Wednesday, February 14, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
5
Swim team sends qualifiers to State
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
The Sisters High School
girls swim team will be send-
ing a solid contingent to the
OSAA State Swimming
Championships this week-
end 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 perfor-
mances 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 med-
ley 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 qualify-
ing 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 perfor-
mances,” 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, includ-
ing 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 sea-
son,” 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.
PHOTO BY KATIE KERANEN
Hawley Harrer, Meredith Mandal, Brooke Robillard and Lydia Bartlett are
going to State.
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