Scott Swanson
Sweet Home’s girls won their sixth straight 4A/3A/2A/1A District 3 swimming title Friday in a weather-shortened meet that was trimmed from two days to one.
Due to predictions of ice and snow, coaches and meet officials decided Friday morning, Feb. 8, to eliminate the traditional second-day finals, in which the top 12 finishers in each event on Friday compete for final places on Saturday. Instead, organizers decided to simply go by times posted in the preliminaries to determine place-winners.
It didn’t make much difference for the Huskies, though. The girls finished ahead of Salem Academy, 257 to 195. Marist was third with 168 points, with Sisters fourth (155) and Philomath fifth (131).
The boys were seventh, with 92 points, as Salem Academy outpaced Philomath 203-195 for the team title.
Together, six individuals and three relay teams qualified for state.
“We pulled a few more points in this meet for the girls than I thought we were going to,” Coach Doug Peargin said. “The guys swam real well. We’re just so young, we don’t have many people. I’ve got more freshmen on the team than sophomores, juniors and seniors combined. We’ve got a lot of kids with no background (in swimming).
“I’m happy with them. Almost everyone who came here placed in something for us. I don’t think we could have placed any higher.”
He said that his young team members are “fighters” and he plans to work on their technique next year, particularly with the young boys team.
“We need to strengthen them up a little bit.”
Senior Brad Wolthuis had a good day, though he wasn’t convinced his third-place finish in the 50 was good enough to get him into state – the champions in each event from the four district meets around the state automatically qualify and the next fastest eight times from the district meets make up the state qualification list.
As it turned out, he qualified in both the 50 and the 100 Freestyle, the latter as the last man in.
Wolthuis took the 4×100 relay team from third to second in their heat by blowing by one opponent – in a personal-best 51.9 leg, and he knocked his individual 100 Freestyle time down by a second to 52.91, good for fifth.
“I knew we were behind,” he said of the relay, in which the Huskies got seventh from the second-fastest heat. “I knew from the beginning it was going to be up to me to catch up. I just ran all out and hoped for the best.”
Both he and fellow senior veteran Dakota Seward said they were pleased with the boys’ progress this year.
“I’d say our season went pretty good, considering the fact that we didn’t have a lot of depth,” Wolthuis said. “But we had a few new swimmers who stepped out, specifically (sophomore) Chase Lopez, who went from no learning in swimming and he’s swimming 27’s (in the 50 Freestyle). He really stepped up.
“We have a lot of new people. I felt that they really stepped up and pulled through and got us where we did get.”
Seward said he expected “a lot worse” coming into his final season.
“We had a bunch of new swimmers who came up big and did a lot better than I thought they would. I think it was kind of cool to see a lot of new swimmers get a lot better.”
The Huskies have five individual girls qualifiers for state in six events, in addition to all three relays, as well as all three of the girls relay teams.
The only individual district champion for the girls was freshman Mahlia Hewitt, who won both the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Breaststroke, though the Huskies had swimmers in the top three in most of the other individual girls events.
Junior Megan Hager, who was a double individual district champion both of the last two years, finished second to Marist junior Lauren Barry, last year’s 5A champion in the 50 and 100 Freestyles, who won the 50 in 24.90 to Hager’s 25.03, and the 100 in 54.22 to Hager’s 54.75.
Hager said afterward the sudden change in schedule threw her off a bit, noting that her 100 time was about three seconds slower than what she’s swum earlier this year.
“Today was a little weird because we had the snow day for tomorrow,” she said. “I admit, I was not quite mentally prepared to swim finals today, but that’s what we ended up doing. I think, granted the situation and the new competition here, I think I had a fairly good race. There’s definite room for improvement. Hopefully, I will be on my best times or faster at state.”
Senior Sarah Hewitt, the most experienced swimmer on the girls side, said she wasn’t surprised the Huskies won, but she was still “really grateful that we did, happy that I get to share my senior year with a championship.
“As a team, I knew we were really strong on the girls side, coming in. We had some really great freshmen girls coming in – Malia (Hewitt), Chloe (Tyler) and Jamie (Seward). We have a really great relay, so I was really optimistic about that.”
