Swimmers face tough competition

In their first competition after the winter break, the Outlaws faced seven tough 5A and 6A teams at the Jay Rowan Invitational in Redmond on January 8.

Host Redmond won the girls' competition with 337 point and South Salem dominated the boys' events with 303 points. The Outlaws finished sixth ahead of Madras and Lebanon in the women's team rankings and sixth ahead of Hood River and Mt. View in the men's standings.

In spite of the depth and strength of these teams, the Outlaws recorded some impressive individual and relay results.

On the girls' side, top finishes included a third place by Michelle Young in the 100-meter butterfly and a fourth place by Katie Stewart in the 200-meter individual medley.

The foursome of Katie Stewart, Samantha Williamson, Tia Berg and Michelle Young finished third in the 200-meter freestyle relay, keeping Summit High School at bay by a mere 0.71 seconds. Redmond won this relay ahead of South Salem. A total of 15 relays were entered in this event.

The Outlaws (Stewart, Lagao, Berg and Young) added a fourth place in the 400-meter freestyle relay (4:50.18) behind Redmond, Hood River and South Salem and a sixth place in the 200-meter medley relay (Stewart, Berg, Young and Williamson).

Valuable team points were also earned by Samantha Williamson (9th) and Cierra Tigard (12th) in the 50-meter freestyle and by Williamson (10th) and Codie Lagao (11th) in the 100-meter freestyle events.

On the boys' side, top individual finisher was Jake Miller in the 100-meter freestyle with a 5th place (1:03.79). Tyler Berg (seventh, 400-meter freestyle), Tyler Baldessari (eighth, 50-meter freestyle), Brennan Miller (eighth, 100-meter backstroke), Seth Flanders (11th, 50-meter freestyle) and Brennan Miller (12th, 100-meter freestyle) added points to the team score with their strong performances.

The boys 200-meter freestyle relay (Jake Miller, Seth Flanders, Tyler Berg and Tyler Baldessari) finished fourth and Berg, Ian Baldessari, Jake Miller and Tyler Baldessari teamed up in the 40-meter freestyle relay to clock a good enough time for fifth place (4:24.76). Baldessari, Flanders, Jake Miller and Berg added a seventh-place in the 200-meter medley relay for a total of 103.5 points for the Outlaws.

The Outlaws were to travel to Stayton on Wednesday, January 12.