca Hoffman won the 200 breaststroke with teammates Maddy Gyongyosi and Miranda Williams adding third- and fourth-place finishes to chop the deficit down to 12 points.

Gaby Thomas, Hill, Tara Stahlecker and Selznick then teamed up to win the 400 free relay, but Linfield's second-place finish in the event earned four points to seal the team victory.

"We knew today would be a tough one," said head coach Jennifer Blomme. "A few little details could have gone differently for the women that might have made a difference, but ultimately I was really happy about the effort of our team today.

"What was most impressive on the men's side was how we carried ourselves as the score got away from us. The swimmers maintained a lot of poise and confidence, even when it became clear we couldn't win the [men's] meet today."

Whitman opens its home schedule with its next pair of meets, Friday against Pacific (Ore.) University followed by a Saturday dual against Lewis & Clark College.