SPOKANE, Wash. - The Whitman College swimming season opened with a bumpy start as the Blues fell at Whitworth in both the men's and women's competitions in Northwest Conference action on Saturday. The women's team lost 140-62 with the men falling 118-67.

"I was just so proud of our team today! Having only been training three and a half weeks, my hope was that we could go into the meet today with open minds and no expectations," said head coach Jenn Blomme, "and that once there we would be able to focus on the components of building great races rather than any particular outcomes. This is a tall order for athletes who are judged often by fractions of seconds. But I was just so in awe of the incredible attitudes of our swimmers. They raced hard, cheered each other on, and stayed really focused on the big picture of what it means simply to be back together as a team."

The women's squad saw several fine performances despite the season opening loss, especially in the freestyle events. Two of the top three finishers in the 200 free went to the Blues led by Kathryn Woodburn's second place finish (2:02.86). Annika Hobson placed third with a time of 2:03.04.

Whitman did the same in the 500 free and 100 free. In the 500 free, Woodburn (5:23.60) and Hobson (5:34.54) again placed second and third, respectively, and first year Erin McKinney finished second (55.56) in the 100 followed by Ashley Joe's third-place finish (56.32).

A pair of other Blues newcomers also had solid career opening performances. Holly Hermanson placed second in the 100 butterfly (1:03.28) and Zola Lungershausen finished third in the 100 back (1:07.71). McKinney added another top 2 finish with her 2:14.75 timed performance in the 200 IM.

The men came up on the short end as well when they took the pool for their opener. Despite the loss, the Blues won four individual events, two from Tanner Filion who set a personal best with a victory in the 200 free. His time of 1:41.93 was just under half a second off the pool record set back in 1986. In the third event of the meet, Filion took top honors in the 200 free (1:41.93) and later won the 100 back (51.50).

Rounding out the other top finishers were Michael Chang who won the 200 IM (2:00.90) and Daniel Bloor with his victory in the 500 free (5:01.08). Ian Walsh had a strong debut for the Blues, placing third in the 50 free (23.18) and second in the 100 free (50.50).

Both teams return to action next Saturday, Jan. 30 for their home opening meet against Puget Sound.