The 4A/3A/2A/1A state championships will begin this Friday, Feb. 15, at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton, due to construction under way at Mt. Hood Community College, where the state meet is usually held. Preliminaries start at 9 a.m. Friday, with finals at 8 a.m. Saturday.
“Haven’t swam there in a long time,” said Hager. “I’m hoping I can just go there and compete and can just have some good races and some good times to show for that.”
Hewitt said she was looking forward to being able to wind up her high school career at state with a new wave of talented freshmen, one her younger sister.
“I just want to do the best I can,” she said. “I don’t really care about the place. It’s not so much about my place as about the team. I’m just really excited, going in with these girls. I’ve been really close with them. We’ve grown up together, so it’s really heart-felt. I feel really proud of them.”
Peargin said his top swimmers were “a little tired” at the district meet and he expects to see them step up at state after a week of further tapering.
Going into Friday’s preliminaries, Wolthuis is seeded eighth in the 50 Freestyle and 12th in the 100 Freestyle.
Hager is seeded third in the 100 Freestyle and fourth in the 50 Freestyle.
Malia Hewitt is seeded fourth in the 200 Individual Medley and third in the 100 Breaststroke.
Tyler is seeded third in the 200 Freestyle and ninth in the 100 Freestyle.
Seward is seeded fourth in the 100 Backstroke.
Sarah Hewitt is seeded fifth in the 200 Freestyle.
The girls are seeded second in the 200 Medley Relay, third in the 200 Freestyle Relay and second in the 400 Freestyle Relay.
“Next week we’re going to race,” Peargin said. “We’ll rest up a little bit and be a little better off for that state meet. They still swam real well (at district) and we’ll get there. I’m happy with our performance. It’s a tough thing, conference, especially when you’ve got private schools that can recruit and do recruit.”
4A/3A/2A/1A District 3 Championships
Girls Results
Top Three and Sweet Home Finishers
*State Qualifier
Team Results – (1) Sweet Home 257; (2) Salem Academy 195; (3) Marist Catholic 168; (4) Sisters 144; (5) Philomath 131; (6) Stayton 107; (7) Blanchet Catholic 98; (8) Cascade 92; (9) Junction City 48; (10) North Marion 26; (11) Kennedy 6.
200 Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Jamie Seward, Malia Hewitt, Megan Hager, Ella Parer) 1:56.65; (2) Marist 1:59.92; (3) Salem Academy 1:59.08; (4) Philomath 2:03.43; (5) Blanchett 2:07.16; (6) Cascade 2:10.38; (7) Stayton 2:11.68; (8) Junction City 2:22.56; (9) Philomath “B” 2:23.62; (10) North Marion 2:24.39; (11) Sweet Home “B” (Maren Weld, Bailey Womack, Katrina Reynolds. Meagan Baham) 2:24.64; (12) Blanchet “B” 2:33.91; (13) Marist “B” 2:36.70.
200 Freestyle – (1) Lydia Bartlett (Sisters) 1:58.89; (2) Chloe Tyler (SH) 2:00.58; (3) Sarah Hewitt (SH) 2:06.09; (10) Torree Hawken (SH) 2:22.96; (16) Brook Womack (SH) 2:36.57; (17) Lauren Taber (SH) 2:36.59; (20) Olivia Martineau (SH) 2:42.13.
200 Individual Medley – (1) Malia Hewitt (SH) 2:17.08; (2) Brylee Syverson (Cascade) 2:18.12; (3) Sarah Kenyon (Salem Academy) 2:26.99; (9) Isabel Sayer (SH) 2:41.80; (12) Ella Parker (SH) 2:45.91; (15) Isabel Rodriguez (SH) 2:55.27; (16) Bailey Womack (SH) 3:00.93.
50 Freestyle – (1) Lauren Barry (Marist) 24:90; (2) Megan Hager (SH) 25.03; (3) Maggie Ross (Philomath) 26.39; (12) Moira Curtis (SH) 29.48; (15) Katrina Reynolds (SH) 30.17; (16) Meagan Baham (SH) 31.55; (47) Tearanie Kauffman (SH) 40.72.
