Swimmers win first competition

A very strong, combined girls-and-boys varsity squad cruised to an overall first-place finish in a three-way meet in the state-of-the-art community swim center in Madras on Saturday, December 12.

"Barely in their fifth week of training in their new practice facility at the Black Butte Ranch Glaze Meadow pool, many swimmers are already showing equal or better results than at the end of the 2008-09 season," coach Isolde Hedemark commented.

Setting the pace with a well-swum medley relay, the foursome of Michelle Young (backstroke, 30.7 sec.), Tia Berg (breaststroke, 37.8), Katie Stewart (butterfly, 31.4) and Courteney Satko (freestyle, 26.6) left their competition from The Dalles well behind. The Outlaws' combined time of 2:06.7 is already 1.2 seconds faster than last year's time during the first of the season achieved by the "A" relay that included standout Fe Pledger.

The "B" team, with Samantha Williamson, Claire Greaney, Cierra Tigard and Jessie Harris, added valuable points to the team score.

The boys followed suit in a highly contested race against the Eagles, from The Dalles, who out-touched the Outlaws by a mere 0.8 seconds. Tyler Baldessari led the race (backstroke, 29.2), followed by Billy Sampson (breaststroke, 35.2), Justin Duvenick (butterfly, 27.3) and anchor Holden Sellentin in a personal-best freestyle leg (23.5). The relay's time of 1:55.2 was already 1.5 seconds faster than last year's second-place finisher at Districts, Central.

The "B" relay, with Conor Greaney, Jonathan Standen, Joey Schlatter and Tyler Berg, finished fourth in a time of 2:24.10.

Holden Sellentin was the only Outlaw to compete in the 200-yard freestyle and easily won the event with a PR of 2:12.6

Freshmen Katie Stewart gave everyone notice that she will be a force to be reckoned with when the season progresses. Stewart won the 200-yard individual medley in a personal best of 2:28.99 with Michelle Young a second-and-a-half behind. Both girls' times would have put them in fourth place at districts last year.

Tyler Baldessari won the same event in a personal best of 2:24.7, followed by Justin Duvenick, who shaved off 18 seconds from his 2008-09 best.

Hillary Johnson was second in the 50-yard freestyle. Jake Miller, Bryant Lasken and Easton Curtis finished third, fourth and sixth respectively.

The girls had little competition in the 100-yard butterfly, which went easily to freshman Katie Stewart, followed by Tia Berg in second place. Stewart's time was already better than last year's third-place District finisher in the same event.

Courteney Satko added another first-place finish to the Outlaws' effort when she won the 100-yard freestyle in 1:00.3. By the end of the season, Satko should drop well below the minute mark and be a top contender for the district title in this event.

Seth Flanders finished second in the same event with a PR by almost three seconds, followed by Billy Sampson (fourth place) and freshman Easton Curtis (sixth place).

In the 500-yard freestyle, Tia Berg comfortably won the race ahead of Daggett and Miller, from The Dalles. Tia's freshman brother, Tyler, led the threesome of Berg, Miller and Lasken to respectable second-, third- and fifth-place finishes in the same event. Tyler's time of 6:12.8 was good enough to have put him into district consolation finals last year.

The girls "A" team won another first place with their 200-yard freestyle relay. Satko (27.3), Berg (29.4), Stewart (28.3) and Young (26.7) swam excellent beginning-of-the-season splits for a winning time of 1:51.7. In order to win Districts again in this event, the girls will each have to shave off a second plus.

The "B" team, with Johnson, Stein, Tigard and MacKenzie finished third.

On the boys' side, the "A" relay battled in another nail-biter for first place, only to come a second short of catching the Eagles. Tyler Baldessari led the group with an explosive start (25.7), followed by Seth Flanders (26.9), Justin Duvenick (26.5) and anchor Holden Sellentin (23.7). Their combined time can be compared to fifth place at 2008-09 Districts.

The "B" relay, with Miller, Berg, Curtis and Lasken, was third and the "C" relay, with Greaney, Small, Bruce and Standen, touched the wall in sixth place.

The Outlaws took the next event, the 100-yard backstroke, in stride when sophomore Michelle Young finished first in a good beginning of the season attempt. Hillary Johnson was second.

Coming off a rather delayed start, Holden Sellentin tried to make up lost time with focused, powerful technique in the 100-yard backstroke. However, this time it was not enough to catch either Nate Anderson from The Dalles, or teammate Tyler Baldessari. Anderson won the event in 1:04.00 ahead of Baldessari (1:04.08) and Sellentin (1:05.8).

Courteney Satko added another first place to her two relays and the 100-yard freestyle race. Her final time of 1:20.8 needs to come down significantly in order to be in the top three in our district. Claire Greaney was fourth in the same event.

Top finishers in the boys' breaststroke event were Billy Sampson (1:21.1) and Seth Flanders (1:24.0).

The Outlaws travel to the Sweet Home Invitational on December 17.