Swim teams continue improvement

Another double-meet weekend for the Sisters Outlaws swim teams moved them one step closer to the district meet scheduled for later this month.

Results from the meet in Stayton Saturday, February 1 were not made available before press time, but Friday’s seven-team meet at Lebanon produced some season bests for the Outlaws.

Lydia Bartlett once again provided a number of high points for her team as they placed fifth overall with 114.5 points. Sweet Home completely dominated the team standings with 382.5 points to easily outdistance the runner-up Lebanon Warriors, who scored 268.

Bartlett took second place in the 200-yard individual medley losing to Sweet Home’s Malia Hewitt by just under half a second in a time of 2:15.72. It was Bartlett’s best time of the season in the event by over six seconds. Laura Clem also set a season best, finishing seventh in 2:55.47.

Clem came back with a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:17.33, her best of the year.

Hewitt got the best of Bartlett in the 100-yard breaststroke 1:10.23 to 1:12.89. The two are clearly the cream of the crop in the district as no one else came close to them in the race.

Bartlett, Clem, Iris Diez and Mary Root picked up a second-place finish in the 200-yard with a time of 1:58.5.

On the boys’ side, the Newport Cubs won the meet with 289 points. The Outlaws finished fifth with 147 points.

Sam Mayes had a part in most of the team’s highlights, including a third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.05 and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle in 57.29.

Mayes also took part in the 200-yard freestyle relay with teammates Austen Heuberger, Clayten Heuberger, and Osmond Bates where they placed third with a season best of 1:45.43. The same quartet also established a season best in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:02.07

In addition, Bates and Clayten Heuberger placed fifth and eighth respectively in the 50-yard freestyle in 27.39 and 27.79.

Bates picked up a season best in the 100-yard breaststroke 1:14.54 where he placed fourth.

Head Coach Bryn Singleton said, “These meets were after our hardest weeks of practice this season, and everyone did a really great job swimming hard when they’re tired.”

It was the final big weekend for the team before district, according to Singleton. “We have one more week before we taper for districts,” she said.

Singleton reflected on the progress of her swimmers and the way the season has flown by. “They have really come together as a team, which is one of the best things to get to be a part of as a coach. I’m always impressed by how much their swimming skills improve, but equally impressed by how they support and encourage each other,” she said.

The district championships are set for February 14 and 15.