Junior Blake Arthur, sophomore Kirsten Sautel and freshman Breeza Rodriguez were named Most Valuable Swimmers for Sweet Home Tuesday, March 14, at the team’s awards dinner.
Most valuable is an interesting term,” Coach AJ Bronson said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean the fastest individual, it doesn’t mean the person that leads the most. It’s the person that was the most valuable to our team in points and leadership abilities and helping us and gathering the team together and supporting others. It’s kind of a conglomeration of everything.”
He recapped the season, noting that the Huskies had eight boys and 13 girls on the team this season, the girls winning their 10th straight district title after going undefeated in dual meet competition, and the boys placing a close second at district – by four points, then finishing 12th at state. The girls went on to take second place at state, again by “three points or three-tenths of a second.”
“The best part about all of that, other than Coach (Doug Peargin, who completed his 52nd season coaching swimming in Sweet Home), we have no seniors on the team,” Bronson added. “The coolest thing is that everybody gets to come back and we only get better from where we are today.
“It’s hard to improve upon what we did this year, undefeated on the girls side and the boys doing so well, but we have a lot of goals that we can accomplish individually and a few that we can as a team and that’s what we’re going to be shooting for.
“We’re going to be shooting for a girls state championship next year and the guys to definitely get in the top seven.”
Rodriguez, who, Bronson noted, is only 13 years old – one of the youngest, if not the youngest, competitors at the state meet, won the 100 Backstroke state title.
Sautel, who was a team co-captain this year, with fellow sophomore RJ Abbott, “worked incredibly hard leading the team, as well as individually,” Bronson said.
At the state meet she delivered an individual win in the 100 Breaststroke, which turned out to be not quite enough to win the team title for the girls, but put them within striking distance, he said.
Sautel, he said, “did a phenomenal job the whole year round, helping leading the team, anchoring the relays,” and turning to Sautel, he added, “pushing yourself and putting the team.”
Arthur, he said, “dropped from a mid-24-second time in the 50 Freestyle last year to 23-flat this year and got to 52.6 in the 100, which was just a hair shy of making it into the top six this year” in both events.
Arthur was also named Most Improved on the boys side.
Most Improved on the girs side were freshman Kylie Melkvik and sophomore Beatrice Reeve.
Bronson said that award was a tough one to make choices on since “we had such a massive improvement all the way around” across the board.
Reeve “worked incredibly hard throughout the year,” Bronson said, adding that she started with the slower swimmers but improved to the point that “she moved around to wherever we needed her that day.”
Reeve ended up helping the Huskies’ “B” 400 Freestyle Relay to a third-place finish in district, which, he said, “is a ridiculous accomplishment.”
Stayton, which placed second behind Sweet Home’s “A” Team – which was a close second at state – placed sixth at state, Bronson noted. “That’s a huge, huge, accomplishment,” he said of the Huskies’ second-stringers.
Underclassmen of the Year were Abbott and Alyssa Voight.
Abbott, a team co-captain, qualified for state in two individual events, placing fifth in both the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Breaststroke, and swimming on both freestyle relays.
Abbott was a team leader, “which is not an easy thing to do, especially as a sophomore,” Bronson said, adding that Abbott made sure “everybody’s on task, making sure everybody is working hard and raising up all of our spirits, as you all can attest to very easily,” he told the crowd at the event.
Voight, a junior, was a first-year swimmer for the high school, though she brought club experience, the coach said, adding that she flourished when put in the shorter freestyle events and came through for the girls at state in the relays, in which they needed a fast fourth swimmer.
“She ended up doing a great job. (She) really helped us get that second-place trophy at state,” he said. “Without her, that wouldn’t have been possible. ”
Bronson also announced that junior Rylee Markell will be named a co-captain for next year’s team after demonstrating to coaches how she “worked incredibly hard and helped lead the team and we wanted to honor her dedication to the team and to the sport itself.”
On a team totally devoid of seniors,Markell was the only three-year letter winner.
Second-year letters went to Payton Brookfield, Tierney Clarno, Peyton Markell and Kirsten Sautel for the girls, and for the boys, RJ Abbott, Blake Arthur, Boden Sayer, Shayne Schuster and Ben Tolman.
First-year letter recipients were Arman Marble, Garrett Peake and Andrew Tolman for the boys, and Daisy Lalonde, Kylie Melkvik, Beatrice Reeve, Breeza Rodriguez and Alyssa Voight for the girls.