Sisters swimmers make a splash in state competition

Rachel Haney and Taylor Tucker gave Sisters Country plenty to cheer about last weekend at the Speedo Oregon Age 11 and Over Long Course State Swimming Championship.

More than 40 USA Swimming sanctioned teams and 750 of the fastest young swimmers from Oregon and southern Washington participated in the four-day meet, held at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham.

The two 12-year-olds got things off to a great start right away on Thursday night in the finals of the 100-meter backstroke, with Tucker placing second (1:12.25) and Haney placing third (1:13.39) - both times USA Swimming Western Zone qualifiers and national "AAA" times.

Even though Tucker swam one of the fastest times in recent race history, putting her at 83rd nationally for the year in the event, she got edged out by Anna Panebianco of the Columbia River Swim Team (1:11.16), who started an amazing sprint at the 25-meter mark and never stopped.

Haney moved on in the evening to take third place in the finals of the 50-meter freestyle with a lighting-fast time of 29.67, hitting the pad just after Sarah Kaunitz (29.61), representing the Lake Oswego Swim Club and Logan Neal (29.51), swimming for the Hillsboro Heat.

On Friday, both girls made it into the highly competitive final round of the 400 freestyle, with Haney placing fifth (5.00:37) and Tucker placing eighth (5:09.44).

Saturday night was the one to remember.

Haney swam a USA Swimming "AAA" Western Zone Qualifier and took second place (34:05) in the finals of the 50-meter backstroke, behind an unstoppable, streaking Panebianco (33:31).

"I thought I might win this race," said Haney, "but Panebianco is super fast... I came here wanting to get to finals in five out of six, and right now I'm headed for six out of six, so I'm real happy."

Tucker, who had been second in the 50 back after the morning preliminary round, scratched from the final to focus solely on the 200-meter backstroke, where she started out in third place (2:40.11).

The gamble paid off, and later Saturday night Tucker dropped six seconds on her way to becoming the 2009 Oregon State Champion in the girls 11- to 13-year-old 200-meter backstroke, with a time of 2:34.15.

She won the race in the last 15 meters, coming from behind in a thrilling finish, touching just ahead of Carly Cannon (2:35.03), of the Vancouver Washington Swim Club, who had led the race for the first three lengths.

Taylor's time was a USA Swimming "AAAA" time and put her at 33rd nationally in the event for the year.

After the race, Taylor said, "I was a little disappointed after the 100 back on Thursday night, because that's the race I came here to win - I really never thought I was going to pull off a win in the 200 against all of these 13-year-old girls, but when I heard the announcer say I was closing fast, I thought to myself, 'just go Taylor...kick.'"

Over the weekend, Haney also placed fifth in the finals of the 200-meter freestyle (2:21.15) and sixth in 100-meter freestyle (1:05.86). In the final event of the meet, Tucker added a fifth-place "AAA" time swim in the 1,500-meter freestyle (20:19.85).

After the meet, Cascade Aquatics Club head coach Heather Thomas said, "I'm not just proud of these girls' accomplishments in the pool, these two girls conduct themselves as champions in and out of the water. Taylor and Rachel are a testament to how far we've come over the last year in our goal of re-building the aquatics program in Redmond... we are attracting some of the best swimmers in Central Oregon, and great things are starting to happen."