Scott Swanson
Tears were flowing Saturday afternoon at the District 3 Swimming Championships at the Albany Aquatic Center, but they were tears of joy for Sweet Home.
Defying the pre-meet odds, especially for the girls, the Huskies won both the boys and girls titles, squeaking by Philomath 288-286 on the boys side and 199-193 on the girls.
The Huskies had two relay teams on both the boys and girls teams, and four girls qualify for state in six events. The boys qualified five swimmers in eight events.
“I’ve been coaching for a long time and I’ve never had a team step up like you did today,” an emotional Coach Doug Peargin told his swimmers on the bus on the way home.
Peargin, who in his 36th year of coaching at Sweet Home, said he couldn’t recall the last time both teams won in the same district meet.
The Huskies made a statement in the opening race of the finals, when the girls 200 medley relay team slipped by second-seeded Philomath to take second. That was the story of the day as, right and left, Sweet Home swimmers scrapped their way to extra points, many of them in the consolation finals where it was a point here, a point there.
It was a total team effort, Peargin said, noting that every boy scored and all but two girls placed for Sweet Home.
“When you consider the people we had graduate last year and the guys we had this year, this is one of the bigger wins in the last 20 years,” Peargin said, referring primarily to the departures of Jayce Calhoon (now swimming at Wyoming), Kieran Schaefer (University of Seattle), Michael Simmonds (Pacific University) and Dakotah Keys (now a decathlete at the University of Oregon), who provided the team with considerable firepower on their way to district and state titles in 2010.
Although the boys beat all the district teams in dual meet competition, they were looking at the Warriors right behind in their rear-view mirrors all season – and for good reason.
“In all our other meets we beat Philomath by less than 10,” junior Gravy Gunselman said. “Last year we expected to win.”
He and others said this year they thought Philomath might just touch the wall ahead of them in the team race.
Senior Derek Jaques said the difference this year was evident in the two-point winning margin.
“I think in past years, when we had awesome swimmers it wasn’t as much of a thrill to win districts,” he said. “This was pretty intense.”
Stayton placed third in the girls competition with 186 points, followed by Sisters in fourth, with 139 points.
Both had beaten Sweet Home earlier this season in dual meets and “Philomath gave us all we could handle,” Peargin said.
But coming into the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, Philomath led 175-167 and the Huskies had their opportunity as the fastest team in the league throughout the season in that event. Webb anchored the team of Simmonds, Naomi Gunselman and Swanson to the win in their fastest time of the year, 4:02.37, while the Warriors were sixth, giving Sweet Home its winning margin.
Central placed third in the boys scoring with 184 points, followed by fourth-place Sisters with 110.
The Huskies won six individual district titles, three on each side: Zach Pearce in the 200 Individual Medley (2:02.20) and the 500 Freestyle (4:48.93); Gravy Gunselman in the 100 Backstroke (58.98); Naomi Gunselman in the 100 Butterfly (1:01.12) and the 100 Backstroke (1:03.78); and Sami Webb in the 500 Freestyle (5:45.23). The boys 200 Freestyle Relay team beat Philomath by half a second and the girls 400 Freestyle Relay continued their domination in that event, winning by four seconds in 4:02.37 over Sisters.
But it was the cross-country-style “packing” that really paid off for Sweet Home. Kimber Swanson and Niccole Simmonds placed third and fourth in the 200 Freestyle; Don Rockstead (second), Victor Stupin, (fifth) Brandon Courteau (sixth), Bryce Roberts (eighth) and Sten Weld (10th) made up five of the 11 scorers in the boys 200 Freestyle; Emily Thompson, Cheryl Wilson and Emily Claborn were seventh, eighth and ninth in the girls 200 IM behind Webb’s second-place finish; Jaques and Jake Johnson were sixth and seventh in the boys 200 IM; Gravy Gunselman was second in the 100 Butterfly, followed by Brandon Courteau in fourth, Zane Jackson in eighth and Josh Liskey in ninth; Alex Stupin and Don Rockstead were third and fourth in the 100 Freestyle; Simmonds was fourth in the 500 Freestyle, followed by Thompson in seventh, Katie Turner in ninth and Wilson in 10th – for a total of 41 points in that race; and the same was true in the boys 500 Freestyle, as Victor Stupin was fourth, Sten Weld eighth, Liskey 10th and Zac Pratt 11th, for a total of 37 points, counting Pearce’s win. Swanson also posted an upset over two more highly seeded swimmers to place second – by a tenth of a second – in the 100 Freestyle and the boys scored 48 points in the 200 Medley Relay by placing teams in second and fourth.
Peargin said he believes the Huskies’ success in the two-day meet was a result of their demanding training regimen.
