Outlaws swimmers make a splash in Madras pool

In a very quickly run dual-format swim meet, the Outlaws lost to the White Buffaloes by the slimmest margin of 156 to 151 in the combined women's and men's scores. The Madras boys' team proved to be the stronger, while the Sisters girls dominated in numbers and performance. "The girls won all of the relays plus three individual events", Coach Isolde Hedemark said.

The girls' medley "A" relay with Codie Lagao, Katie Stewart, Michelle Young and Samantha Williamson repeated their good performance from Salem, finishing in first place with a combined time of 2:07.82. The "B" relay with Geneieve Mackenzie, Liz Stewart, Emily Christen and Cierra Tigard finished third (2:24.94) and the "C" squad with Jordan Williams, Sammi Wavrin, Natalie Marshall and Marcy Calavan added to the girls' overall points by coming in fourth.

In event 15, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the lady Outlaws "A" squad with Emily Christen (27.9), Cierra Tigard (31.9), Marcy Calavan (30.9) and anchor Geneieve Mackenzie (29.1) finished in first place ahead of the Madras girls (2:07.48) with an impressive time of 1:59.8.

The last race, the 400-yard freestyle relay, went to the Outlaws as well. Emily Christen set the pace (1:01.9), followed by Sam Williamson (1:02.0), Katie Stewart (1:05.8), who had just finished in first place in the 100-yard breaststroke (PR 1:18.9), and anchor Michelle Young (1:02.5).

Katie Stewart added another first place and six points for the team in the 200-yard individual medley. Cierra Tigard was third.

Michelle Young was the fastest swimmer in the 100-yard butterfly (1:09.6), a respectable time considering she is just returning to full competition after a knee injury and lengthy recovery.

Emily Christen added a second-place in the 200-yard freestyle (2:29.6). Codie Lagao was third (2:36.2).

Sam Williamson was the second fastest in 50-yard freestyle (28.3), four-tenths of a second behind Gerhardt from Madras. Danish exchange student Lotte Hanson dropped two seconds off her best time and finished third (33.7).

Another nailbiter race was the 100-yard freestyle, when Madras' S. Gemelas did not give up her slight lead over Sam Williamson (1:02.27) and finished first with a time of 1:02.07. Natalie Marshall (1:14.6) was third, and Cheyenne Sproat (1:26.4) fourth.

Liz Stewart and Jordan Williams added points in the 500-yard freestyle with second- and third-place finishes respectively.

Final points for the Outlaws were earned by Codie Lagao (second, 1:16.4), Jordan Williams (third, 1:32.1) and Lotte Hansen (fourth, 1:35.4) in the 100-yard backstroke, and Natalie Marshall (third, 1:37.6) and Marcy Calavan (fifth, 1:46.2) in the breaststroke.

Ian Baldessari was the top scorer among the Outlaws men swimmers. His first-place performance in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:14.6) was 0.3 seconds faster than last year's swim at District Championships.

Tyler Berg finished second in the 200-yard freestyle (2:08.6), followed by Jake Miller (2:11.2) in third place. Berg added another second-place in the 100-yard butterfly (1:05.5).

A second-place by Tyler Baldessari in the 200-yard individual medley (2:23.3) and the 50-yard freestyle (26.3) added eight points to the boys' score. Jonathan Luz (29.7) was third in this sprint. "Jonathan's work ethic is paying off nicely," said JV Coach Marti Dale.

Brennan Miller finished in second place in the 500-yard freestyle (6:01.2) and 100-yard backstroke (1:07.5) and the "A" relay in the 400-yard freestyle was barely a second behind the top Madras foursome. Tyler Berg led the Outlaws with a fast leg (56.5), followed by Ian Baldessari (58.8), Jake Miller (56.4) and anchor Tyler Baldessari (54.6).

The Outlaws travel to Dallas on Wednesday, January 18, for an invitational.