Smith, Prigge Named NWC Swimmers of The Week

The Boxers will wait two weeks before hitting the water for the NWC Championships.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

FOREST GROVE - After wrapping up the Northwest Conference dual meet season with a pair of strong performances, Pacific's Nathan Smith and Alex Prigge have both been named the NWC Men's & Women's Swimmers of the Week.

The two led Pacific's efforts in the team's final dual meet of the season, against Willamette on Saturday.

Smith won all three of his races, while Prigge won two individual races and swam as part of a record-setting 200-yard medley relay team.

"Both Nathan and Alex have set themselves up nicely for the conference championships," said Pacific Head Swim Coach Alec Webster.

"They have both broken school records throughout the season. Nathan has a shot to win a couple of events, while Alex has a chance to be top six in all her events. We are all excited to see what they and the rest of the team can do next week."

Smith, one half of the Boxers' two-member men's swim team, picked up three more victories in Saturday's dual to run his current win streak to nine races.

He captured the 200-yard breaststroke with a school record time of 2:21.07, shaving a few tenths of a second off of his own record that he set last week against Linfield.

Smith was also a winner in the 50-yard freestyle (22.06 seconds) and the 100-yard freestyle (49.10 seconds).

Smith finished the dual meet season by winning 19 of 20 races, covering every stroke.

He enters the Northwest Conference Championships ranked in the conference's top-10 in five different events, including the third best time in the 50-yard freestyle and fourth in the 100-yard freestyle.

In his last conference meet, during the 2004-05 season, Smith finished second in all three of the sprint freestyle events.

Prigge capped her regular season with a season best in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:09.42, finishing less than a second ahead of Willamette's Whitney Pryce.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Prigge posted a 10-second victory over Jenna Larrow with a time of 5:44.65.

Prigge also swam the leadoff leg of Pacific's school record setting 200-yard medley relay.

The team finished in 2:02.09.

Prigge will enter the NWC Championships with top-10 times in two different events.

She is ranked eighth in the 200-yard breaststroke, which she finished sixth in at last year's conference meet, and ninth in the 1,000-yard freestyle.

The Boxers will wait two weeks before hitting the water for the NWC Championships.

The three-day meet will begin on Feb. 9th at the Paul Harvey Pool in Walla Walla, Wash. Whitman College is the host school.

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