Kieran Schaefer of the Sweet Home Swim Club swam long course lifetime personal bests in the 100 and 200 freestyle at Mt. Hood Community College during the 2009 Speedo Western Section Long Course Championships July 21-25.
Swimmers from 16 states competed in the meet.
Shaefer’s time of 56.35 in the 100 placed him 76th over all and his time of 2:07.01 in the 200 places him 80th over all.
“I am better in short course than long course but I am happy with best times.” Schaefer said.
Teammate Jayce Calhoon placed 42nd in the 400 Intermediate Medley, clocking 4:58.30.
Calhoon is preparing for the United States Junior National meet Aug. 10-14 in Federal Way, Wash.
Three Sweet Home swimmers posted personal bests at the Oregon Swimming Long Course 11 and Over state championships held July 30-Aug. 2, also at Mt. Hood.
Naomi Gunselman was 14th in the 200-eter IM, in 2:45.25; seventh in the 100-meter backstroke (1:!3.72); ninth in the 200 backstroke (2:43.08); ninth in the 400 IM (5:48.77) and seventh in the 200 butterfly (2:44.48).
Gunselman made finals in two of her six individuals offering her a second swim and she was able to drop time and place higher in each event, Coach Junia Calhoon said.
Zachary Pearce was 10th in the 800-meter freestyle (9:21.68); 39th in the 100 butterfly (1:06.44) and 17th in the 400 freestyle (4:30.40).
Pearce dropped 26 seconds in the 800 freestyle, placing him within nine seconds of his Senior Sectional qualifying time, Calhoon said.
Michael Simmonds was 43rd in the 200-meter IM (2:33.77); 28th in the 400 freestyle (4:44.17); and 11th in the 1500 freestyle (18:52.90).
Gabriel Gunselman qualified for the state championship meet in the 200 meter butterfly but could not participate because he had to undergo an emergency appendectomy.
“It was a great finish for these athletes,” Calhoon said. “We have the USA Junior National meet and our end of the season Bend invitational left.” Sweet Home Swim Club will take the last of August off and then be back in the pool for short course season Sept. 8.
* * * * *
Brandon Courteau and Cory Martin of Sweet Home traveled with the 18 -and-under boys team from Willamette Valley Water Polo club to Stanford University for the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics July 25-27..
Both the boys and girls teams from WVWPC qualified for the event, the largest water polo tournament in the world, with close to 400 teams across all age groups competing.
Willamette lost its opening match to Southern California powerhouse Corona Del Mar 23-3 early Saturday morning, then fell 19-2 a few hours later to American River of Sacramento. on Sunday WVWPC lost to Spartan 14-7 and to Sunset 12-1. On Monday, Willamette fell to Puget Sound 9-4 and to Northern Illinois 11-4.
Other Willamette team members are Eric Hance (captain) of Sprague, Casey Shierling (captain) of South Salem, Mike Meade of Tualatin, Alex Bernardo of Sprague, Kevin Barriga of South Salem, David Glenn of West Albany, Taylor Hanslovan of West Albany, Jakob Sessa of Judson Middle School, Cameron Coupe of Tualatin, Grady Beck of South Salem, Alex Edison of West Salem, Nathan Smith-Tripp of Sprague and Justin of Brown West Albany,
The teams are coached by head coach Steve Sessa and assistant coach Chris Edison.
For information about the club: http://www.wvwp.org
For information about Junior Olympics: http://www.usawaterpolo.org/press/2009JuniorOlympics.aspx