BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2022 A3
LOCAL
Brianna
Tragedy, and back to Baker
When Brianna was 12 and
just starting seventh grade, her
family returned to California.
Her mom, who worked for
the U.S. Forest Service, had
been offered a new job.
But less than a month later,
Sabrina Stadler died.
Gallstones affected her pan-
creas, Randy Stadler said. His
wife died just four days after
falling ill.
With two young daughters
to raise, he decided to return to
Baker City.
her performance in the pool.
After longtime BHS coach
Paula Moe decided to step
down this season, Randy
Stadler agreed to replace her
as coach.
Brianna said that although
her dad has always supported
her — starting with building
that buoy for the mill pond —
having him as coach has in-
spired her.
“I really like having him
push me,” she said. “I feel like
I’ve improved more this year.
He’s been a big motivation the
past few years, pushing me to
keep going.”
That includes during the
pandemic, when extended
closures of Sam-O Swim Cen-
ter — the only local pool —
forced Brianna to don a wet
suit and return, in a sense, to
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald where she started in that mill
Brianna Stadler works on her butterfly technique on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, at Sam-O Swim Center in Baker City. Stadler has won state titles in
pond.
Brianna swam at both Phil-
both the butterfly and the backstroke, and she will compete in both events, in the 100-yard races, at the state meet on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022.
lips Reservoir and, more im-
probably, in the Powder River
in Baker City, where she found
a reach with sufficient current
that she could swim against
it and basically remain in one
spot.
Brianna also credits Kate
Johnson, who swam at Oregon
State University and has been
assisting Randy Stadler with
the BHS team this year, with
helping to fine-tune her tech-
nique.
And in competitive swim-
ming, technique is at least as
important as pure physical
ability, Brianna said.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
She does a fair amount of
Brianna Stadler, a senior at Baker High School, has won four state
training outside the pool, to be
sure — riding a stationary bike
championships during her high school career.
for a cardiovascular workout,
using a rowing machine and
lifting weights for the upper
“I can’t run. It’s exhausting. Swimming
body strength that’s so vital for
is exhausting, too, but it uses completely
a swimmer.
But there is simply no sub-
different muscles. I realized I was going to go
stitute, she said, for actually
much faster in swimming.”
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald swimming.
Brianna Stadler prepares to start a backstroke practice session at
“If you want to be good at it
— Brianna Stadler
you just have to swim a lot of
Sam-O Swim Center in Baker City on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022.
yards,” she said. “You have to
Although her life had been
learn to control your body in
She knew her times in the
state record as a freshman — Grand Junction starting this
irrevocably changed, Brianna 100 backstroke gave her a good in favor of the 200 individual fall.
the water.”
still had one place where she
A swimmer who is in excel-
chance to win the event.
medley.
“It takes a little bit of pres-
could go, and where, at least
“Getting the record — I
But because the medley is
sure off, that I’m not finishing lent physical shape but lacks
briefly, it seemed that all was as didn’t even think about it,” she so demanding — twice the
my career,” Brianna said. “But technique will make a big
it had been.
said. “I didn’t even know what distance, and with all four
it still is my last time racing in splash — literally — but won’t
The pool.
move through the water very
the record was.”
strokes required — she felt
high school and in Oregon.”
“I think I was swimming to
But her dad did know.
that swimming in that event
Brianna plans to study psy- quickly, she said.
cope,” she said. “Being in the
As Brianna ponders the
And when she touched the
would make it harder for her chology and advertising at
water was my therapy. It was
conclusion of her decorated
wall at the end of the race and to compete for another state
Colorado Mesa.
something that I could con-
high school swimming career,
looked at the scoreboard show- title in the 100 backstroke.
She doesn’t have a specific
trol.”
ing her time, her dad was there,
So this year she focused
career goal, but she would like and prepares for graduation
After returning to Baker
telling her that the record was on the 100 butterfly and 100
to live somewhere with abun- and the move to Colorado and
new challenges, both academ-
City, Brianna said she started
hers.
backstroke.
dant outdoor recreation and
swimming faster.