“The biggest thing, I think, that helped us in that meet was the kids’ conditioning,” he said. “We didn’t falter on the second day. We really beat people in distance. It was a great, great win.”
Webb, one of the senior leaders of the girls team, said the difference this year was focus.
“I think everybody focused and realized that this was districts and it was time to go all out,” she said.
Simmonds and Wilson said they were concerned that the Huskies had no girls in the 100 Breaststroke and only Gunselman in the 100 Backstroke.
“I was expecting to get second or third this year,” Wilson said. “When they called the other team’s name (for second place), I couldn’t believe it.”
“It’s really exciting,” said Simmonds, who had shoulder surgery in early December and didn’t compete until mid-January. “I wish I could have done better but I’m excited.”
She was one of the four girls who qualified for state, however, squeaking in to the 500 freestyle as the final qualifier. The other girls qualifiers and their seeds are Naomi Gunselman in the 100 backstroke (first) and 100 butterfly (second), Webb in the 500 freestyle (first) and the 200 IM (third); Kimber Swanson in the 200 freestyle (12th); the 200 medley relay team (sixth) and the 400 freestyle relay team (third).
On the boys side, qualifiers are Zac Pearce in the 200 IM (first) and the 500 freestyle (second); Gravy Gunselman in the 100 backstroke (third) and the 100 butterfly (fifth); Don Rockstead in the 100 freestyle ((11th) and the 200 freestyle (10th),; Derek Jaques in the 100 breaststroke (10th) and Alex Stupin in the 100 freestyle (10th). The 200 medley relay team (third) and 200 freestyle relay team (second) also qualified.
State prelims begin at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, at Mt. Hood Community College Aquatic Center in Gresham. Finals start at 7:15 p.m. Saturday.
Peargin said the Huskies can score at state as long as they stay focused, although they won’t have the horses they had last year when the boys won their second straight state title.
“We’ve got a chance to pull some hardware up there,” he said. “There’s an opportunity here for them to get another big swim. Right now they just need to keep their head in the game because it’s really, really hard. Our district is a tough district. But this is state. All those (district) times did was allow them to get a lane in this meet. They need to go in there and compete hard.”
Girls District 3 Championships Results
Top three, Sweet Home scorers, and top relay finishers
*State Qualifier
Team Scores: 1. Sweet Home 199, 2. Philomath 193, 3. Stayton 186, 4. Sisters 139, 5. Cascade 130, 6. Blanchet 121, 7. Junction City 87, 8. Central 74, 9. Jefferson 54.
200 Medley Relay – (1) Sisters 2:03.89; (2) *Sweet Home 2:05.08; (3) *Philomath 2:05.72; (4) Cascade 2:12.73; (5) Junction City 2:15.14; (6) Jefferson 2:20.49.
200 Freestyle – (1) Elizabeth Bartholomew (Blanchet) 2:10.82; (2) *Julie Wallace (Stayton) 2:11.61; (3) *Kimber Swanson (SH) 2:16.36; (4) Niccole Simmonds (SH) 2:19.08; (12) Katie Turner (SH) 2:40.68.
200 Individual Medley – (1) Annette Marinello (Philomath) 2:18.10; (2) *Sami Webb (SH) 2:23.99; (3) *Katie Stewart (Sisters) 2:25.56; (7) Emily Thompson (SH) 2:51.89; (8) Cheryl Wilson (SH) 3:05.40; (9) Emily Claborn (SH) 3:05.42.
50 Freestyle – (1) Alex Romero (Cascade) 27.99; (2) Emma Englehart (Stayton) 28.44; (3) Emily Parker (Junction City) 28.47; (12) Paige Sanders (SH) 31.79.
100 Butterfly – (1) Naomi Gunselman (SH) 1:01.12; (2) *Michelle Young (Sisters) 1:06.26; (3) Janie Naylor (Cascade) 1:17.41.
100 Freestyle – (1) Emma Englehart (Stayton) 1:02.54; (2) Kimber Swanson (SH) 1:02.64; (3) Jessie Wallace (Stayton) 1:03.03.
500 Freestyle – (1) Sami Webb (SH) 5:45.23; (2) *Elizabeth Bartholomew (Blanchet) 5:54.35; (3) *Julie Wallace (Stayton) 6:02.26; (4) *Niccole Simmonds (SH) 6:08.36; (7) Emily Thompson (SH) 6:36.76; (9) Katie Turner (SH) 6:54.87; (10) Cheryl Wilson (SH) 6:56.99.
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) Sisters 1:50.19; (2) *Stayton 1:51.84; (3) *Philomath 1:53.68; (4) *Blanchet 1:54.51; (5) Junction City 1:57.72; (6) Sisters 2:01.10; (11) 2:13.51.
