After a season-opening win for both the girls and boys at Stayton Wednesday, Dec. 4, the Huskies were grounded Friday by the snow, which cancelled all sporting events at Sweet Home High School.
That meet, with Blanchet and Cascade on Dec. 6, was postponed due to the weather and will be rescheduled, possibly to Dec. 27, over Christmas break, Coach Doug Peargin said.
Wednesday’s trip to Stayton, though, provided opportunities for the veterans to get back into the pool and for the newcomers to get a taste of high school competition and meet etiquette.
“It was quite a learning experience for our kids, being as we have 16 swimmers on the team that have never been to a high school meet before today,” Peargin said. “Not only that, but we only have two seniors on the team and both of them are foreign exchange students.
“With so many new and young people in the water, I sort of thought that we may have a few new people make a mistake or two, but that never happened. We didn’t have any disqualifications.”
The girls won nine of 11 events and the boys won four, though they did not enter swimmers in three events.
Individual winners for the girls were sophomore Mikayla Nelson in the 200 Freestyle (2:05.8) and the 50 Butterfly (30.5), freshman Lucie Davis in the 100 IM (1:06.9) and the 100 Freestyle (58.1), sophomore Esther Gunselman in the 50 Backstroke (31.7) and freshman Elea Hewitt in the 50 Breaststroke (38.6). Junior Ryan Yon was a double winner for the boys in the 200 Freestyle (2:16.8) and the 50 Breaststroke (39.2), and freshman Nathan Hager won the 100 Freestyle (53.8) and the 100 IM (1:03.8).
“With so many new people and so much youth on the team, it made for one of the most exciting meets that I’ve seen in a long time,” Peargin said. “Every swimmer on the team had faster times in this meet than they had at our time trials.
“We set goals for ourselves and the team earlier in the year and now that the kids have swum in a meet, the next time they swim in the same event they have a time they should try to beat. Overall, we had a great experience, a great time and our whole team swam pretty darn well for being so early in the season.”
Weather permitting, the Huskies will be back in action Thursday, Dec. 12, at the Philomath Relays.
Sweet Home Swimming at Stayton
Girls Results
Sweet Home 98, Stayton 64
200 Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Mikayla Nelson, Elea Hewitt, Esther Gunselman, Lucie Davis) 2:04.8; (3) Sweet Home “B” (Natasha Benson, Maddee Hawken, Sierrah Owen, Livvie Hindmarsh) 2:28.6.
200 Freestyle – (1) Makayla Nelson 2:05.8; (3) Maddee Hawken 2:45.8; (5) Ira Doding 3:04.5; (6) Brittany Romero 3:16.6.
100 Individual Medley – (1) Lucie Davis 1:06.9; (4) Sara Helfrich 1:18.8; (5) Livvie Hindmarsh 1:28.7; (6) Kristen Adams 1:35.7.
50 Freestyle – (2) Esther Gunselman 27.7; (4) Megan Oberg 34.4; (6) Hannah Burge 45.7.
50 Butterfly – (1) McKayla Nelson 48.1; (5) Sierrah Owen 30.6.
100 Freestyle – (1) Lucie Davis 58.1; (4) Sara Helrich 1:08.3; (5) Megan Oberg 1:22.1.
400 Freestyle – (2) Elea Hewitt 6:13.7.
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Mikayla Nelson, Esther Gunselman, Sara Helfrich, Lucie Davis) 1:53.1; (3) Sweet Home “B” (Natasha Benson, Megan Oberg, Maddee Hawken, Livvie Hindmarsh) 2:16.1; (4) Sweet Home “C” (Kira Doding, Brittany Romero, Kristen Adams, Sierrah Owen) 2:24.5.
50 Backstroke – (1) Esther Gunselman 31.7; (3) Natasha Benson 37.9; (4) Kristen Adams 41.0; (6) Kira Doding 43.0.
50 Breaststroke – (1) Elea Hewitt 38.6; (3) Maddee Hawken 42.0; (4) Brittany Romero 44.4; Hannah Burge 51.5.
400 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Livvie Hindmarsh, Sara Helfrich, Natasha Benson, Elea Hewitt) 4:40.5; (2) Sweet Home “B” (Megan Oberg, Kira Doding, Kristen Adams, Brittany Romero) 5:24.2.
Sweet Home Swimming at Stayton
Boys Results
Sweet Home 86, Stayton 10
200 Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Brandon Vasfaret, Grant Jones, Jaeger Howatt, Tanner Goble) 2:09.4; (2) Sweet Home “B” (Sean Wolthuis, Ryan Yon, Nathan Hager, Tadyn Bentley) 2:13.0.
200 Freestyle – (1) Ryan Yon 2:16.8; (2) Grant Jone 2:43.1.
100 Individual Medley – (1) Nathan Hager 1:03.8; (3) Brandon Vasfaret 1:04.8; (4) Jaeger Howatt 1:06.9.
50 Freestyle – (1) Sean Wolthuis 30.2; (2) Tadyn Bentley 31.0; (3) Adam Barber 32.1; (4) Tanner Goble 34.1.
50 Butterfly – No Sweet Home competitors.
100 Freestyle – (1) Nathan Hager 53.8; (2) Brandon Vasfaret 57.0; (3) Jaeger Howatt 1:01.0.
400 Freestyle – No Sweet Home competitors.
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home “B” (Tadyn Bentley, Adam Barber, Jaeger Howatt, Nathan Hager) 2:06.8; (2) Sweet Home “A” (Sean Wolthuis, Grant Jones, Brandon Vasfaret, Ryan Yon) 2:08.2.
50 Backstroke – No Sweet Home competitors.
50 Breaststroke – (1) Ryan Yon 39.2; (2) Sean Wolthuis 43.4; (3) Grant Jones 43.5.
400 Freestyle Relay – No Sweet Home competitors.