Eagle River women efficiently defend state swimming title

After profitable this system’s first-ever state championship final 12 months and bringing again many of the prime swimmers from that dominant group, the Eagle River women got here into Saturday’s finals on the Bartlett High pool on a mission.

The Wolves lived as much as the hype and didn’t disappoint as they held off runner-up Juneau-Douglas for the second 12 months in a row, efficiently defending their group title by a mixed rating of 131-116.

“It’s just something that we’ve been after for so long,” Eagle River head coach Bryce Carpenter mentioned. “For us to try to build this culture eight years ago, and now all the kids come in with the attitude and expectation to be great, and I think this really sets the standard for them going into next season.”

His group claimed six particular person titles and a trio of top-two finishes within the relays, together with one first-place end.

“I’m just happy that their hard work paid off,” Carpenter mentioned. “I’m glad that they put the effort into the season, and the results showed.”

Leading the cost for the group with profitable title defenses in each her particular person races was senior Reese Woodward. She received the 200-yard IM with mark of two minutes, 06.02 seconds, and the 100-yard butterfly with a mark of 55:74.

“We put in a lot of hard work this season, and to see it pay off is really exciting,” Woodward mentioned.

Even although her older sister Lola wasn’t together with her this time to assist run it again within the 200-yard freestyle relay, serving to the Wolves repeat within the finals with a first-place time of 1:37.51 was nonetheless sweeter than profitable her particular person titles.

“To defend it with a new group of younger ladies is really exciting and gives me hope for this team in the future,” Woodward mentioned.

Eagle River sophomore Keira Gust received the 100-yard breaststroke with a mark of 58.43. Junior Lelaina Trembath defended her title within the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:05.50, and beat out final 12 months’s state champion within the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.68.

“Our team is really like a family, and I think of them all like my little sisters, and to see them have success is really cool,” Woodward mentioned.

While the Juneau-Douglas women weren’t in a position to overtake Eagle River for the highest spot, they nonetheless had a number of spectacular particular person and collaborative performances.

The Crimson Bears began the finals off with a record-breaking first-place end within the 200-yard medley relay. Their time of 1:46.03 topped the earlier document of 1:46.75, which was set by their 2014 group.

“We all did really well and better than I thought we were going to do,” junior Lily Francis mentioned. “I didn’t even know we’d have a chance at the state record, so I’m really excited about it. I thought we were going to get second place.”

She swam the freestyle a part of the relay and went on to win a person state title within the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.31.

“I didn’t get a best time, but all that matters is getting points for my team,” Francis mentioned.

She and her teammate, senior Valerie Peimann — who obtained most excellent swimmer honors — have been on the 400-yard freestyle relay group that got here in first with a time of three:35.63.

Senior Kensley Denmon helped Service sweep the diving titles by topping her program-record-breaking efficiency from areas. After besting the Cougars’ earlier prime rating — which stood for 33 years — final week, she outdid herself and eked previous Colony junior Claire Wallstrum with a mark of 458.25.

“It means so much to me,” Denmon mentioned. “I started diving four years ago, and I was not that good and didn’t even make it to state. Sophomore year, I didn’t even make it to finals, so winning state my senior year was everything that I was looking forward to.”

Former Service record-holder Amy Priest flew up and personally congratulated Denmon on the accomplishment, and cheered her on throughout the first day of the state championship motion.

“It was the coolest thing ever,” Denmon mentioned.

State Swimming and Diving Championships

At Bartlett High School pool

Team scores

Girls

1. Eagle River High School, 131. 2 Juneau-Douglas High School, 116. 3. Dimond High, 47.

Boys

1. West Valley High School, 69. 2. Colony High School, 63. 3. Ketchikan High School, 62.

Individual

Girls 200-yard medley relay

1. Juneau-Douglas High School (Valerie Peimann, Kennedy Miller, Amy Liddle, Lily Francis), 1:46.03; * NEW STATE RECORD (earlier document 1:46.75, Juneau-Douglas, 2014) 2. Eagle River High School, 1:46.40; 3. West Valley High School, 1:51.44.

Boys 200-yard medley relay

1. West Valley High School (Quenton Rodgers, Cedar Robichaud, Zen Schaetzle, Haoran Zhang), 1:35.44; 2. Juneau-Douglas High School, 1:38.68; 3. Dimond High School, 1:39.15.

Girls 200-yard freestyle

1. Trembath, Lelaina, Eagle River, 1:54.68; 2. Trembath, Sophia, Eagle River, 1:56.06; 3. Price, Abigail, Kenai, 1:56.36.

