By Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Sweet Home’s girls won their ninth straight Special District 3 swimming championship Saturday, Feb. 12, and the boys powered themselves to a second-place finish, their first trophy in five years at South Albany High School.
“They swam well,” said Coach A Jay Bronson. “I think everyone who swam had at least one personal best.”
The Huskies qualified all three of their girls relays for the state champions, as well as the boys 200 Freestyle Relay and 10 individual competitors on the girls side and three on the boys.
District champions for the girls were the three girls relays, freshman Kirsten Sautel in the 200 Freestyle, senior Malia Hewitt in the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Breaststroke, the latter in a meet-record 1:07.59, senior Chloe Tyler in the 100 Freestyle and the 100 Backstroke, setting a meet record 57.10 in the latter as well, senior Isabel Sayer in the 500 Freestyle, and senior Jamie Seward in the 50 Freestyle.
Team-wise, on the girls side, Sweet Home outpointed second-place Stayton 327-199, with Junction City and Philomath tied for third at 108.
The boys made a late run after trailing Philomath with two events to go, putting two teams in the pool for the final 4×100 Freestyle Relay, which pushed the Huskies into second place behind Marist, 283-163, with the Warriors a point behind with 162. Cascade was fourth with 106.
Bronson said coaches had told the boys that a second-place finish in the district was in reach, and “I guess, if you tell them something enough times, they’ll believe it.”
“I thought things went really well,” Tyler said. “It’s been nice getting some consistent training in, since I didn’t really get that with COVID. So being able to suit up and race all-out, and, like, have people to race when I’ve had consistent training is really nice. It went really well.
Freshman RJ Abbott, who has been the Husky boys’ top swimmer this season, was a double winner in the 200 IM and the 500 Freestyle.
“I thought we all did pretty well and the relay did really good,” Abbott said of his first district meet as a high-schooler. “I think I did pretty well on the 200 IM and the 500 Free – I could have gone a little harder on that but I thought it was pretty fun.”
Sweet Home has six No. 1 seeds going into the state meet, which starts at 4 p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center: Sautel in the 200 Freestyle, Hewitt in the 200 IM and the 100 Breaststroke, Seward in the 50 Freestyle, Tyler in the 100 Freestyle and the 100 Backstroke.
Also qualifying for the girls were freshman Peyton Markell – fourth in a fast 200 Freestyle, seeded 11th, and Sautel, third in the district 200 Breaststroke, seeded third. Sayer is seeded eighth in the 500 Freestyle and Seward, who was second behind Tyler in the 100 Backstroke at district, is seeded second at state, behind her teammate.
Sautel, a product of the Sweet Home Swim Club, said she was pleased with her first district meet.
“I feel like I did pretty good,” she said. “My 100 Breaststroke, I was astonished. I didn’t expect that to happen. I saw Josie (Hewitt) in front of me and I was like, ‘I’m gonna try my best to keep up with her.'”
For the boys, Abbott is seeded third in the 200 IM and fifth in the 500 Freestyle, and sophomore Blake Arthur, who was second in the 200 Freestyle at districts, is seeded 10th. The boys are seeded sixth in the 200 Freestyle Relay.
For seniors Bill Hawken, Jacob Kennedy and Micah Wright, the second-place finish was by far their highest in their four years with the program – their previous best team finish was fifth, last year. This year the boys finished 5-4 in dual meets.
Wright credited the addition of Abbott and Arthur as the biggest factor in that surge.
“My freshman year was the last year we were winning any meets, and now we’re winning everything,” he said. “Blake, he showed up and became a big help, and having RJ, we really got somewhere.”
Hawken said the Huskies have “put in the work this season and this is a good result,” as they waited for what ended up being the second-place trophy.
Bronson noted that the one-point win for the boys demonstrated how everyone has to contribute.
“We had (freshmen) Boden (Sayer) and Shayne (Schuster) swim the 500,” he said. “The points they scored made the difference.”
Sayer, who qualified in the 500 for the second year in a row, said she was pleased to make it this year after a slow start to her senior season.
“I started the season kind of down with COVID and everything,” she said. “I was getting really frustrated because I wasn’t getting my best times and stuff like that. And then, about, like, a couple of weeks ago, it really clicked in my head and I was able to break what I was stuck in a plateau with. I’ve broken my personal record and I’m pretty excited about that.”
