Outlaws swimmers win big at three-way Stayton meet

An almost-complete girls and boys team competed January 11 against the Cascade Cougars and the Stayton Eagles at the Community Pool in Stayton.

Several Sisters High School records fell, and the boys won the team competition with 108 points over Cascade (71) and Stayton (54). The girls came in second behind Cascade. Several girls and boys won events, and numerous personal records made this meet successful for most swimmers.

The foursome of Britanny Baldessari (backstroke), Courtney Satko (breaststroke), Jessie Swaner (butterfly) and anchor Felicia Pledger (freestyle) outswam arch rival Cascade by almost two seconds to win the event in a converted time of 2:06.09, a new Sisters High School record.

Hilary Johnson, Chelsea Flanders, Tori Carlson and Jordyn Valdez competed in the same event, achieving personal bests in their individual strokes.

Brian Greaney led the boys in the medley relay with a good backstroke leg, followed by Drew Herron in the breaststroke, Justin Dean in the butterfly (PR 37.7) and Thad Anderson in the freestyle (PR 27.8) to a winning time of 2:11.6. The "C" relay with Eric Brown, Eli Callan, Jake Scott and Dylan Stuwe finished fourth for valuable team points.

Freshman Courtney Satko, one of the big talents for Sisters High School swim team, swam to a second-place finish and personal best in the 200-meter Individual Medley. Chelsea Flanders joined Satko in the same event and dropped more than 11 seconds off her best, touching the wall at 3:00.39. The boys did not enter the Individual Medley event.

Britanny Baldessari, freestyle sprinter and backstroke expert, defeated her 14-swimmer competition and finished first in the 50-meter freestyle with a converted time of 27.5 seconds.

Newcomer Thad Anderson came close to winning this event but succumbed in the end to Stayton's Jacob Brinlee by a mere 0.7 seconds. Anderson's time represents a personal best (28.05). Justin Duvenick was barely one second behind for a well deserved third place.

Event 9, the 100-meter butterfly, featured Jessie Swaner, Jake Scott and Justin Dean. Swaner swam the fastest time (PR 1:18.4), last year's sixth fastest District Championship time. Scott was second and Dean third among the boys.

Felicia Pledger had little competition in her outstanding 100-meter freestyle race. She finished the event in 59.23 seconds ahead of Cascade's Dayna Young, Britanny Baldessari, Lauren Littrell and Sara Oliver. Brian Greaney continued the winning streak on the boys' side with a fantastic swim and a new Sisters High School record (54.03).

The Outlaws added another first with Jessie Swaner's effort in the 400-meter freestyle. She finished the race more than three seconds ahead of her Cascade competitors. There were no entries on the boys' side.

The most competitive race was the 200-meter freestyle relay with Britanny Baldessari in the lead, followed by Jessie Swaner, Courtney Satko and Felicia Pledger. The Outlaws' girls missed their own record (1:51.30) by one second and touched the wall 0.02 seconds behind Cascade High School.

The boys had no trouble defeating Cascade and Stayton for first place. Brian Greaney, captain of the boys, lead his group with a 25.2 second segment, followed by Thad Anderson (28.6), Allan Schaad (28.2) and Justin Duvenick (28.6) to a victory in the 200-meter freestyle relay. Cascade followed in second place, six seconds behind.

Both 100-meter backstroke events went to the Outlaws. Felicia Pledger clearly won with a time of 1:12.2, 10 seconds ahead of Cascade's Shalane Glidewell, and Brian Greaney set another Sisters High School record with his effort of 58.13 seconds. He replaces Justin Hedemark's time of 58.72, third fastest at 2005 State Championships.

"Greaney's chances to swim into the top at this year's state competition are excellent," Coach Isolde Hedemark said.

Chelsea Flanders, Jordan Valdez, Drew Herron and Eli Callan competed in the 100-meter breaststroke. Top finisher was Drew Herron with a second place and a personal best of 1:26.21.

The Outlaws' boys clinched first place overall with their final performance in the 400 freestyle relay, squeaking by the Stayton Eagles with 0.6 seconds. Eric Brown, Justin Dean, Jake Scott and Justin Duvenick swam excellent segments. Top performer was Justin Duvenick with a 1:10.9. The "B" relay with Dylan Stuwe, Travis Myrick, Drew Herron and Thad Anderson was third.

The Outlaws travel back to Stayton on January 19 for an invitational meet hosted by the Stayton Eagles.