The 2019 state meet was the
At the regional meet in Ma- work in a job that doesn’t have ically and athletically, she also
thinks back to the experiences
Her mom, she said, inspired only one when Brianna com-
dras on Feb. 12, Brianna easily a 9 to 5 routine. She said she
that brought her to Baker City,
her then, and does today.
peted with her sister, Corinna, won the 100 backstroke.
would prefer to run her own
and then brought her back.
“When I first started swim- who was a senior and is a stu-
In the 100 butterfly she was business or work for a small
She sits at a picnic table in
ming, my mom was around,”
dent now at Eastern Oregon
ahead for most of the race, but company.
the chilly February twilight
Brianna said. “When we went University. The sisters were
Adrienne Tam of Catlin Gabel
outside Sam-O Swim Center,
back to Baker, that’s when
members of two relay teams
overtook her just before the fi- Dad steps in as coach
In the tropical atmosphere
the pool where she honed her
I started doing really well. I
that swam at the meet.
nal touch of the wall.
inside Sam-O Swim Center on natural talent and where she
think my memories of her
“That was one of my favorite
Brianna said Tam trans-
pushed me.”
years swimming,” Brianna said. ferred to Catlin Gabel, a private the late afternoon of Tuesday, has spent so many hours toil-
Feb. 15, Brianna crouches on
ing in the unique atmosphere.
Although Brianna concedes school in Portland, this year.
High school, and state
the starting block at the west
Competitive swimming,
that her record-setting perfor- The two had not competed
end of the pool.
Brianna agrees, has something
mance in 2019 added pressure against each other before.
championships
As a freshman in the win-
She dives in, leaving the
in common with running.
to the rest of her high school
“She kind of came out of no-
ter of 2019, Brianna joined her swimming career, she contin-
scarcest of splashes, and by the
But runners can usually see
where,” Brianna said of Tam.
sister, Corinna, on the Baker
time she rises to the surface
their fellow competitors, sepa-
ued to excel.
“She’s fast.”
High School swim team.
In the 2020 state meet, as a
But Brianna said her goals at she’s already a few yards from rated only by open air.
At the state meet in Bea-
Racing in water is an alto-
sophomore, she won the 100-
the state meet are to swim cer- the wall. She glides through
verton that February, Brianna yard butterfly and placed sec-
the water with a smooth econ- gether different experience.
tain times — she’s not as con-
“It’s very mental,” Brianna
had a spectacular debut. Not
ond in the 100 backstroke.
cerned about whether she wins omy of movement that’s decid-
only did she win the 100-yard
edly different from the some- said. “And you have to push
The pandemic interrupted
two more state titles.
backstroke event, but she set a her junior year in 2021, push-
what awkward thrashing that yourself, physically.”
“Of course I would love to
new state record with a time of ing the state meet from Febru- win again,” she said with a
a less experienced swimmer
And although her future as a
56.54 seconds.
might display.
swimmer will play out mostly
ary to June.
smile.
She also placed third in the
In four days Brianna will
in other, bigger pools, she’ll al-
But that had no effect on Bri-
And although Brianna rec-
200-yard individual medley,
ways remember Sam-O, and
anna’s speed through the water. ognizes that this will be her fi- compete for Baker High
which consists of 50-yard seg- She won both the 100 butter-
School for the last time.
Baker City.
nal time competing for Baker
ments in freestyle, backstroke, fly and 200 individual medley High School, she also knows
Brianna’s senior year has
“Moving back was definitely
butterfly and breaststroke.
events, boosting her collection that her swimming career will been noteworthy not only for the smartest option.”
Looking back at that meet
of state titles to four.
continue.
three years ago, Brianna still
Brianna said she decided to
She signed a letter of intent
seems surprised at what she
forego the 100 backstroke — in November to compete for
accomplished.
the event in which she set the Colorado Mesa University in
Design
Unions
Continued from Page A1
She was training for her first
triathlon, an event that in-
cludes running, bicycling and
swimming.
The swimming segment was
50 meters.
Brianna’s dad, Randy, had
built a sort of buoy that he an-
chored in the pond about 50
meters from shore.
“That’s the first time I ever
remember actually trying to do
a stroke,” Brianna, who’s now
17, said.
It wasn’t until she moved to
Baker City, though, that Bri-
anna swam her first lap in an
actual pool.
She was 8 when her family
moved — her dad, her mom,
Sabrina, and her older sister,
Corinna.
