Swimmers take gold at District Championships

A highly motivated group of Outlaws swimmers conquered the competition in individual and relay events that paved their way to the State Championships at Mt. Hood Community College February 16-17.

Well prepared and focused, the girls' medley relay team with Brittany Baldessari, Courteney Satko, Jessie Swaner and Felicia Pledger set the tone for the rest of the meet. Seeded first after Friday's preliminary races, the girls' foursome fought off their arch rivals Philomath, Sweet Home and the No. 2 seed, a very determined and restructured Marist team, until the very end.

Felicia Pledger raced as anchor with an incredible freestyle segment and almost caught the Marist alternate, senior Ginny Anderson, at the wall. Marist won the event with a time of 2:02.48, and the Outlaws earned silver with a time of 2:02.97. This represents an almost four second time drop from their season best and establishes a new Sisters High School record.

The girls' "B" team with Hillary Johnson, Chelsea Flanders, Tori Carlson and Jordyn Valdez were seeded 13th after prelims and did not qualify for championship or consolation finals. Chelsea Flanders and Jordyn Valdez swam personal bests in their segments.

The boys put on a stellar performance that ended in personal bests from the day before. Drew Herron swam an incredible breaststroke in 37.1 (PR) seconds, and Holden Sellentin, asked to swim all out on his butterfly, shaved two whole seconds off for a PR of 29.95. The boys held fourth place comfortably (2:01.58) behind Sweet Home, Marist and Philomath (1:59.27).

The boys' "B" medley relay with Allan Schaad, Jake Scott, Justin Dean and Dylan Stuwe finished sixth in consolation finals with a time of 2:26.68.

The girls did not have an entry in the next event, the 200-yard freestyle. However, on the boys' side Brian Greaney was the Outlaws' contender for another medal in the first of the three most exciting races of the championships. Greaney's closest rival, Sweet Home freshman Kieran Schaefer, touched the pad one second before Greaney on the 50-yard mark. Schaefer built his lead to 1.5 seconds at 100 yards before Greaney made his move to bring it home with negative splits of 28.35 and 28.21 for a seemingly simultaneous touch - Schaefer 1:50.0, Greaney 1:50.33 and silver for the Outlaws.

The Outlaws won their first gold medal when sophomore Felicia Pledger held off a group of very talented junior and senior freestyle sprinters from Junction City and Sweet Home, as well as her own teammate. Pledger swam a perfect race, bettering her prelim time of 25.96 by 0.11 seconds and set a new Sisters High School record. Brittany Baldessari finished third in 27.19.

The 100-yard women's freestyle was seriously contested by outstanding sprinters from Blanchet, Junction City and Sisters. Felicia Pledger, seeded third behind Marie Miner and senior Darcy Spillman after prelims, swam another perfect sprint with splits of 27.6 and 29.1 and finished second overall. Her final time of 56.67 is another new Sisters High School record and earned Pledger the silver medal.

The girls' 200-yard free relay brought gold to the Outlaws for the second time. All four swimmers put everything on the line to keep their competition at bay. Attacked by Junction City in Lane 4 and Philomath in Lane 2, the Outlaws girls sprinted to the exchanges and the finish line in record segments. Baldessari led with 27.1, followed by Swaner (29.2 PR), Satko (26.7 PR) and Pledger (25.7 PR) to a first touch on the pad with a new Sisters High School record of 1:48.7, ahead of Junction City (1:48.99).

Silver and gold medals were awarded to the Outlaws swimmers in the 100-yard backstroke. Brittany Baldessari, only 0.09 seconds behind Marist's Mary Cummings on the first 50-yard turn, touched the wall in second place with a time of 1:08.11.

Both the medley and freestyle relays with Baldessari, Satko, Swaner and Pledger qualified for State Championships. Baldessari also qualified in the 50-yard freestyle (sixth seed) and 100-yard backstroke (fifth seed). Pledger is seeded second in the 50-yard free and third in the 100-yard free and Greaney is seeded second in both the 200-yard free and 100-yard backstroke.

Championships are set at Mt. Hood Community College, February 16-17.