Naomi Gunselman, Victor Stupin and Justin Hilburn were named Upperclassmen of the Year for the Sweet Home swim team at its annual awards banquet Wednesday, Feb. 20.
Underclassmen of the Year awards went to freshmen Esther Gunselman and Makayla Nelson for the girls, and sophomore Jaegar Howatt for the boys.
Perfect Attendance award recipients were Naomi and Esther Gunselman.
Team Captains for the girls, who are chosen based on performance and leadership, were Esther and Naomi Gunselman, and Nelson, both of the latter multiple medal-winners in the state and district meets.
For the boys, Captain’s stars went to Hilburn and Stupin.
The ceremony marked the close of Coach Doug Peargin’s 39th year leading the Sweet Home swim program. Despite the absence of team trophies at the state meet, he said the Huskies had an outstanding year – particularly the boys.
“The guys amazed me,” he said. “We didn’t have a year-round swimmer on the team. And all these other guys (at state) have been swimming since they were 4, 5, 6 years old.
“They took sixth place by the width of a human hair,” he said of the boys’ 200 Freestyle Relay team’s performance at state. “But they took sixth.”
He noted that the boys, on average, cut five seconds off their times between the district preliminary race and the state final.
Peargin urged the swimmers to apply the same dedication they did to their sport to other goals in life.
“Throughout your life, if you do it that way, you will succeed,” he said.
He said the Husky girls had no second- or third-year letter winners this year.
“But we have four-year people.”
Those were Emily Claborn, Paige Sanders, Emily Thompson and Naomi Gunselman. Gunselman, Peargin noted, was the first girl in recent history to medal at state four straight years.
On the boys side, four-year letter winners were Elric Benson, Hilburn and Stupin.
Zane Jackson was a third-year letterman and Ryan Yon was awarded his second-year letter.
First-year winners for the boys were Grant Jones, Hunter Burge and Howatt.
On the girls side, first-year letters went to Sara Helfrich, Esther Gunselman and Nelson.
Junior varsity certificate recipients were Jenny Yoon, Sierrah Owen, Megan Oberg, Livvie Hindmarsh and Natasha Benson.
Peargin said the competition is getting stiffer in Oregon and Sweet Home’s success has been a result of the yards the swimmers have put in.
“You can do all the coaching you want, but if the athlete doesn’t want to do the work, you aren’t going to win,” he said. “I actually know of only one event out of 22 races at state where the swimmers weren’t swimming year-round.”
The Huskies, he said, showed heart throughout the season.
“As the meets got bigger, we got tougher and tougher,” he said, adding that the freshmen and other newcomers to the team stepped up.
“We’ll be tough next year.”