Boys 200-yard freestyle

1. Fazio, Blake, Chugiak, 1:39.44 * NEW STATE RECORD (earlier document 1:39.78, Talon Lindquist, Kodiak, 2016); 2. Hubert, Cody, Kodiak, 1:42.20; 3. Tow, Logan, Petersburg, 1:43.48.

Girls 200-yard IM

1. Woodward, Reese, Eagle River, 2:06.02; 2. Liddle, Amy, Juneau-Douglas, 2:06.43; 3. Heaphy, Anna, Eagle River, 2:12.39.

Boys 200-yard IM

1. Shockley, Nate, Eagle River, 1:58.24; 2. Harold, Gavin, Ketchikan, 1:59.98; 3. Martens, Zach, Sitka, 2:00.45.

Girls 50-yard freestyle

1. Francis, Lily, Juneau-Douglas, 24.31; 2. Kass, Maizy, Dimond, 24.47; 3. Gust, Keira, Eagle River, 24.70.

Boys 50-yard freestyle

1. Kopp, Clint, Dimond, 20.58; 2. Schaetzle, Zen, West Valley, 21.05; 3. Gates, Iver, Colony, 21.30.

Girls 1-meter diving

1. Denmon, Kensley, Service, 458.25; 2. Wallstrum, Claire, Colony, 455.10; 3. Krozel, Lyza, Colony, 418.20.

Boys 1-meter diving

1. Williams, Reubin, Service, 445.35; 2. Woodward, Liam, Ketchikan, 420.30; 3. Gose, Colter, Wasilla, 380.35.

Girls 100-yard butterfly

1. Woodward, Reese, Eagle River, 55.74; 2. Liddle, Amy, Juneau-Douglas, 57.07; 3. Benner, Kylie, Palmer, 58.69.

Boys 100-yard butterfly

1. Fazio, Blake, Chugiak, 49.79; 2. Schaetzle, Zen, West Valley, 49.93; 3. Kopp, Clint, Dimond, 50.46.

Girls 100-yard freestyle

1. Peimann, Valerie, Juneau-Douglas, 52.26; 2. Trembath, Sophia, Eagle River, 53.23; 3. Francis, Lily, Juneau-Douglas, 54.17.

Boys 100-yard freestyle

1. Tow, Logan, Petersburg, 46.54; 2. LaBoucane, Beck, Colony, 47.10; 3. Gates, Iver, Colony, 47.35.

Girls 500-yard freestyle

1. Trembath, Lelaina, Eagle River, 5:05.50; 2. Cooper, Hannah, Colony, 5:15.87; 3. Rumph, Caitlyn, Eagle River, 5:19.91.

Boys 500-yard freestyle

1. Hubert, Cody, Kodiak, 4:40.90; 2. Shockley, Nate, Eagle River, 4:50.13; 3. Martens, Zach, Sitka, 4:52.17.

Girls 200-yard freestyle relay

1. Eagle River High School (Reese Woodward, Keira Gust, Anna Heaphy, Sophia Trembath), 1:37.51; 2. South Anchorage High School, 1:40.85; 3. Dimond High School, 1:41.24.

Boys 200-yard freestyle relay

1. Dimond High School (Clint Kopp, Creed Cvancara, Andy Zhang, Dax O’Brien), 1:27.08; 2. West Valley High School, 1:27.70; 3. Colony High School, 1:27.88.

Girls 100-yard backstroke

1. Gust, Keira, Eagle River, 58.43; 2. Fleming, Taryn, Sitka, 59.36; 3. Cooper, Hannah, Colony, 59.40.

Boys 100-yard backstroke

1. LaBoucane, Beck, Colony, 52.55; 2. Kiessling, Liam, Juneau-Douglas, 53.20; 3. Rodgers, Quenton, West Valley, 54.65.

Girls 100-yard breaststroke

1. Peimann, Valerie, Juneau-Douglas, 1:04.85; 2. Brooks, Anna, Service, 1:06.06; 3. Tow, Lexie, Petersburg, 1:07.33.

Boys 100-yard breaststroke

1. Dash, Evan, Ketchikan, 59.30; 2. Fencil, Griffin, South Anchorage, 1:00.44; 3. Robichaud, Cedar, West Valley, 1:00.99.

Girls 400-yard freestyle relay

1. Juneau-Douglas High School (Amy Liddle, Lily Francis, Kaelyn Szefler, Valerie Peimann), 3:35.63; 2. Eagle River High School, 3:41.58; 3. Robert Service High School, 3:46.85.

Boys 400-yard freestyle relay

1. Sitka High School (Tommy McCarthy, James Nellis, Zach Martens, Corin Colliver), 3:12.86; 2. Ketchikan High School, 3:14.48; 3. Colony High School, 3:15.31.