Memo to Sweet Home boys who can swim or want to learn: the Huskies need you.
Boosted by the large and strong freshman contingent, Sweet Home’s girls won their own invitational meet going away Thursday, Dec. 20, but the boys finished third behind Philomath and Central.
The girls scored 103 points to 77 for Stayton and 46 for Philomath, their closest competition in a meet that involved six teams that will be in the district meet. The boys finished with a victory in the 400 Freestyle Relay but no individual winners, scoring 60 points. Philomath edged Central for first place, 78-74.
“The numbers are hurting us in the guys,” Coach Doug Peargin said. “The guys are lean. If they don’t all place at districts, we’re in trouble.”
With five of their eight swimmers seniors, the future doesn’t look too promising at the moment either.
Peargin said it’s never too late to start swimming.
“I’ll always take somebody,” he said.
Meanwhile, the girls had three four-event winners in freshmen Esther Gunselman and Makayla Nelson and senior Naomi Gunselman, as the Huskies took first in seven of the 11 events.
Nelson swam the fourth-fastest 200 (2:03.72) and 500 (5:33.34) freestyles in school history and Esther Gunselman’s wins 100 Butterfly (1:09.47) and 100 Backstroke (1:08.54) were lifetime bests. All three swimmers contributed to two relay wins each.
“I’m surprised we’re swimming as well as we are at this point in the season,” Peargin said. “Esther’s tearing it up. The younger girls are starting to pull points for us.”
Sweet Home will be back in action at the Stayton Invitational Thursday, Dec. 27, before hosting a three-team meet on Jan. 4.
Sweet Home Invitational Results
Girls Scorers
Team Scores – (1) Sweet Home 103; (2) Stayton 77; (3) Philomath 46; (4) Central 39; (5) Cascade 27; (6) Junction City 12.
200 Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home “A” (Makayla Nelson, Emily Thompson, Naomi Gunsleman, Esther Gunselman) 2:04.72; (2) Stayton “A” 2:06.11; (3) Cascade 2:23.15; (4) Central 2:24.06; (5) Stayton “B” 2:27.91; (6) Sweet Home “B” 2:28.20.
200 Freestyle – (1) Makayla Nelson (SH) 2:03.72; (2) Julie Wallace (Stay) 2:16.55; (3) Lauren Hindman (P) 2:26.18; (4) Sarah Frey (St) 2:27.27; (5) Emily Thompson (SH) 2:27.90; (6) Sara Spreadbury (Cas) 2:31.95.
200 IM – (1) Naomi Gunselman (SH) 2:21.65; (2) Hoffmann (Stay) 2:33.76; (3) Sheeder (P) 2:44.53; (4) Luke (P) 2:49.44; (5) Reyes (P) 2:49.76; (6) Sara Helfrich (SH) 2:51.25.
50 Freestyle – No Sweet Home scorers.
100 Butterfly – (1) Esther Gunselman (SH) 1:09.47; (2) Barnes (Cas) 1:12.30; (3) Wagner (St) 1:20.87; (4) Torgerson (P) 1:26.70; (5) Pinilla (Stay) 1:29.06; (6) Hagel (P) 1:31.81.
100 Freestyle – (1) Naomi Gunselman (SH) 59.81; (2) Wallace (Stay) 1:02.01; (3) Hill (Stay) 1:03.16; (4) Naylor (Cas) 1:07.98; (5) Paige Sanders (SH) 1:10.67; (6) Usselman (Cas) 1:12.79.
500 Freestyle – (1) Makayla Nelson (SH) 5:33.34; (2) Emily Thompson (SH) 6:42.61; (3) Spreadbury (Cen) 6:44.39; (4) Luke (P) 6:48.11; (5) Jackson (Stay) 2:08.86; (6) Desmarteav (Cen) 7:24.62.
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Paige Sanders, Naomi Gunselman, Esther Gunselman, Makayla Nelson) 1:51.70; (2) Stayton 1:52.08; (3) Central 2:04.73; (4) Junction City 2:08.00; (5) Stayton “B” 2:08.86; (6) Cascade 2:14.71.
