By Satina Tolman
For The New Era
The Sweet Home Huskies earned a series of first-place finishes Friday, Jan. 17, but roster depth proved decisive at a four-team home swim meet.
Sweet Home competed against Cascade, Riverside and Kennedy, with Cascade claiming the overall team victory. Both the Huskies’ boys and girls teams finished second, as did the combined team score.
Cascade entered the meet with 27 swimmers, allowing it to accumulate points across more heats and events, while Sweet Home competed with just 15 athletes — five girls and 10 boys – underscoring the importance of roster size in swim scoring.
Despite the numbers, Sweet Home turned in strong performances throughout the meet, led by seniors and team captains Kylie Melkvik and Andrew Tolman.
The pair completed the “Husky Mile,” a new Sweet Home tradition now in its second year, in which seniors swim every event in the meet.
Tolman swam all 11 boys’ events, finishing in 19 minutes, 36.13 seconds, while Melkvik completed all 11 girls’ events in 22:26.10.
Only select events counted toward team scoring, but the challenge served as a defining moment of the meet.
Head coach A. Jay Bronson said the Husky Mile is designed to push athletes beyond perceived limits.
“It’s a great right of passage and a good testament to what they can accomplish if they put their minds to it. While it is a physical challenge, more so than that, it’s mental,” Bronson said. “I did something similar to this in high school, as my coach was trying to get me to realize to push myself a little harder and not hold back.”
Bronson introduced the tradition last season as part of a broader effort to build program identity.
“Last year, I wanted to establish new traditions for this storied program, and the kids seem to like it,” he said.
Melkvik said the challenge was less daunting than she expected.
“It was a lot better than I thought it would be,” she said. “I thought I’d be a lot more tired, but it was good.”
Sweet Home tradition of swimming the “Husky Mile” by com-
pleting every event in Friday’s swim meet.
Tolman said the meet grew easier as it progressed.
“The harder events were in the first half of the meet, like the 200 free, the 200 IM and the 100 fly,” he said. “Once we got to the easier events, it got more fun.”
Tolman also compared the Husky Mile to the team’s 24-hour relay held Dec. 27.
“It was way easier than the 24-hour relay,” he said. “I swam 24,000 yards in that — 3,000 yards every three hours — compared to just about a mile in this meet.”
Sweet Home opened the meet with strong relay performances.
The girls 200-yard medley relay team of junior Kylie Rundell, Melkvik, junior Ella Haggas and sophomore Emma Whitton placed second in 2:24.99. The boys 200 medley relay team of junior Henry Jones, Tolman, junior Grayson Savri and junior Austyn Hogan won first in 2:00.47.
Rundell followed with a win in the girls 200 freestyle in 2:21.72. In the boys 200 freestyle, Savri won in 2:03.72, while freshman Marshall Van Dijk placed third in 2:38.58.
Melkvik earned first place in the girls 200 individual medley in 2:54.68, with freshman Persephone Brookfield taking second in 3:12.60. Tolman was the only swimmer in the boys 200 IM, finishing in 2:28.86.
Hogan won the boys 50 freestyle in 25.18, while sophomore Malakai Walls posted a personal record by breaking 30 seconds. Jones claimed first in the boys 100 butterfly in 1:08.26, and Hogan added another win in the boys 100 freestyle in 54.87.
Whitton won the girls 500 freestyle in 6:51.03, and Savri earned a personal-record victory in the boys 500 in 5:39.88.
The Huskies closed the meet with dominant relay swims. The girls 400 freestyle relay of Persephone Brookfield, Rundell, Haggas and Whitton won first in 4:42.36. The boys A relay of Savri, Hogan, junior Ethan Hernandez and Jones followed with a victory in 4:23.15.
In the final race of the day, Melkvik and Tolman split from the boys relay to swim together in an exhibition 400 freestyle relay. Though the swim did not count toward team scoring, the pair placed second in 4:34.96, closing the meet side by side.
Bronson said he hopes the Husky Mile continues to shape the program’s culture.
“The hope is that the rest of the team can see what Kylie and Andrew were able to do and be excited,” he said. “If not a little scared when it’s their turn their senior year.”
As the season continues, the meet reflected both the Huskies’ competitive potential and the importance of depth — a balance Bronson believes the program is close to mastering.
“I want them to realize that we are really close as a team competing against others, with the idea and belief that we have a shot at districts for a trophy,” he said.