100 Butterfly – (1) Meredith Mandal (Sisters) 1:03.52; (2) Trinity Pierce (Salem Academy) 1:04.04; (3) Megan Mak (Stayton) 1:05.75; (12) Katrina Reynolds (SH) 1:2221; (14) Maren Weld (SH) 1:27.54; (17) Annaleea Shuttlesworth (SH) 1:32.36; (19) Meagan Baham (SH) 1:41.04.
100 Freestyle – (1) Lauren Barry (Marist) 54.22; (2) Megan Hager (SH) 54.75; (3) Chloe Tyler (SH) 56.72; (4) Jamie Seward (SH) 57.49; (14) Moira Curtis (SH) 1:05.98; (46) Tearanie Kauffman (SH) 1:37.73.
500 Freestyle – (1) Eulena Banzer (Salem Academy) 5:15.21; (2) Lydia Bartlett (Sisters) 5:15.24; (3) Kylie Mannix (Stayton) 5:36.90; (6) Isabel Sayer (SH) 6:21.02; (11) Lauren Taber (SH) 7:02.21; (12) Brook Womack 7:11.74; (16) Olivia Martineau (SH) 7:31.24;
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home “A” (Chloe Tyler, Torree Hawken, Sarah Hewitt, Megan Hager) 1:45.59; (2) Sisters 1:46.50; (3) Salem Academy 1:50.50; (4) Philomath 1:51.03; (5) Cascade 1:53.54; (6) Marist 1:56.98; (7) Sweet Home “B” (Isabel Rodriguez, Ella Parker, Katrina Reynolds, Moira Curtis) 1:58.40; (8) Salem Academy “B” 2:02.92; (9) Blanchet 2:02.97; (10) Junction City 2:05.86; (11) North Marion 2:11.82; (12) Kennedy 2:17.00; (13) Philomath “B” 2:18.42; (14) Blanchet “B” 2:18.41; (15) Marist 2:26.81; (16) Kennedy “B” 2:41.45; (17) Sisters “B” 2:54.48.
100 Backstroke – (1) Eulena Benzer (Salem Academy) 1:01.11; (2) Jamie Seward (SH) 1:02.30; (3) Aubrie Ellison (Marist) 1:03.72; (4) Sarah Hewitt (SH) 1:04.82; (14) Isabel Rodriguez (SH) 1:23.23; (15) Bailey Womack (SH) 1:23.78; (17) Maren Weld (SH) 1:24.28; (19) Annaleea Shuttlesworth (SH) 1:25.64.
100 Breaststroke – (1) Malia Hewitt (SH) 1:09.72; (2) Amity Coon (Philomath) 1:11.71; (3) Brylee Syverson (Cascade) 1:12.10; (8) Torree Hawken (SH) 1:23.65;
400 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sweet Home “A” (Chloe Tyler, Jamie Seward, Sarah Hewitt, Malia Hewitt) 3:49.57; (2) Salem Academy 3:52.49; (3) Sisters 3:55.03; (4) Marist 3:55.13; (5) Stayton 4:03.74; (6) Blanchet 4:08.89; (7) Sweet Home “B” (Isabel Rodriguez, Torree Hawken, Isabel Sayer, Moira Curtis) 4:44.68; (9) North Marion 4:45.45; (10) Salem Academy “B” 4:52.56; (11) Blanchet “B” 4:53.94; (12) Junction City 5:03.90; (13) Philomath “B” 5:19.12; (14) North Marion “B” 5:21.66; (15) Sisters “B” 5:28.42.
Boys Results
Top Three and Sweet Home Finishers
*State Qualifier
Team Scores – (1) Salem Academy 203; (2) Philomath 195; (3) North Marion 173; (4) Marist Catholic 168; (5) Blanchet Catholic 163; (6) Stayton 114; (7) Sweet Home 92; (8) Sisters 58; (9) Cascade 39; (10) Kennedy 35; (110 Junction City 26.