Although Corinna started
swimming competitively, Bri-
anna didn’t immediately fol-
low her older sibling to Sam-O
Swim Center.
But her dad insisted that
Brianna participate in at least
one sport.
She chose swimming.
“I wasn’t very good,” she
says with the sort of laugh that
a four-time state champion,
who on Saturday, Feb. 19, will
seek her fifth and sixth titles,
can muster when reminiscing
about her humble beginnings.
“I wasn’t very fast. But I did
like hanging out with people
and going to swim meets. My
best friends were also on the
team, and I liked spending so
much time with them.”
What she didn’t like was
running.
She tried track. Briefly.
“I can’t run,” she said, laugh-
ing. “It’s exhausting. Swim-
ming is exhausting, too, but it
uses completely different mus-
cles. I realized I was going to
go much faster in swimming.”
Brianna continued to com-
pete for Baker’s club team for
about four years.
She was 12 when she real-
ized that not only did she enjoy
swimming, but she might have
a talent for the sport.
It was at an outdoor meet
— either Pendleton or Walla
Walla; she doesn’t recall for
sure which — when she “fi-
nally got a cut time.”
That means she swam fast
enough to qualify for high-
er-level competition.
The event was one at which,
five years later, she continues
to excel — the butterfly.
That’s the somewhat awk-
ward-looking — and abso-
lutely exhausting — stroke
where the swimmer, rather
than alternating arms as in
freestyle or backstroke, lifts
both arms clear of the water si-
multaneously and then plunges
both hands into the water.
From then on, swimming
was Brianna’s sport.
“I never played a sport that
has a ball in it,” she said with
a smile.
Continued from Page A1
• Upgrading security
and access control at all
schools, including im-
proved security cameras,
fire alarms and public ad-
dress systems, as well as
key card systems and door
sensors to control access.
The district will also cre-
ate secure entry vestibules
at Brooklyn and South
Baker.
• Replacing the leak-
prone roof at South Baker.
More information about
the bond projects is avail-
able at www.bakersdbond.
org/.
KIWANIS STUDENT
June 30, 2020, but the City
Council twice approved one-
year extensions, the last con-
Continued from Page A1
tinuing the contract through
“They’re on a rotating sched- June 30, 2022.
The public works union’s
ule,” Cannon said. “They typ-
three-year contract, approved
ically have run three-year
contracts and they expire alter- in 2019, expires the same day.
Cannon said city officials
natingly.”
have been negotiating with the
That means the city doesn’t
firefighters union since 2021,
have to negotiate two or three
and those talks continue.
contracts in one year.
“We’re still in discussions
This year, however, the city
does have two of the three con- about some of the particulars
of the contract and we hope to
tracts expiring June 30, 2022.
Those are for the Baker City
Professional Firefighters union,
and the Baker City Employees
Association, which represents
public works employees.
The contract with the fire-
fighters was slated to expire
Pat & Nadine Guymon
would like to thank everyone for all the cards,
flowers, and phone calls for their 70th wedding
anniversary. How special we feel to have so many
close and loving friends!
Love and God’s Blessings to all!
wrap those up sometime this
year,” Cannon said.
Negotiations are also un-
derway with the public works
union, and Cannon expects to
have a contract proposal this
spring for the City Council to
consider.
“We anticipate we’ll finish
those this year pretty handily,”
Cannon said.
Negotiations with the po-
lice union will likely start next
year, as that contract continues
through June 30, 2023.
Wayne Erickson
To our
We,
the “extended
family of family of Baker City,” thank you ,
for all of your love, prayers, and support. We are
wish to thank everyone for the cards, flowers,
so blessed because of you all! Also, thank you to
food,
memorial
outpouring
Windy
at Gray’s contributions,
West & Co. for and
going
above and
of
love
and
support
during
our
recent
time
of
beyond and to Rick Gloria for representing
a fellow
sadness. You are
so
appreciated!
Sharla,
Jason,
veteran! God is good!
Staci, and Robin Erickson.
The family of Troy Stewart
OF THE MONTH
F
E
B
R
U
A
R
Y
Junior at
Baker High
School.
Tristan
Curry
Baker City Kiwanis
Freshman at
Baker High
School.
Glen
Taylor
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