Senior Jenna Wolthuis just missed a state berth in the 100 Butterfly by a hair, finishing half a second behind Stayton’s Liberty Wiseman, who got the 12th berth in the state meet.
“It was a personal record,” said Wolthuis, who decided to go out for swimming this year for the first time as a high-schooler, and who noted that the district race was her fourth time swimming that event in high school. “I was so close to beating that girl; it came down to the last stroke.”
Swimming was a good experience, she said.
“I think we did really good. We also really support each other. It’s really fun team to be on.”
Sautel said she’s enjoyed high school swimming.
“It’s completely different than club because it’s really a team sport. I love that about it because swimming club is so individual,” she said.
This year Sweet Home has really transitioned, coaching-wise, as longtime Head Coach Doug Peargin stepped down to an assistant level and Bronson has moved to the helm.
Wright said Peargin has been “a big help” to the swimmers.
“He’s a big help,” he said, adding with a chuckle: “But oh yeah, he and A Jay have a good coach bromance going on.”
Tyler said the Huskies are ready to do some damage at state.
“We’re hoping for a state championship,” she said, adding that she is personally aiming to set the state record in the 100 Backstroke. “We’re hoping to send Coach out with a No. 1. I think our team goal is just to get that state championship. Were excited.”
The 4A/3A/2A/1A state championships will begin aty 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton. Spectators will be limited to one per athlete.
OSAA Special District 3
4A/3A/2A/1A Championships
Girls Results
Team Scores – (1) Sweet Home 327; (2) Stayton 199; (3-tie) Junction City, Philomath 108; (5) Marist 88; (6-tie) Cascade, Salem Academy 87; (8) Blanchet 53; (9) North Marion 43; (10) Sisters 32; (11) Kennedy 31; (12) Pleasant Hill 23.
Top 3 and Sweet Home Finishers
200 Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Jamie Seward, Kirsten Sautel, Isabel Sayer, Malia Hewitt) 1:56.13; (2) Stayton 2:05.38; (3) Sweet Home “B” (Taryn Abbott, Rylee Markell, Jenna Wolthuis, Meagan Baham) 2:11.44; (4) Cascade 2:13.66; (5) Salem Academy 2:16.26; (6) Junction City 2:18.13;
200 Freestyle – (1) Kirsten Sautel (SH) 2:04.67*; (2) Sofia James (Marist) 2:08.92; (3) Bethany Wagar (Stayton) 2:13.55; (4) Peyton Markell (SH) 2:17.46.
200 Individual Medley – (1) Malia Hewitt (SH) 2:12.66; (2) Brylee Sylverson (Cascade) 2:22.82; (3) Piper Van Buskirk (Marist) 2:3.58.
50 Freestyle – (1) Jamie Seward (SH) 24.92; (2) Ashley Rea (Stayton) 26.47; (3) Catilyn Martinak (Stayton) 26.67; (5) Jenna Wolthuis (SH) 28.00; (6) Meagan Baham (SH) 28.28.
100 Butterfly – (1) Liberty Wiseman (Stayton) 1:15.57; (2) Jenna Wolthuis (SH) 1:15.98*; (3) Evy Hogervost (Pleasant Hill) 1:16.70.
100 Freestyle – (1) Chloe Tyler (SH) 52.53; (2) Caitlyn Martinak (Stayton) 58.60; (3) Bethany Wager (Stayton) 1:01.28; (5) Meagan Baham (SH) 1:05.70.
500 Freestyle – (1) Isabel Sayer (SH) 5:53.01; (2) Ella Bartlett (Sisters) 6:02.81; (3) Peyton Markell (SH) 6:12.98; (6) Taryn Abbott (SH) 6:48.88; (8) Rylee Markell (SH) 6:52.41.
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home (SH) (Chloe Tyler, Meagan Baham, Peyton Markell, Jamie Seward) 1:44.78; (2) Stayton 1:48.35; (3) Cascade 1:59.81; (4) Junction City 2:01.11; (5) Philomath 2:02.12; (6) Marist 2:04.58; (8) Sweet Home “B” (Payton Brookefield, Tierney Clarno, Rylee Markell, Nora Pettner) 2:10.52.
100 Backstroke – (1) Chloe Tyler (SH) 57.10; (2) Jamie Seward (SH) 1:00.60; (3) Sofia James (Marist) 1:04.99; (6) Taryn Abbott (SH) 1:16.18.
