Naomi Gunselman swims to third place in the 100 Backstroke,

Dakotah Keys swims a leg of the 200 Freestyle Relay.

Kieran Schaefer hugs Coach Doug Peargin after placing second in the 50 and 100 Freestyle races.

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With swimmers qualifying to swim in 10 of 11 championship races, the Sweet Home boys dominated the state swim meet Saturday and captured its second state title in a row.

The Huskies finished with 83 points. North Bend was second with 55 points, Cottage Grove third with 47, followed by Junction City, 22; Philomath, 16; and Corbett, 13.

The Huskies opened with a first-place performance in the 200-yard Medley Relay, the team of Jayce Calhoon, Michael Simmonds, Gravy Gunselman and Kieran Schaefer setting a state record in 1:41.38. Cottage Grove finished second 3.32 seconds behind the Huskies.

The Huskies qualified three swimmers for the 200-yard Intermediate Medley and captured the top three spots in the finals. Calhoon finished first in 1:58.48, missing the record 1:57.91 he set last year. Zac Pearce was second in 2:03.72, and Simmonds finished third, in 2:04.24. Tony Vickery of Junction City finished fourth with a time of 2:05.84.

Calhoon, a senior, said he was a little off after recovering from a cold last week.

“I did my best with what I had,” he said. “So I’m pretty happy.”

Schaefer finished second in the 50-yard Freestyle in 22.23 seconds behind Colin Eaton of Portland Lutheran, 21.29.

In the 100-yard Butterfly, Gunselman finished second with a time of 55.15 behind Gavin Nash of Cottage Grove, 54.05.

In the 100 Freestyle, Schaefer finished second in 48.28 behind Kevin Waller of North Bend with a time of 48.19.

“I’m very happy,” said Schaefer, a senior. He improved his times a little in each race and helped put points on the board for his team.

“I don’t really mind getting second because we had a strong enough team,” he said. Placing personally wasn’t the most important thing to him. His goal was an overall team win.

“I think our team was really strong this year,” he said. “We brought 11 guys, and almost every one of them placed. I think the key was just having everybody compete.”

He said he remembers getting beat out by Cottage Grove by a couple of points during his freshman and sophomore seasons.
The team just couldn’t bring enough people to make up the difference. Last year and this year, the team was able to bring enough swimmers to the finals.

In the 500 Freestyle, Pearce’s goggles slid down and he finished about seven seconds slower than he did in prelims on Friday when he swam 4:51.04. He took third, with a time of 4:58.16 behind Gavin Nash of Cottage Grove, 4:52.07, and James Verger of North Bend, 4:49.16.

Pearce said after his goggles started coming off during the race, he was able to reset them for a little bit, then they came loose again.

“I grabbed, and I ripped them off,” he said, adding that he had to plow forward and not think about it.

Gunselman, Pearce, Dakotah Keys and Byron Sanders finished second in the 200 Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:34.30.
North Bend finished first, with a time of 1:32.45.

Calhoon finished second in the 100-yard Backstroke with a time of 52.87. Isaac Hewitt of Corbett finished first with a time of 51.45. Gunselman finished sixth with a time of 59.29.

Simmonds was third in the 100-yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:03.45 behind Tom Graves of Newport, 1:03.12, and Vickery of Junction City, 1:02.69.

The Huskies finished the day setting another record with a first-place relay in the 400 Freestyle Relay. Calhoon, Pearce, Simmonds and Schaefer finished the race in 3:18.59, ahead of North Bend at 3:23.81.

In girls swimming, Niccole Simmonds, finished sixth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:12.50. Naomi Gunselman was third in the 100-yard butterfly, 1:01.77, and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke, 1:03.63. Sami Webb was sixth in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:29.02.

Overall, the Sweet Home girls collected eight points and finished 13th out of 19 teams. Marist finished first with 52 points followed by North Bend with 43; Philomath, 34; Cascade, 28; Sisters, 27; and Taft, 24.

“We had so many kids try out this year,” Calhoon said. “They put their whole heart into it and pushed us as a team. We wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”

The team’s dedication under Coach Doug Peargin’s direction was definitely the key to the Huskies’ performance this year, said Pearce, a sophomore.

“It paid off. It really did. There were very few people who missed many practices.”

Peargin said attitude and athleticism were the keys for this team.

“It’s a great group of athletes,” he said. “They believed in the program and set goals.”

The team wanted to break records, he said, and they did it in both of their first-place relays.

“This is just the paycheck after four months of really hard work,” Peargin said. During Friday preliminaries, “we got enough people to get back here and to win the thing.”

So when Saturday’s swims started, the Huskies just needed to swim smart and avoid disqualification to take the championship.

“I’m going to miss them,” Peargin said of his seniors. “They’re awful nice kids. They’re going to be great adults.”

