Boise, Idaho– The 2026 Northwest Conference Swimming Championships are officially underway after the first day of competition. Friday morning kicked off at 9:30am (MT) in the Idaho Central Aquatic Center with prelims in 500 freestyle, 200 Individual Medley (IM), and the 50 freestyle for both men’s and women’s swimmers. Session two began at 5pm with thrilling races in the 200 freestyle relays, followed by finals of the morning session’s events, and concluding with both sets of the 400 medley relay.
The Whitworth men and women sit at the top of the standings at the conclusion of Friday night’s competition– the men with a total of 269 points and the women with 211. The Pirate men won four of five races finalized on Friday evening, while the Pirate women claimed three races.
Puget Sound men hold the second place position with 154 points, claiming one conference title. Linfield sits in third with 112.5 points, followed by Whitman (103), Pacific Lutheran (86.5), Willamette (78), Lewis & Clark (73), and George Fox (61). On the women’s side, the Puget Sound women currently sit in second place with 147 points. Whitman sits in third with 128 points, followed by Linfield and George Fox tied for fourth (112), Pacific Lutheran (94), Willamette (76), Lewis & Clark (57), and Pacific (36).
Night one opened with a dominant showing from both men’s and women’s Whitworth 200 yard freestyle relay squads. The Whitworth men quartet of Nathanael Van Liew, Blake Swenson, Alex Popov, & Parker Dangleis outswam the competition with a first place time of 1:21.26, while the women’s squad of Paige Dangleis, Paige Orlando, Mya Granger, and Grace Esteban took home gold with a time of 1:37.70.
In the first individual final event of the championship, Sophomore Sam Lyon took home the gold for Puget Sound in the men’s 500 freestyle (4:35.18), making him a back-to-back champion in the event. In the women’s 500 freestyle, Avery Riley of Whitman outraced the competition and took home the gold (5:07.12).
Whitworth dominated the 200 individual medley races, with Freshman Paige Dangleis finishing in 2:06.78 to claim first place on the women’s side. Whitworth Junior Austin Elwyn secured his third consecutive championship title for the men’s side, clocking in at 1:52.10.
In the fastest race of the meet, George Fox Freshman Gabbie Patti posted a time of 23.33 in the 50 freestyle to earn first place. On the men’s side, Nathanael Van Liew of Whitworth posted a speedy time to claim victory in the men’s 50 free (20.02).
In the final event of the evening, Whitworth took home both men and women’s 400 medley titles– the Pirates quartet of Kai Hayashida, Alex Popov, Henry Brewster, and Parker Dangleis secured a dominant 5-second lead to sweep the event (3:19.47). The Whitworth women's squad of Paige Dangleis, Molly Konop, Grace Esteban, and Megan Bonikowsky took home gold, posting a time of 3:52.91.
Prelims for Day 2 start at 9:30 am (MT), and finals will be broadcast at 5pm (MT). All events at the NWC Swimming Championships can be streamed on
FloSports.