Benny Westcott
Sweet Home’s girls swim team won its 10th straight district title and the boys finished second at the Class 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 4 Championships held Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Albany Community Pool on the South Albany High School campus.
“It was a great meet all the way around,” Sweet Home Head Coach Ajay Bronson said. “Every person that swam this weekend had a best time, and 90% of the kids had a best time again on the second day, which was phenomenal. Teamwise, you can’t be happier than that. We’re a young team, and they were able to come together and accomplish awesome things.”
Two girls claimed a pair of individual titles each. Sophomore Kirsten Sautel won the 100 Freestyle and 100 Breaststroke while freshman Breeza Rodriguez topped the 200 Individual Medley and 100 Backstroke.
Sautel’s 1:10.16 time in the 100 Breaststroke was nearly five seconds better than Sisters’ Ella Bartlett, who took second.
“I was really surprised with the time I got,” said Sautel, who also earned a PR in the event. “It was really cool. I definitely could have gone faster, but I’m definitely going to PR again at state. I was not expecting to go 1:10. But I ended up doing it and I was really excited after.”
Her 56.93 in the 100 Freestyle topped Stayton’s Ashley Rea’s time of 58.78.
“I didn’t go my best time, but I still did pretty well,” Sautel said. “I think I can definitely drop more at state.”
Rodriquez won the 200 Individual Medley by more than four seconds with a time of 2:27.55.
“It was all right,” she said. “I didn’t get the time that I wanted, but it was OK. I really just worked the fly and back since breast isn’t my best stroke, and then I just really brought it home on the free. I was trying to get a 2:25, so it was not what I was hoping for, but it was still a good race.”
She was more pleased with her 100 Backstroke performance, in which her 1:04.31 performance beat teammate Markell’s 1:07.89.
“It was really good,” Rodriquez said. “I was really excited. I’ve been trying to get a 1:03, so hopefully I can get that at state.”
Both will be the girls’ top seeds in state competition. Rodriguez is the 100 Backstroke favorite, while Sautel’s a top seed in the 100 Breaststroke and a second seed in the 200 Medley Relay, behind favorite Catlin Gabel. Their qualifying times have them in the top six – which is scoring territory at state – in both of the other relays.
Additionally, the girls qualified seven swimmers in individual events, in addition to Sautel and Rodriguez: Payton Brookfield in the 100 Butterfly, and Payton Markell and Daisy Lalonde behind Rodriguez in the 100 Backstroke. The girls also won all three relays.
“We had depth, which was great,” Bronson said. “You can’t swim the same person four times in a row. So having the girls being able to split up those responsibilities and really focus on their individual relays – that’s what got us there.”
He expects a deep pool of contenders for the state title.
“This year is different from previous years,” he said. “It’s not two strong teams leading the pack. There’s about five teams – us, Catlin Gable, Newport, La Grande and St. Mary’s – where it’s going to be a tossup. Any way can happen one through five on those. We have a shot. Everybody in those five has a shot to win, depending on how people swim. We’ll do our best and see what we can accomplish. I would love a first place, but after what we lost last year, I’d be happy to trophy.”
On the boys side, RJ Abbott won the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Backstroke, while Blake Arthur was district titlist in the 100 Freestyle after finishing third in the 50 Freestyle. In additional to those qualifiers, the boys won the 200 Freestyle Relay and placed second in the 400 Freestyle Relay to qualify for state, and Arman Marble qualified in both the 200 and 500 freestyles with second-place finishes. The team has no top seeds, but Abbott is seeded in the top six in both of his individual events, as is Marble in the 500 Freestyle.
Talking about his 200 Individual Medley win, in which he beat Philomath’s Carrson Hirte by less than a half-second, Abbot said, “It was a very close race. I’m really proud of coming through with that. Carrson is a really tough competitor. I raced him a couple times earlier this season, and he’s really good. I was expecting to tie my PR and hopefully win it, but I beat my PR.”
He called his 100 Breaststroke win “a super close race. There were two other competitors in there that were really good.”
Arthur dominated the 100 Freestyle event, beating his nearest competitor, Marist’s Zac Hagengruber, by nearly three seconds.
“It was a very fun race,” he said. “I really enjoyed it. Usually, I don’t like that event, because I’m more of a shorter-distance-type of sprinter, but the swim really made me enjoy that event. The competition was fun. When I first started out with that event, I would push myself too hard on the first 50, so I got tired too fast for the last 50. I talked to my coach about that, and he told me that I need to take it a little bit easier for the first 50 so I have enough energy. That really helped a lot. It gave me the energy to finish off strong.”
He definitely wasn’t expecting first place.
“The other racers really pushed me to go harder,” he said. “I watched them as I was swimming, and if they gained any ground on me it gave me the motivation to push harder.”
Bronson hopes that at least one of his boys’ Husky relay teams can come back on the second day of state competition, and that individual-event swimmers can vie on the second day as well.
“Last year we were 11th [teamwise],” he noted. “It would be great for us to get a top ten finish as a team. That’s what I’m shooting for.”
The OSAA 4A/3A/2A/1A Swimming State Championships take place Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17-18, at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton. Session 1 begins at 9 a.m. Friday, with Session 2 opening at 8:15 a.m. Saturday.
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