Swim team sends qualifiers to State

The Sisters High School girls swim team will be sending a solid contingent to the OSAA State Swimming Championships this weekend after finishing third at the District meet, which served as the qualifier for state. The meet was held February 9 and 10 at the Albany Swim Center.

Event winners qualify automatically for the State Championships at District, but the remaining qualifiers are determined by top performances from all the special 4A/3A/2A/1A District meets from around the state.

Lydia Bartlett, Meredith Mandal, Hawley Harrer and Brooke Robillard are going to be busy as they comprise all of the state meet entries as individuals and relay teams.

The foursome finished second in the 200-yard medley relay behind Sweet Home and enter the state meet with the sixth-best qualifying time of 1:58.33 among 12 teams.

Later in the meet, in the 200-yard freestyle relay, the quartet blasted to victory and established the fastest state qualifying time of 1:43.53. North Bend and La Grande are seeded close behind, within one second, among qualifiers.

The team was not quite finished, however, and snagged a spot at state in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:48.64, a full five seconds behind Sweet Home, which leads the state, but still own the third overall qualifying mark.

Brooke Robillard won the 100-yard breast stroke with a time of 1:11.36, which places her as the fourth seed in the event at state.

Hawley Harrer picked up a wildcard spot in the 50-yard freestyle and has the fifth-fastest qualifying time at 25.77.

The Outlaws qualified two girls in the 500-yard freestyle as Lydia Bartlett (5:25.17) and Meredith Mandal (5:34.55) placed second and fourth respectively with times strong enough to punch their tickets to state. Bartlett will be seeded fourth at state based on her time.

"These girls are tough and experienced, so I am not surprised by their performances," said Head Coach Bryn Singleton.

Sweet Home kept Salem Academy at bay 310-281 and Sisters finished third with 159 points, just ahead of Philomath with 156.

The top finish for the boys team at District took place in the 200-yard freestyle relay as Gator Haken, Sam Mayes, Jackson Rheuben and George Bates put up a time of 1:47.20, which was good enough for fourth place.

A number of eighth-place finishes also brought points to the Outlaw boys, including Sam Mayes in the 100 freestyle (1:01.94), George Bates in the 100-yard breast stroke (1:17.58), Jackson Rheuben in the 200-yard individual medley (2:34.40) and the 400 freestyle relay team of Connor Crowe, Rheuben, Haken and Mayes

(4:12.54).

"The boys battled their lack of overall experience as a team, but showed a lot of heart and spirit all season," said Singleton. "I hope they will all return next year because they will just keep improving."

Sisters finished eighth among the 10 teams in the District with 69 points. Sweet Home edged Salem Academy 273-270 to claim the top trophy.