Boys win eight of 11 events for district swim title

Scott Swanson

Of The New Era

Last year an influx of freshmen swimmers helped the Sweet Home boys to the district title and second place at state.

This year those swimmers, Jayce Calhoon, Michael Simmonds and Kieran Schaefer, are sophomores and, together with senior Brinden Sanders, with help from a large supporting cast, they powered the Huskies to their seventh straight district title Saturday at the South Albany Swim Complex. The boys won eight of the 11 events to dominate their competition.

The girls team, despite lacking its usual experience and depth, still placed third.

“This was one of the best district meets we’ve had in the last few years,” Coach Doug Peargin said. “We took 23 swimmers to the meet and 21 of them placed. We hit them with everything we had and placed as high in the girls and boys as we could have possibly hoped for.”

Sanders said that the path to the district title wasn’t clear-cut, particularly after Calhoon underwent an appendix operation and then sprained his ankle, and Schaefer dealt with illness.

“But everything just came together,” he said of the Huskies’ success. “We worked as a team and got a district title.”

Sweet Home scored 449 combined points (boys and girls) to leave the competition in its wake. Philomath was second (341) with Marist third (317), Cascade fourth (249) and Blanchet fifth (239).

For the Huskies, Schaefer won the 200 and 100 freestyles, tying the ninth-fastest times in school history in both events. Calhoon won the 500 freestyle and the 100 backstroke, both in the second-fastest time in school history, and with Simmonds taking second in the 500 freestyle.

Sanders won the 50 freestyle, and led off the winning relay teams in the 200 and 400 freestyle.

Ten Husky swimmers qualified for the state championships, to be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15-16, at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham.

For Calhoon and Schaefer, the pressure will be to return to the victory stand, where they both took state titles last year as freshmen, Calhoon in the 500 freestyle and Schaefer in the 100 and 200 freestyle.

Calhoon, seeded first in the 500 free and the 100 backstroke, said he is stronger than he was last season and he’s done better than he expected.

“I’ve grown a lot,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d do this well in the backstroke.”

He said his goal is to break the school record in both events; he’s 3 1/2 seconds away in the 500 free and two-tenths off the backstroke mark.

Schaefer said he hopes to duplicate his success in the 100 and 200 freestyle, and expects a showdown with Cottage Grove senior Zachary Taylor in the 100, in which Schaefer is the top seed. At the Echo Hollow meet earlier this season, Taylor “barely touched me out at the wall,” he said.

His 200 times have been all over the spectrum, ranging from 1:51 at districts to 1:58 and 1:59, he said.

“Pretty much in the 200 free it will depend how rested I am,” he said.

Sanders has been pushing Schaefer all season and is seeded fifth in the 100 free and that’s motivating him too, Schaefer said.

“Brinden’s been trying to bully me in the 100 free,” he said. “It’s good for the team that we have that personal thing. ”

On the girls side, veterans Sarah Rosa and Justine Calhoon are back for their fourth trip to state.

Rosa said she’s been working hard in her specialties, the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly.

In the latter event, she’s seeded fifth, right behind Courtney Nelson of Phoenix and Victoria Weiler of Marist, who are less than a second ahead of her.

“I had my best time ever in districts,” she said of her butterfly performance. “I think I’m more ready for it. I’m hoping to drop a least a second and get third. That would be great.”

Calhoon, who said she started the season with a knee injury and has had a hard time getting her conditioning to where it needs to be, is hoping for a breakthrough at Mt. Hood. She’s been four seconds off her best time in the 100 breaststroke and 20 seconds off her 500 freestyle PR.

“I’m hoping to get close to my best times,” she said.

Jayce Calhoon said part of the fun of this season has been that the boys team, which has contributors such as Za Ramsey, Trevur Byers, Sebas Mauer and Rob Callagan, who have moved in from other sports and have only swum a year or two, has developed to the point that it’s a strong threat to win the state title.

“The team has gotten a lot stronger,” he said.

Sanders said he thinks they can take the team trophy.

“This has been my best year,” he said. “We’re hoping to leave with the state title.”

