Outlaws swimmers test championship waters in final meet

During their last meet before District Championships, the Outlaws faced their top rivals Sweet Home, Philomath, Cascade, Marist and Blanchet during the Pre-District Sprint Invitational at the South Albany High School pool, January 27.

Severely reduced ranks in both the girls' and boys' teams battled individually and in relays to top places and personal bests.

Brian Greaney and Felicia Pledger swam to first and second place finishes in the 100-yard freestyles with times of 55.2 and 58.2 seconds respectively. Pledger dropped a second off her best time this season and was edged out only by Blanchet's Marie Miner. Greaney kept Sweet Home's Jonathan Lemar at bay with a 1.5 second lead.

Both swimmers repeated their outstanding races in two more sprints. Pledger finished 0.5 seconds behind Cascade's Crystal Kibby in the 50-yard freestyle race, and Greaney won the 50-yard backstroke ahead of freshman Kieran Schaefer of Sweet Home.

Due to the absence of key swimmers, some of the boys' and girls' relays were restructured or had to be eliminated from the competition. The remaining swims brought out the best in most athletes and bode well for District Championships on February 9 and 10.

Event 1, the restructured "B" relay in the 200-yard medley put the Outlaws just outside of the top 12 by 0.7 seconds. Felicia Pledger was first with an explosive start in the backstroke, followed by Kathleen Greaney in the breast, Jamie Kemp in the butterfly and Sarah King, as anchor, with an 8-second time drop and personal best of 41.0 seconds in the freestyle. The Outlaws did not have their "A" team on the blocks.

The boys finished fifth with their "A" relay, 1.5 seconds behind Stayton and without their top breaststroker, Drew Herron. Brian Greaney led the foursome with a good backstroke leg (27.7), followed by Jake Scott in a personal best for his breaststroke (42.7), Holden Sellentin in the butterfly (31.4) and anchor Thad Anderson in the freestyle (PR 27.7).

The "B" relay came in 9th place. Eric Brown started with the backstroke (40.8), followed by Nick Luz and an outstanding breaststroke leg (41.5), Justin Dean in the butterfly (38.6) and Allan Schaad as anchor (28.7).

The Outlaw girls fought their way with incredible determination to second place in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Freshman Courtney Satko led her group with a best time of 27.5, followed by Jordyn Valdez and a PR of 32.2, Jessie Swaner's PR of 29.5 and Felicia Pledger's fastest segment of 26.1. Their combined time of 1:55.3 edged out Sweet Home by only 0.3 seconds. Fourth-place finisher Cascade also swam a 1:55 in this event.

The boys put both "A" and "B" relays into the top 12 of the competition.

The foursome of Schaad, Duvenick, Anderson and Sellentin raced to unprecedented individual times and a fourth place overall. Allan Schaad, who does not get much practice in the regulation pool at Sisters Athletic Club but practices with Michele Hammer at the motel pool of the Sisters Inn, touched the wall in 28.76 seconds, followed by Justin Duvenick in 28.81, Thad Anderson in 27.93 and freshman talent, Holden Sellentin, in a personal best of 26.9. The combined time of 1:52.4 put the Outlaws behind Sweet Home, Junction City and Central.

Individually, freshmen Courtney Satko and Holden Sellentin swam into the top of the competition in the 100-yard individual medley. Satko improved her time from the December relay meet at Sweet Home by almost five seconds, and Sellentin swam the event for the first time.

Satko's 1:11.0 was good enough for fourth place, and Sellentin's 1:08.8 put him into fifth overall. These times make both swimmers very competitive in the 200-yard Individual Medley during the upcoming championships.

A record number of athletes were entered in the 50-yard freestyle sprint, and several of the Outlaws swam close to top 12. Jordyn Valdez and Justin Duvenick improved their previous bests by 0.4 seconds. Valdez was 12th, and Duvenick missed 12th place by 0.01 second. Thad Anderson was 10th with a time of 27.81. Five contestants touched the wall with a time of 27+.

Jessie Swaner represented the Outlaws in the 50-yard butterfly event with a best time of 32.2 seconds and only 0.6 seconds behind fourth place finisher and senior Brittany Dushame from Philomath. Third place and possible medal contender, Victoria Weiler, finished the race in 31.3 seconds. Justin Dean and Jake Scott competed in the same event.

Hard work in practice paid off for Kathleen Greaney in the 100-yard freestyle. Her final time of 1:14.30 was more than four seconds faster than her previous best and put her just outside the top 12. Jamie Kemp competed in the same event and touched the wall in 1:25.9 minutes.

The Outlaws did not compete in the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle.

Courtney Satko added another excellent swim to her repertoire of success. She finished third in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 36.80 seconds, and senior Jessie Swaner was 0.6 seconds behind with a personal best by 2.1 seconds (37.4). Billy Sampson competed in this event for the first time, finishing just outside of the top 12 in 41.8 seconds.

The next competition for the Outlaws is Districts on February 9 and 10 in Albany.