100 Backstroke – (1) Naomi Gunselman (SH) 1:03.78; (2) *Kelsey Nanneman (Blanchet) 1:10.46; (3) Codie Lagao (Sisters) 1:13.23.
100 Breaststroke – (1) *Annette Marinello (Philomath) 58.89; (2) *Chelsea Ham (Philomath) 1:18.36; (3) *Mikayla Gerdes (Junction City) 1:21.77.
400 Freestyle Relay – (1) *Sweet Home 4:02.37; (2) *Sisters 4:06.23; (3) *Stayton 4:08.55; (4) *Blanchet 4:14.50; (5) *Cascade 4:17.87; (6) Philomath 4:33.49; (9) Sweet Home “B” 4:48.23.
Boys District 3 Championships Results
Top three, Sweet Home scorers, and top relay finishers
*State Qualifier
Team Scores: 1. Sweet Home 288, 2. Philomath 286, 3. Central 184, 4. Sisters 110, 5. Blanchet Catholic 90, 6. Junction City 72, 7. Cascade 41, 8. Stayton 40, 9. Jefferson 3.
200 Medley Relay – (1) *Philomath 1:44.81; (2) *Sweet Home “A” 1:45.79; (3) Sisters 1:56.44; (4) Sweet Home “B” 1:58.99; (5) Philomath “B” 1:59.41; (6) Junction City 1:59.57.
200 Freestyle – (1) *Ross Priewe (Philomath) 1:51.50; (2) *Don Rockstead (SH) 1:58.51; (3) Zack McClure 2:05.29; (5) Victor Stupin (SH) 2:12.99; (6) Brandon Courteau (SH) 2:15.21; (8) Bryce Roberts (SH) 2:15.14; (10) Sten Weld (SH) 2:16.02.
200 Individual Medley – (1) *Zac Pearce (SH) 2:02.20; (2) *Tony Vickery (Junction City) 2:06.15; (3) *Chase Celorie (Philomath) 1:12.27; (4) *Adam Jensen ((Philomath) 2:13.57; (6) Derek Jaques (SH) 2:19.94; (7) Jake Johnson (SH) 2:26.36; (11) Elric Benson (SH) 2:44.31.
50 Freestyle – (1) *Taylor Hagel (Philomath) 23.04; (2) *Andrew Hasbrook (Central) 23.40; (3) *Joseph Walker (Junction City) 24.27; (6) Alex Stupin (SH) 25.49.
100 Butterfly – (1) *Taylor Hagel (Philomath) 55.65; (2) *Gravy Gunselman (SH) 56.65; (3) Josh Seekatz (Philomath) 1:02.74; (4) Brandon Courteau (SH) 1:10.27; (8) Zane Jackson (SH) 1:17.64; (9) Josh Liskey (SH) 1:25.96.
100 Freestyle – (1) *Ross Priewe (Philomath) 49.34; (2) *Andrew Hasbrook (Central) 52.57; (3) *Alex Stupin (SH) 53.58; (4) *Don Rockstead (SH) 53.72; (5) Joseph Walker (Junction City) 53.75.
500 Freestyle – (1) *Zac Pearce (SH) 4:48.93; (2) *Chris Strahan (Stayton) 5:38.74; (3) Tyler Berg (Sisters) 5:47.06; (4) Victor Stupin (SH) 6:10.72; (8) Sten Weld (SH) 6:19.27; (10) Josh Liskey (SH) 6:34.74; (11) Zac Pratt (SH) 6:35.91.
200 Freestyle Relay – (1) *Sweet Home 1:33.57; (2) *Philomath 1:34.00; (3) *Central 1:35.17; (4) *Blanchet 1:41.14; (5) Philomath “B” 1:41.72; (6) Sisters 1:42.61.
100 Backstroke – (1) *Gravy Gunselman (SH) 58.89; (2) *Tyler Baldessari (Sisters) 1:00.26; (3) *Josh Seekatz (Philomath) 1:00.77; (4) *Chase Celorie (Philomath) 1:01.08; (5) *Brennan Miller (Sisters 1:04.15; (6) *Jackson Northcutt (Philomath) 1:04.47; (9) Cory Martin (SH) 1:09.42; (12) Bryce Roberts (SH) 1:11.93.
100 Breaststroke – (1) *Tony Vickery (Junction City) 1:01.17; (2) *Adam Jensen (Philomath) 1:05.73; (3) *Robert Berry (Central) 1:06.74; (4) *Derek Jaques (SH) 1:09.35; (8) Cory Martin (SH) 1:15.94.
400 Freestyle Relay – (1) *Central 3:32.67; (2) *Philomath 3:37.27; (3) *Sisters 3:41.03; (4) Sweet Home “A” 3:47.19; (5) Philomath “B” 3:55.16; (6) Central 4:06.11; (9) Sweet Home “B” 4:06.76.