Boys Team Scores

(1) Sweet Home 286 (2) Philomath 209 (3) Central 147 (4) Marist 123 (5) Blanchet 110 (6) Sisters 86 (7) Junction City 84 (8) Stayton 72 (9) Cascade 58 (10) Jefferson 41.

Sweet Home Boys Results

(*State Qualifier-seeding number)

200 Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home “A” (Jayce Calhoon, Michael Simmonds, Jonathan Lemar, Kieran Schaefer) 1:47.2* – 1st seed; (7) Sweet Home “B” (Za Ramsey, Sebas Mauer, Shawn Adams, Trevur Byers) 2:01.1.

200 Freestyle – (1) Kieran Schaefer 1:51.4*-3rd seed; (4) Jonathan Lemar 1:59.0*-11th seed; (5) Rob Callagan 2:07.0; (8) Shawn Adams 2:11.9.

200 Intermediate Medley – (3) Michael Simmonds 2:14.8*-6th seed; (5) David Worthen 2:33.9.

50 Freestyle – (1) Brinden Sanders 23.4* -4th seed.

100 Butterfly – No Sweet Home Entrants.

100 Freestyle – (1) Kieran Schaefer 49.8*-1st seed; (2) Brinden Sanders 51.6*-5th seed; (4) Jonathan Lemar 23.9; (12) Za Ramsey 59.9.

500 Freestyle – (1) Jayce Calhoon 4:58.2*-1st seed; (2) Michael Simmonds 5:20.8*-6th seed; (5) Rob Callagan 5:55.8; (7) Shawn Adams 6:07.5; (8) David Worthen 6:10.3.

200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home “A” (Brinden Sanders, Sebas Mauer, Jonathan Lemar, Kieran Schaefer) 1:36.5*-2nd seed; (7) Sweet Home “B” (Za Ramsey, David Worthen, Trevur Byers, Rob Callagan) 1:44.3.

100 Backstroke – (1) Jayce Calhoon 55.2*-1st seed.

100 Breaststroke – (7) Sebas Mauer 1:15.1.

400 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home “A” (Brinden Sanders, Michael Simmonds, Rob Callagan, Jayce Calhoon) 3:35.9*-3rd seed; (6) Sweet Home “B” (Za Ramsey, David Worthen, Trevur Byers, Shawn Adams) 3:59.6.

Girls Team Scores

(1) Marist 194 (2) Cascade 191 (3) Sweet Home 163 (4) Sisters 148 (5) Philomath 132 (6) Blanchet (7) Stayton 122 (8) Junction City 75 (9) Central 46.

Sweet Home Girls Results

(*State Qualifier-seeding number)

200 Medley Relay – (3) Sweet Home “A” (Laura Gourley, Justine Calhoon, Sarah Rosa, Sami Webb) 2:04.9* – 7th seed; (10) Sweet Home “B” (Norajean Lemar, Tee Whaley, Nichole Simmonds, Michelle Buhn) 2:26.6.

200 Freestyle – (9) Nichole Simmonds 2:27.7; (10) Laura Gourley 2:28.6.

200 Intermediate Medley – (3) Sami Webb 2:34.6* – 11th seed.

50 Freestyle – (10) Faith Helfrich 28.8.

100 Butterfly – (2) Sarah Rosa 1:05.7* – 5th seed.

100 Freestyle – (6) Faith Helfrich 1:03.0.

500 Freestyle – (3) Justine Calhoon 6:03.1*-7th seed; (4) Sami Webb 6:03.3* -eighth seed; (8) Nichole Simmonds 6:25.2.

200 Freestyle Relay – (7) Sweet Home (Michelle Buhn, Tiffany Traeger, Laura Gourley, Faith Helfrich) 2:00.5.

100 Backstroke – (4) Sarah Rosa 1:07.9* – 9th seed; (6) Laura Gourley 1:14.3.

100 Breaststroke – (5) Justine Calhoon 1:17.3.

400 Freestyle Relay – (4) Sweet Home “A” (Faith Helfrich, Sami Webb, Justine Calhoon, Sarah Rosa) 4:13.2* -12th seed; (9) Sweet Home “B” (Nichole Simmonds, Tiffany Traeger, Michelle Buhn, Norajean Lemar) 4:45.7.

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