Coach Doug Peargin is not one for pomp and circumstance, and Sweet Home swim team awards desserts usually last no longer than necessary.
But Peargin celebrated what clearly was one of his favorite seasons in recent memory last week, waxing eloquent for an hour and a half as he recognized the athletes that took Sweet Home to its first-ever year of trophying on both the boys and girls sides.
“There couldn’t be anything any better for the whole team this year,” he said after recounting in detail how the Huskies posted personal bests in all but one of their races at state, the girls missing a champion by half a point and the boys finishing third.
The girls team of Jessica Coats, Makayla Nelson, Lauren Yon and Lucie Davis set state and school records in the 200 and 400 Freestyle Relays and Davis did the same in the 500 freestyle. Yon also won the 100 freestyle at state, swimming 54.1, to break Rachel Ahola’s school record of 55.0.
“We had an awful lot of big swims, an awful lot who swam their hearts out this year,” he said of his team, noting that it wasn’t just the top performers who posted consistent improvement all year long, culminating in runaway district titles for both the boys and the girls.
Outstanding swimmers for the girls were Jessica Coats, Lucie Davis, Makayla Nelson and Lauren Yon, the members of the 200 and 400 Freestyle Relay teams who set school records in winning state championships in both events. Davis, who also won the 200 and 500 Freestyle individual titles, was named the female Swimmer of the Meet by the OSAA.
Outstanding boys were Brandon Vasfaret, Nathan Hager and Jaeger Howatt, who along with freshman Rawlins Lupoli won the state 400 Freestyle Relay championship in an upset.
“I can’t say enough about these kids,” Peargin said.
Lupoli and his twin brother Rowland were named Underclassmen of the Year for the boys, while freshman Mia Davis received the award for the girls.
Peargin said all three held their own against older competition, particularly the Lupolis.
“When the going got tough, they got tough,” he said.
Juniors Esther Gunselman and Kendra Vorce received Perfect Attendance Awards.
This year’s lone four-year letter winner was Ryan Yon, who swam the last part of the season with a rotator cuff injury, taking him out of his strongest events, the distance freestyles. Despite that, Peargin said, he placed in four events at the district meet.
Third-year letters went to Nelson, Gunselman, Natasha Benson, Megan Oberg, Livvie Hindmarsh, Sara Helfrich – all juniors, and, on the boys side, junior Grant Jones and seniors Howatt and Tanner Goble.
Second-year letters went to sophomores Hager, Vasfaret and Sean Wolthuis, and junior Adam Barber on the boys side. Girls receiving their second letters were Coats and Lucie Davis, Kristin Adams, Maddee Hawken and Elea Hewitt.
First-year letter winners for the girls were freshmen Mia Davis, Lauren Yon and Milah Weld, senior Sierrah Owen, and Vorce, a junior who transferred in early in the season from Colorado. Boys receiving first-year letters were freshmen Rawlins and Rowland Lupoli, sophomores Wesley Parker and Logan Howatt, and senior Jun Kaneyama, an exchange student from Japan.
Junior varsity certificates went to Loka Eksa, Kendyl Stutzman, Carolann Ross, Hope Fears, Jacob Harden and Nick Tolman.
Peargin said the Huskies are losing five seniors, of whom Jaeger Howatt was the only one to make it to state, meaning that he expects his state swimmers back next year. But he isn’t expecting a let-up from the competition.
“North Bend lost one girl,” he noted. “But they placed one more than we did at state.”