100 Backstroke – (1) Esther Gunselman (SH) 1:08.54; (2) Sheeder (P) 1:13.78; (3) Reyes (JC) 1:14.02; (4) Fery (Stay) 1:15.03; (5) Natasha Benson (SH) 1:18.46; (6) Syversen (Cas) 1:23.45;
100 Breaststroke – (1) Hofmann (Stay) 1:17.54; (2) Hindman (P) 1:19.79; (3) Wagner (Stay) 1:23.62; (4) Olsen (Cen) 1:29.11; (5) Sara Helfrich (SH) 1:30.37; (6) Naylor (Cas) 1:33.29.
400 Freestyle Relay – (1) Philomath 4:35.12; (2) Sweet Home (Paige Sanders, Emily Thompson, Natasha Benson, Sara Helfrich) 4:44.50; (3) Stayton 5:00.65; (4) Central “A” 5:01.66; (5) Central “B” 5:22.15; (6) Philomath 5:32.65.
Boys Scorers
Team Scores – (1) Philomath 78; (2) Central 74; (3) Sweet Home 60; (4) Cascade 36; (5) Junction City 30; (6) Stayton 27.
200 Medley Relay – (1) Central 1:53.55; (2) Philomath 1:55.94; (3) Sweet Home (Justin Hilburn, Victor Stupin, Jaegar Howett, Zane Jackson) 2:00.67; (4) Cascade 2:00.70; (5) Junction City 2:10.01; (6) Central “B” 2:21.29.
200 Freestyle – (1) Williamson (P) 2:02.64; (2) Victor Stupin (SH) 2:04.29; (3) Potter-Clark (Cen) 2:18.53; (4) Syverson (Cas) 2:20.42; (5) Ryan Yon (SH) 2:21.70; (6) Sherman (JC) 2:29.55.
200 IM – (1) Strahan (Stay) 2:18.14; (2) Stanger (Cent) 2:26.35; (3) Justin Hilburn (SH) 2:28.89; (4) Erickson 2:30.81; (5) Isaac (P) 2:39.67; (6) Protiva (Cent) 2:42.45.
50 Freestyle – (1) Walter (JC) 24.66; (2) Shaefer (Cas) 26.66; (3) Jaegar Howatt (SH) 26.74; (4) Zane Jackson (SH) 26.87; (5) Millian (Stay) 27.04; (6) Olson (Cas) 27.28.
100 Butterfly – (1) Walke (JC) 58.42; (2) Justin Hilburn (SH) 1:05.33; (3) Yonker (P) 1:09.50; (4) Glade (Cent) 1:12.67.
100 Freestyle – (1) Brokaw (Cas) 58.19; (2) Zane Jackson (SH) 1:01.14; (3) Erickson (P) 1:01.70; (4) Walker (JC) 1:01.83; (5) Doyle (P) 1:02.26; (6) Millican (Stay) 1:02.38.
500 Freestyle – (1) Strahan (Stay) 5:36.70; (2) Victor Stupin (SH) 5:47.97; (3) Potter-Clark (Cent) 5:54.20; (4) Grandquist (Cent) 5:55.23; (5) Warnock (P) 6:!0.07; (6) Celorie (P) 6:18.72.
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Central 1:41.82; (2) Cascade 1:47.98; (3) Philomath 1:49.26; (4) Junction City 1:51.16; (5) Stayton 1:54.72; (6) Sweet Home 1:54.91.
100 Backstroke – (1) Celorie (P) 1:02.92; (2) Warnock (P) 1:06.87; (3) Stanger (Cent) 1:10.64; (4) Elric Benson (SH) 1:20.58; (5) Mack (Cent) 1:27.13; (6) Zito (JC) 1:27.67.
100 Breaststroke – No Sweet Home scorers.
400 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Justin Hilburn, Jaegar Howatt, Zane Jackson, Victor Stupin) 3:56.62; (2) Philomath 4:11.36; (3) Central “A” 4:22.21; (4) Stayton 4:35.39; (5) Philomath “B” 4:35.93; (6) Central “B” 5:23.37.