200 Medley Relay – (1) Salem Academy 1:46.02; (2) Philomath 1:49.77; (3) Marist 1:53.21; (4) Blanchet 1:53.60; (5) Northt Marion 1:56.94; (5) Sweet Home “A” (Dakota Seward, Bill Hawken, Brad Wolthuis, Hunter Calderwood) 2:01.62; (7) Stayton 2:02.33; (8) Sisters 2:03.49; (9) Salem Academy “B” 2:05.20; (10) Cascade 2:08.17; (11) Philomath “B” 2:19.98; (12) North Marion “B” 2.26.33; (13) Blanchet “B” 2:27.17; (14) Marist “B” 2:28.05.
200 Freestyle – (1) James Dye (Philomath) 1:54.43; (2) Jacob Miller (Kennedy) 1:58.74; (3) Tanner Fixsen (Stayton) 2:01.46; (10) Micah Wright (SH) 2:28.83; (6) Bill Hawken (SH) 2:33.18; (21) Dakota Melkvik (SH) 2:52.45.
200 Individual Medley – (1) Paul Hegney (Blanchet) 2:14.00; (2) Lucas Toth (North Marion) 2:15.03; (3) TJ Lee (Salem Academy) 2:26.76; No Sweet Home finishers.
50 Freestyle – (1) Chris Allender (Marist) 22.83; (2) Tristan Pindell (Philomath) 23.58; (3) Brad Wolthuis (SH) 23.66; (26) Chase Lopez (SH) 29.27; (27) Seth Gaylord (SH) 29.45.
100 Butterfly – (1) Elijah Leutwyler (Salem Academy) 57.23; (2) Miguel Gonzalez (Blanchet) 1:01.25; (3) Josh Ptacek (Stayton) 1:02.80; No Sweet Home Finishers.
100 Freestyle – (1) Caleb Warde (Salem Academy) 49.04; (2) James Dye (Philomath) 50.34; (3) Chris Allender (Marist) 50.89; (5) Brad Wolthuis (SH) 52.91; (12) Dakota Seward (SH) 58.67; (32) Chase Lopez (SH) 1:10.59; (41) Seth Gaylord (SH) 1:14.72; (44) Dakota Melkvik (SH) 1:16.15.
500 Freestyle – (1) Jacob Miller (Kennedy) 5:19.59; (2) Tanner Fixsen (Stayton) 5:25.34; (3) Trent McQuaid (Marist) 5:34.90; (6) Hunter Calderwood (SH) 5:56.56; (11) Micah Wright (SH) 6:55.85;
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Salem Academy 1:35.41; (2) North Marion 1:38.26; (3) Philomath 1:39.54; (4) Cascade 1:45.38; (5) Sisters 1:45.84; (6) Blanchet 1:50.04; (7) Marist 1:50.11; (8) Salem Academy “B” 1:50.71; (9) Philomath “B” 1:52.56; (10) North Marion “B” 1:57.39; (11) Stayton 1:58.64; (12) Sweet Home (Chase Lopez, Jacob Kennedy, Bill Hawken, Seth Gaylord) 1:59.61; (13) Kennedy 2:01.81; (14) Marist “B” 2:07.28; (15) Sisters “B” 2:18.34.
100 Backstroke – (1) Austyn Shelton (Salem Academy) 58.38; (2) Eli McLennan (Philomath) 1:05.92; (3) Dakota Seward (SH) 1:09.62; (10) Jacob Kennedy (SH) 1:18.80.
100 Breaststroke – (1) Tristan Pindell (Philomath) 1:05.72; (2) Reece Alexander (Junction City) 1:07.71; (3) Paul Hegney (Blanchet) 1:09.35; No Sweet Home Finishers.
400 Freestyle Relay – (1) Salem Academy 3:31.34; (2) North Marion 3:39.81; (3) Marist 3:42.67; (4) Blanchet 3:47.52; (5) Stayton 5:53.96; (6) Philomath 3:59.44; (7) Sweet Home (Dakota Seward, Micah Wright, Hunter Calderwood, Brad Wolthuis) 4:00.30; (9) Sisters 4:02.76; (10) Salem Academy “B”
4:17.17; (11) Marist “B” 4:17.35; (12) Blanchet “B” 4:27.77; (13) North Marion “B” 4:29.59; (14) Sweet Home “B” (Chase Lopez, Jacob Kennedy, Dakota Melkvik, Seth Gaylord) 4:5427.
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