4A/3A/2A/1A Swimming State Championships Results
Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Jayce Calhoon, Michael Simmonds, Gravy Gunselman, Kieran Schaefer) 1:41.38;. (2) Cottage Grove; (3) Philomath 1:48.76;. (4) North Marion; (5) Junction City 1:49.22. (6) La Grande 1:49.76.
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle – (1) Aly Viles (Taft) 1:52.81; (2) Alexis Mollahan (Marist) 2:02.32; (3) Carlie Gilligan (Seaside) 2:03.44; (4) Logan Gomez (La Grande) 2:07.72; (5) Kelli Kronsberg (North Bend) 2:08.22; (6) Niccole Simmonds (SH) 2:12.50.
Girls 200 Yard Intermediate Medley – (1) Crystal Kibby (Cascade) 2:07.15; (2) Lauren Nelson (Marist) 2:17.62.; (3) Ali Brauer (Portland Lutheran) 2:19.36; (4) Kelsey Morgan (North Bend) 2:25.00; (5) Julia Anderson (Valley Catholic) 2:25.47; (6) Sami Webb (SH) 2:29.02.
Boys 200 Yard Intermediate Medley – (1) Jayce Calhoon (SH) 1:58.48; (2) Zachary Pearce (SH) 2:03.72; (3) Michael Simmonds (SH) 2:04.24; (4) Tony Vickery (Junction City) 2:05.84; (5) Philip Hewitt (Corbett) 2:10.12; (6) Sam Miller (Cottage Grove) 2:16.17.
Boys 50 Yard Freestyle – (1) Colin Eaton (Portland Lutheran) 21.29; (2) Kieran Schaefer (SH) 22.23; (3) Matt Johnson (North Bend) 22.71; (4) Taylor Hagel (Philomath) 23.07; (5) Andrew Hasbrook (Central) 23.11; (6) Josh Hammes (Valley Catholic) 23.41.
Girls 100 Yard Butterfly – (1) Aly Viles (Taft) 57.01; (2) Rachel Heaney ( North Bend) 57.24; (3) Naomi Gunselman (SH) 1:01.77; (4) Gabe Deen (Phoenix) 1:03.98; (5) Mary Cummings (Marist) 1:04.23; (6) Julia Anderson (Valley Catholic) 1:05.32.
Boys 100 Yard Butterfly – (1) Gavin Nash (Cottage Grove) 54.04; (2) Gravy Gunselman (SH) 55.15; (3) Dylan Dripps (La Salle) 55.66; (4) Gavin Burgess (Valley Catholic) 56.14; (5) Tom Graves (Newport) 57.53; (6) Ricardo Verastegui (North Marion) 59.78.
Boys 100 Yard Freestyle – (1) Kevin Waller (North Bend) 48.19; (2) Kieran Schaefer (SH) 42.28; (1) TJ Buckman (Cottage Grove) 50.41; (4) Taylor Hagel (Philomath) 51.35; (5) Andrew Hasbrook (Central) 52.13; (6) Josh Hammes (Valley Catholic) 52.27.
Boys 500 Yard Freestyle – (1) James Verger (North Bend) 4:49.16; (2) Gavin Nash (Cottage Grove) 4:52.07; (3) Zachary Pearce (SH) 4:58.16; (4) Alex Seaver, Marist, 5:00.71; (5) Sam Miller (Cottage Grove) 5:14.76; (6) Clayton Jacobson (Newport) 5:26.96.
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay – (1) North Bend 1:32.45; (2) Sweet Home (Gravy Gunselman, Byron Sanders, Dakotah Keys, Zachary Pearce) 1:34.30; (3) Junction City 1:35.03; (4) Cottage Grove 1:35.09; (5) Seaside 1:35.49; (6) Central 1:35.62.
Girls 100 Yard Backstroke – (1) Gabe Deen (Phoenix) 1:02.14; (2) Debora Ragau (Molalla) 1:03.04; (3) Annette Marinello (Philomath) 1:03.34; (4) Lauren Nelson ( Marist) 1:03.60; (5) Naomi Gunselman (SH) 1:03.63; (6) Kristin McBride (Henley) 1:05.04.
Boys 100 Yard Backstroke – (1) Isaac Hewitt, Corbett, 51.45*; (2) Jayce Calhoon (SH) 52.87; (3) Matt Cook (La Grande) 54.04; (4) Matt Johnson (North Bend) 54.68; (5) John Pham (Cottage Grove) 57.59; (6) Gravy Gunselman (SH) 59.29.
Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke – (1) Tony Vickery (Junction City) 1:02.69; (2) Tom Graves (Newport) 1:03.12; (3) Michael Simmonds (SH) 1:03.45; (4) Noah Baker (North Valley) 1:05.48; (5) Ryan Rafferty (Scappoose) 1:06.59; (6) Jeremy Dibos (Marist)1:08.06.
Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Jayce Calhoon, Michael Simmonds, Zachary Pearce, Kieran Schaefer , 3:18.59*; (2) North Bend 3:23.81; (3) Cottage Grove 3:26.94; (4) Valley Catholic 3:33.09; (5) Newport 3:33.80; (6) Philomath 3:34.93.

Girls Team Scores
(1) Marist, 52; (2) North Bend, 43; (3) Philomath, 34; (4) Cascade, 28; (5) Sisters, 27; (6) Taft, 24; (7) La Grande, 18; (8) Cottage Grove, 13; (9) Seaside, 11; (10-tie) Henley, 10, Phoenix, 10, (12) Portland Lutheran, 9; (13) Sweet Home, 8; (14) Molalla, 7; (15-tie) La Salle Prep, 4, Astoria, 4; (17) Valley Catholic, 3; (18) Tillamook, 2; (19) Newport, 1.

Boys Team Scores
(1) Sweet Home, 83; (2) North Bend, 55; (3) Cottage Grove, 47; (4) Junction City, 22; (5) Philomath, 16; (6) Corbett. 13; (7) Newport, 12; (8-tie) La Grande, 11, Valley Catholic, 11; (10) Portland Lutheran, 8; (11) North Marion, 7; (12) Central, 6; (13-tie) La Salle Prep, 4, Seaside, 4, Marist, 4. (16) North Valley, 3; (17) Scappoose, 2.