Swimmers have busy weekend

The Sisters swim team got a taste of a long weekend — one that will be replicated when it comes time for district competition— as they pulled off two meets in two days Friday-Saturday, January 17-18.

The Friday meet at Philomath was a low-key three-team affair according to Coach Bryn Singleton. The Outlaws swam against the host Warriors and the team from The Dalles. Singleton indicated that the meet was more like a practice meet in a number of ways.

“It was a low-key meet, which is great for the first meet of an overnight trip. It was great to see new swimmers like Tanner Clem, Makenzie French and Ryan Ilmberger getting comfortable diving off blocks and discovering which events they’d like to focus on as we head into the last month before district.”

The informal meet was good for some of the more experienced swimmers as well.

“It was also fun to see veterans on the team like Connor Crowe and Laura Clem branching out and challenging themselves with new events like the 100 fly,” said Singleton.

No official results were made available from the meet.

Saturday was a different story altogether, with the atmosphere of a championship meet, according to Singleton. Even its name, the District Spring Meet, sounds more serious. The meet included all the teams from the special district that Sisters belongs to, so it really is a foreshadowing of the coming championships.

Singleton said, “This meet is intended as a run-through for districts and is the first time we have swum with every team in our district. Everyone on the team did a great job in a setting with many more people and teams than some of them have seen at a meet before.”

Top performances on the boys side included Austen Heuberger’s third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:14.21. Sam Mayes also picked up a third place racing to a time of 25.15 in the 50-yard freestyle. Clayten Heuberger took third in the race in a time of 28.03.

Clayten Heuberger and Osmond Bates duked it out in the 100-yard freestyle where Heuberger edged Bates for seventh place, 1:00.47 to 1:00.50. They placed seventh and eighth overall.

Bates came back with a second-place finish in the 50-yard breaststroke, clocking 34.04 in his first shot at the event this year. Austen Heuberger finished fifth in the race in 35.62.

The Heuberger brothers, Mayes, and Bates continued their improvement and proved their competitiveness in the 200-yard freestyle relay, where they finished second to Salem Academy in 1:43.66 — a two-second improvement on their previous best.

“It was encouraging to see them improve even at the end of back-to-back meets,” said Singleton.

Lydia Bartlett once again led the way for the Outlaws girls squad. She finished fourth in the 100-yard individual medley, which she was doing for the first time this season, (1:06.11), and came through with a dominant win in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:17.57, which was off of her best, but over 30 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Laura Clem placed sixth in the 200-yard freestyle (2:32.87), with Cambria Leaver on her heels in 2:38.37 for ninth place. Clem placed seventh in the 50-yard freestyle in 30.46 for her best time this year in the event.

“I enjoy watching each swimmer in the team compete,” Singleton said, but I also just enjoy getting to spend time with them outside of the pool; they are such a great group to be around. I also truly appreciate how many parents made the journey to cheer us on both days.”

The Outlaws return to competition on Wednesday, January 22 in Redmond.