The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Twenty girls' teams and 15 boys' teams competed at the recent 2007 Swimming State Championships for 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A at Mt. Hood College in Gresham.

The combined efforts of Brittany Baldessari, Felicia Pledger, Courteney Satko and Jessie Swaner, in relays and individual events, earned the Outlaws the third place team trophy in a tie with Cottage Grove. North Bend was first and Henley was second.

The girls suffered a short-lived setback in their first event, the medley relay. Philomath and Sweet Home pushed the Outlaws into sixth place during preliminaries. Determined to regain their original fourth seed, everyone swam outstanding legs with Baldessari (backstroke) and Swaner (butterfly) shaving the most time off their segments.

In the finals Sisters moved back into fourth with a 2:03.27. North Bend won the event in a time of 1:56.10, followed by Marist (2:00.38) and Cottage Grove (2:01.74).

Stellar performances by all swimmers put the girls' freestyle relay team with Brittany Baldessari, Felicia Pledger, Courteney Satko and Jessie Swaner into second place overall.

Seated third (1:48.73) going into preliminaries on Friday, the girls fought off a fierce attack by eleven other relays, three of which had an entry time below 1:50 and the rest within striking distance of breaking that mark. The girls swam their best ever and established a new Sisters High School record with a time of 1:47.67 for a second seed going into championship finals.

Four of the six finalist teams posted 1:48s for the Saturday finals. Cottage Grove led with 1:45.96.

Brittany Baldessari (27.2) started the Outlaws, followed by Jessie Swaner (28.5), Courteney Satko (26.3) and anchor, Felicia Pledger. Pledger swam the best segment this season in 25.5 seconds. The Outlaws out-touched everyone except Henley, winning the event with 1:46.87. Sisters finished in second place (1:47.46), breaking their own record from the day before.

Brian Greaney defended his fourth seed (1:53.08) in the 200-yard freestyle against LaGrande and Tillamook. Sweet Home's Kieran Schaefer won and established a new state record with his final time of 1:49.57. David Elligott and Cameron Barton from Cottage Grove were second and third respectively.

Henley, Phoenix, Junction City and Cresswell competed against the Outlaws in event 7, the 50-yard freestyle. Seeded second behind Henley's junior Stephanie North, Felicia Pledger took 0.05 seconds off her entry time for a lane 4 assignment next to North. Kayla Heath from Phoenix flanked North in Lane 2. Both Pledger and Heath raced stroke-for-stroke to catch North, who ended up winning with a new state record of 24.44. Heath touched the wall in a time of 25.92 and Pledger in 25.96.

Brittany Baldessari, entered fifth in the same event, swam an outstanding sprint, achieving a personal record of 26.68 and moved up to fourth position overall.

Pledger and Baldessari added two more top spots to the Outlaws' accomplishments during the state meet. Baldessari, seated fourth after prelims in the 100-yard backstroke, raced her best splits ever in this event. Her final time of 1:04.86 put Baldessari into third place ahead of Marist's Mary Cummings and 0.68 seconds behind North Marion's senior, Jessica Garringer. North Bend's Denise Green won the backstroke with a time of 1:00.01, setting a new state record.

Brian Greaney (55.49) earned silver in the 100-yard backstroke with a perfectly swum race with splits of 27.17 and 28.32. Senior Michael Mpitsos from Newport won the event with a new state record of 53.59, and Sweet Home's Jayce Calhoon tied for third with Matt Johnson from North Bend (57.17).

Pledger, seeded fifth in the 100-yard freestyle after prelims, held off fourth seed Jessica Garringer (57.29), but was out-touched by Cottage Grove's Jenny Conrad (56.89). Pledger placed fourth with a time of 57.06.

Brian Greaney, the only male Sisters High School qualifier, tied with Marist and Phoenix for 10th place in the team rankings.