Swimmers set new school records

Sisters took six swimmers to state, which was held at Mt. Hood Community College on Friday and Saturday, February 19-20. The girls finished seventh.

In prelims on Friday, the girls established two new school records, and set four personal bests.

Mary Stewart came in third in the 50-yard freestyle, and qualified for finals the next day. Stewart set a new school record with a time of 24.93. Emily Christen took seventh with a career-best of 25.74, and made first-alternate for the finals.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Stewart finished second and set a new school record with a time of 54.21, behind North Bend's Alyssa Bennett. Stewart, Brook Knirk, Madelyn Zadow and Christen took second in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:45.30, behind Sweet Home, and qualified for finals the following day.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Christen came in seventh (first-alternate) with a season-best time of 1:05.82. Zadow took ninth with a time of 1:09.25, also a career-best. Originally, Christen had been seeded 10th, and Zadow had been seeded 12th.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team (Stewart, Hawley Harrer, Zadow and Christen) squeezed into the finals with a time of 3:57.27 and a sixth-place finish.

Coach Brittany Morioka said, "We had a great prelims day. The girls did an amazing job."

Morioka told The Nugget that everyone had tough races in the finals on Saturday.

Stewart came out with a time-add, and dropped down to fourth in the 50-yard freestyle.

"You can't expect to win every time, however, it is tough emotionally at that level, regardless," said Morioka. "The one thing we really concentrated on was Mary's composure and the example she set for other swimmers. As Mary walked up to the blocks for her 50, everyone was rooting for her. Other teams were yelling, 'Go Mary!' The coaches from our district stood next to me and applauded her. She is an example because of her character, not her performance, and we talked about how important it was for her to lose with grace and to walk up to the podium regardless of place, with a smile on her face. She did an awesome job."

Mary took third in the 100-yard freestyle. Stewart beat her time from the day before by .01 for a time of 54.20.

Stewart, Knirk, Zadow and Christen were tired as they headed into the 200-yard freestyle relay. They'd been battling sickness and it was taking its toll on their bodies. They finished fourth with a time of 1:45.63.

Morioka told The Nugget that the girls were exhausted when it was time for the 400-yard freestyle relay.

"We'd had a tough day emotionally and physically," said Morioka. "We hadn't performed as well as we'd hoped. We stood in a circle and I reminded them how we swim our last swim in every workout - with every ounce of energy we have left to put in. We talked about how it would be Emily's last swim of her high school career, and the last swim of the season for everyone else and to give every bit of energy that they had left in them.

"We also chatted about the next couple of weeks and how they would get to relax, and eat anything they wanted. Mary's eyes lit up and she announced, 'I'm ordering a soda at dinner tonight.' Hawley responded with, 'I'm getting a milkshake,' and Emily with, 'I'm getting two milkshakes!' We talked about the little things they'd sacrificed along the way for their sport."

After that, the race was underway. Mary swam the fastest split ever at 54.36, and Hawley followed with her fastest split, 58.44. Madelyn came next with a time of 1:02.77, and Emily finished with a career-best of 56.57. The team took an additional four seconds off the school record with a time of 3:51.51. Just two weeks ago, this same relay was swimming a 4:02.

"It was just amazing," said Morioka. "The girls were ecstatic. Emily, through tears, just kept repeating, 'I'm so happy. I'm so happy.' They really finished strong."

North Bend finished the tournament in first place, Sweet Home was second, and La Grande was third. Sisters finished seventh.