Sweet Home swimmers scored a one-two punch Saturday, as the Husky boys took the district championship and the girls were second at Albany.
Coach Doug Peargin’s Huskies held off strong Junction City for the title.
In boys action, Sweet Home scored 313 points and was followed by Junction City, 246; Philomath and Marist, 157; North Marion, 97; Stayton, 92; Cascade, 81; Jefferson, 51; Sisters, 32; Molalla, 4.
In the girls action, Cascade, a heavy favorite all season, came through with 201 points; Sweet Home was second at 185; Philomath, 176; Junction City, 170; Marist, 142; Stayton, 134; North Marion, 73; Molalla, 54; Sisters, 52; Jefferson, 41; Elmira, 19.
“We took 23 kids and 20 of them scored,” veteran Coach Peargin said of the team’s wins. “We had a big meet from a lot of kids.”
Rhys Birky, the “glue” of the Husky boys team this season, didn’t let his teammates down, scoring individual wins in the 200 IM and breast stroke, plus having big swims on both winning relay teams.
Another big win for the Huskies came from Sean Martin, a sophomore, whose time in the 500 places him fifth on the all-time school charts.
“That was a big swim for Sean,” Coach Peargin said. “He layed back from one guy until the very end and then came on. It was a great swim for him.”
Jeff Ecker posted a championship swim in the 100 backstroke, cementing a very solid season according to Coach Peargin.
“At the start of the season, I thought we had too many nice kids, too many to really get tough,” Coach Peargin said. “Junction City is tough but we just kept getting tougher.
Although the Husky girls didn’t score individual championships, several athletes will make it to the state meet this Friday and Saturday at Mt. Hood Community College through wildcarding.
The girls medley and 200 freestyle relay teams (Yunke, Starha, Duncan, Blank) made it. Megan Blank will go in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke and Nicole Starha will compete in the breaststroke.
“These girls deserve to go. They’ve worked very hard.”
Friday’s 3A swimming action will run from 8:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday’s action is from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Here’s how local athletes are seeded in that meet:
Girls 200 yard medley relay: SHHS, fifth (Cascade, first).
Boys 200 yard medley relay: SHHS, third (La Grande, first).
Boys 200 yard freestyle: Sean Martin, SHHS, sixth (Kyle Tannehill, Sherwood, first).
Boys 200 yard IM: Rhys Birky, SHHS, first; Chris Bate, SHHS, 11th.
Girls 50 yard freestyle: Megan Blank, SHHS, sixth; (Lynsey Foree, Hidden Valley, first).
Boys 100 yard freestyle: Jeff Ecker, SHHS, seventh; (Ben Karlin, Valley Catholic, first).
Boys 500 yard freestyle: Sean Martin, SHHS, second; (Colin Douglas, Banks, first)
Girls 200 yard freestyle relay: SHHS, 11th; (Philomath, first).
Girls 100 yard backstroke: Megan Blank, SHHS, seventh; (Katie Chapman, first).
Boys 100 yard backstroke: Jeff Ecker, SHHS, third; (Kyle Tannehill, first).
Girls 100 yard breaststroke: Nicole Starha, SHHS, 12th; (Susan Guyler, first).
Boys 100 yard breaststroke: Rhys Birky, SHHS, first.
Boys 400 yard freestyle relay: SHHS, second; (LaGrande, first).
District Championships
Boys results
200 medley relay: SHHS A, first, 1:49.0 (Ecker, Birky, Bate, Martin); SHHS B, 8th, 2:11.9 (Lovik, Stratman, Starha, Caswell).
200 freestyle: Martin, second, 1:56.9; Coulter, fifth, 2:07.0; Slauson, sixth, 2:10.2.
200 IM: Birky, first, 2:04.4; Bate, third, 2:23.1; Stratman, seventh, 2:36.5.
50 freestyle: Starha, ninth, 26.1.
100 butterfly: Bate, third, 1:04.6; Starha, fifth, 1:09.3; Lovik, 8th, 1:17.6.
100 freestyle: Ecker, second, 52.0; Burford, 7th, 56.2.
500 freestyle: Martin, first, 5:10.9; Coulter, fourth, 5:56.0; Slauson, seventh, 6:02.2; Lovik, ninth, 6:34.6.
200 free relay: SHHS A, fourth, 1:43.0 (Starha, Burford, Slauson, Coulter).
100 backstroke: Ecker, first, 59.0; Burford, fifth, 1:08.7.
100 breast stroke: Birky, first, 1:03.1; Stratman, seventh, 1:17.0.
400 free relay: SHHS A, first, 3:29.4 (Martin, Ecker, Bate, Birky); SHHS B, fourth, 3:52.4 (Burford, Slauson, Stratman, Coulter).
Girls Results
200 medley relay: SHHS A, second, 2:04.2 (Yunke, Starha, Blank, Duncan); SHHS B, ninth 2:21.7 (Gilliland, Coulter, Foucht, VanCleave).
200 freestyle: Duncan, 10th, 2:30.2.
200 IM: Starha, fifth, 2:34.6; Coulter, ninth, 2:51.1.
50 freestyle: Blank, second, 27.0; VanCleave, 11th, 30.5.
100 butterfly: Foucht, 8th, 1:19.2; Gilliland, 12th, 1:34.2.
100 freestyle: VanCleave, 9th, 1:07.0.
500 freestyle: Yunke, fourth, 6:35.5; Duncan, fifth, 6:53.4; Helfrich, ninth, 7:08.7; Gilliland, 12th, 7:23.2.
200 freestyle relay: SHHS A, third, 1:53.8 (Yunke, Starha, Duncan, Blank).
100 backstroke: Blank, second, 1:07.7; Yunke, fourth, 1:09.3; Foucht, 7th, 1:13.9.
100 breasstroke: Starha, 4th, 1:19.0; Coulter, 10th, 1:25.0.
400 free relay: SHHS A, fourth, 4:33.9 (Helfrich, Foucht, Coulter, VanCleave).