Swim team eighth at State

Behind a second- and third-place finish in two events by Lydia Bartlett, the Sisters High School girls swim team wrapped up the season with an eighth-place team finish at the OSAA 4A/3A/2A/1A State Championships held February 15 and 16 at the Tualatin Valley Swim Center in Beaverton.

Friday's preliminaries included 12 entrants in each event with the top six advancing to Saturday's finals.

Bartlett came through as the top finisher in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle prelims but knew she would face her competitors' very best efforts in the finals, which turned out to be very close contests.

Bartlett placed second in the 200-yard freestyle by just over a half-second with a time of 1:54.41 in a tight battle with the winner, Anna Hutchins of Marshfield, who took the top spot with a time of 1:53.88. The pair beat the rest of the field by a wide margin of nearly five seconds.

Elena Gingras, a freshman from Valley Catholic, and Hutchins bested Bartlett in a hard-fought 500-yard freestyle race later in the day, with Gingras prevailing in 5:04.49, Hutchins placing second (5:06.48), and Bartlett third

(5:07.11).

Meredith Mandal put a point on the board in the 100-yard butterfly, placing sixth with a time of 1:04.34. The winner, Lizzy Cook of Catlin Gabel, trounced the finalists with a time of 55.04.

Bartlett and Mandal teamed with Maddie Busick and Brooke Robillard to place fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay, clocking 1:45.93. Sweet Home won the race (1:40.38).

The same quartet ended the meet with a sixth-place medal in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:54.13. Catlin Gabel won the event going in 3:39.07.

In Friday's prelims, Robillard placed eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.09) and Mandal finished 12th (1:01.69) in the 100-yard freestyle.

"Of course, I am very proud of these girls for the effort they gave all season," said Head Coach Bryn Singleton. "These four have shown once again they are among the best in the state, and though we are losing seniors Brooke and Meredith, I know we'll be back here next year with some more Outlaws."

Sweet Home won the team title with 69 points, while Catlin Gabel (50), La Grande (32), and Marshfield (26) earned the second-, third-, and fourth-place trophies respectively. Sisters scored 16 total points to place eighth.