100 Breaststroke – (1) Malia Hewitt (SH) 1:07.59; (2) Kirsten Sautel (SH) 1:11.04; (3) Brylee Sylverson (Cascade) 1:12.74; (8) Rylee Markell (SH) 1:23.82.
400 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Kiresten Sautel, Isabel Sayer, Malia Hewitt, Chloe Tyler) 3:49.76; (2) Stayton 4:16.81; (3) Sweet Home “B” (Jenna Wolthuis, Payton Brookefield, Taryn Abbott, Peyton Markell) 4:29.69; (4) Salem Academy 4:34.34; (5) Marist 4:44.19; (6) Philomath 4:44.73.
Boys Results
Team Scores – (1) Marist 283; (2) Sweet Home 163; (3) Philomath 162; (4) Cascade 106; (5) North Marion 93; (6) Junction City 84; (7) 69; (9) Sisters 53; (10) 32; (11) Stayton 21.
Top 3 and Sweet Home Finishers
200 Medley Relay – (1) Marist 1:52.60; (2) Philomath 1:56.37; (3) Cascade 1:57.52; (4) Junction City 2:04.50; (5) North Marion 2:04.73; (6) Salem Academy 2:11.62; (7) Sweet Home (Jacob Kennedy, Boden Sayer, Ben Tolman, Shayne Schuster) 2:40.39.
200 Freestyle – (1) Trent McQuaid (Marist) 1:57.15; (2) Sebastian Ramos (Blanchet) 2:01.25; (3) Micah Hugo (Marist) 2:10.33; (4) Blake Arthur (SH) 2:07.19l (7) Bill Hawken (SH) 2:22.35.
200 Individual Medley – (1) RJ Abbott (SH) 2:09.35; (2) Gabriel Carrol (Salem Academy) 2:18.08; (3) Jackson Anderson (Marist) 2:18.09; (9) Ben Tolman (SH) 3:32.28.
50 Freestyle – (1) Kyler Lajoie (Marist) 23.94; (2) Clayten Heuberger (Sisters) 24.13; (3) Carrson Hirte (Philomath) 23.94; (7) Micah Wright (SH) 26.09.
100 Butterfly – (1) Cameron Miller (Kennedy) 56.73; (2) Jackson Anderson (Marist) 1:01.68; (3) Gabriel Carrol (Salem Academy) 1:06.07; (5) Blake Arthur (SH) 1:10.49; (9) Ben Tolman (SH) 1:49.08.
100 Freestyle – (1) Trent McQuaid (Marist) 51.99; (2) Carrson Hirte (Philomath) 53.26; (3) Liam Ferguson (Blanchet) 57.75; (7) Micah Wright (SH) 59.29; (10) Bill Hawken (SH) *1:02.76.
500 Freestyle – (1) RJ Abbott (SH) 5:16.87; (2) Micah Hugo (Marist) 5:28.48; (3) Sebastian Ramos (Blanchet) 5:33.15; (8) Boden Sayer (SH) 7:50.21; (9) Shayne Schuster (SH) 8:47.11.
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Marist 1:40.80; (2) Sweet Home (Micah Wright, Blake Arthur, Bill Hawken, RJ Abbott) 1:41.16; (3) Cascade 1:44.81; (4) North Marion 1:46.13; (5) Junction City 1:46.55; (6) Philomath 1:53.28.
100 Backstroke – (1) Cameron Miller (Kennedy) 55.48; (2) Clayten Heuberger (Sisters) 57.29; (3) Kyler Lajoie (Marist) 57.89; (10) Jacob Kennedy (SH) 1:24.02.
100 Breaststroke – (1) Kellen Houchin (Philomath) 1:09.69; (2) Arlen Kuenzi (Cascade) 1:12.08; (3) Joseph Souza (Sisters) 1:12.29.
400 Freestyle Relay – (1) Marist 3:40;80; (2) Sweet Home (Micah Wright, Blake Arthur, Bill Hawken, RJ Abbott) 4:01.94; (3) Philomath 4:02.85; (4) Blanchet 4:25.94; (5) Marist “B” 4:27.94; (6) Sweet Home “B” (Ben Tolman, Shayne Schuster, Jacob Kennedy, Boden Sayer) 5:05.09.