As usual, men's and women's swimming in first place down home stretch

The Whitworth University men's and women's swimming teams remain unbeaten in Northwest Conference meets following clashes with Lewis & Clark and Willamette last weekend. The men's swim team (5-1 overall, 5-0 Northwest Conference) and the women's swim team (5-0, 5-1) host Whitman College next weekend in the last Whitworth Aquatic Center regular season meet of the season.

Highlights from the weekend featured a smattering of domination:

• Whitworth men go 1-2-3 in 200-butterfly (Justin Leyendekker, Kellen Pacheco, On Leung) and 200-yard breaststroke (Rory Buck, Quinton Darling, Kyle Homad) and 100-yard freestyle (Michael Woodward, Justin Brandler, Eric Patterson) against L&C
• Whitworth women sweep top three places in 200-yard freestyle (Jennifer Benson, Kara Fisher, Brenda Foster) against L&C
• Whitworth sweeps Willamette in men's 100-yard butterfly (Buck, Brandler, Patterson) and 400-yard individual medley (Darling, Pacheco, Dan Neal)
• Women's team takes top three slots in 50-yard freestyle (Benson, Foster, Allison Shigley)

Noel Sollom-Brotherton, who has the third best time in the NWC for the 200-yard backstroke, and Chris Bendix, third best in conference in the 400-yard individual medley, will lead the Missionaries into the meet in Spokane. Lauren Flynn holds the fifth best time in the NWC for the 50-yard freestyle and Linnea Scott is fifth best for the 400-yard individual medley on the women's side for Whitman.

Pirates pummel Lutes, improve to 12-3 overall

Whitworth's three-point assassin continued his assault from behind the arc, as sophomore guard David Riley posted a career-high 37 points in a rout of cross-state rival Pacific Lutheran University 88-60. Riley was 8-for-12 from downtown in the game. Junior forward Nate Montgomery and senior guard Tim Sellereit had 14 and 13 for the Pirates, respectively, while junior guard Ross Nakamura dropped eight assists.

A peek at the upcoming schedule for the team:

Whitman (6-9 overall, 2-4 Northwest Conference)
Lewis & Clark (10-4, 4-1)
George Fox (5-10, 1-5)

Whitworth dropped out of the D3hoops.com poll from the #24 slot last week following losses to Linfield and Puget Sound.

An encouraging sign going forward for Whitworth is their muscle and both ends of the court. Statistical buffs could marvel at the Pirates' defensive prowess, as they have held opponents to less than 64 points per game as a team. On the flip side, Whitworth can fill it up in a hurry too, leading the conference at nearly 50 percent shooting from the field and a plus-15.9 point per game scoring margin. Whitworth leads nearly every major statistical category, and is in the top tier of teams in all others. The key will be putting it together on both ends of the floor each night.

Cowboys can't shake off resident flea Jason Garrett

Bad news for those who like good news: Jason Garrett, as of this posting, is still the Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator in Dallas. Giants assistant head coach Steve Spagnuolo will get the gig in St. Louis. Fellow NFC East teams rejoice in this news, I know, but there is still hope Garrett can find a new home elsewhere in the NFL (Tampa, anyone?) by the time the Super Bowl wraps up. Check out the Dallas Morning News' blog for more info.