WRESTLING  SWIMMING
New pool, new team, new hopes for Seaside
By GARY HENLEY
Seaside Signal
Gary Henley
Seaside wrestler Aidan Tice returns for his junior season with the Gulls.
Healthy numbers for Seaside
By GARY HENLEY
Seaside Signal
Oregon class 4A high school wrestling:
One more sport with a state champion from
the Cowapa League.
For the most part, Tillamook dominated
the 4A ranks last year. The Cheesemakers
won the District 1/4A meet by 250 points
over their nearest competitor, then won the
team title at state with 264.5 points, the most
scored by any state champion last year.
Seaside will be among the other four
Cowapa League teams chasing the Cheese-
makers. And the Gulls have just as good a
chance as any other team.
“We are returning two state qualifiers,
including a fifth-place finisher,” says Sea-
side coach Dan Taylor. “We have at least five
returning wrestlers who have realistic goals
of qualifying for state.
“We hope to at least double our state qual-
ifiers and have more than one placer,” he
said. “Our numbers have improved, includ-
ing two female athletes. Outside of our top
six or seven, we have several promising, but
inexperienced athletes.”
The returning state qualifiers are seniors
Luke Nelson and Andrew Gastelum.
Gastelum placed third at 120 pounds in
the District 1/4A meet, pinning Ernie Pre-
ciado of Woodburn in a quarterfinal match,
before Tillamook’s Quintin Metcalfe scored
a fall over Gastelum in the semifinals.
Gastelum pinned two straight in conso-
lation to lock up a spot at state, where he
THE WRESTLERS
(approximate weights)
Everett Rollins, 145/152
Carson Taylor, 106/113
Aidan Tice, 152/160
Johnathon Kenenunis,
113/120
Natalie Mayes, 160/170
Xander Knox, 113/120
Whitney Brown, 165
Dillon Ledford, 113/120
Cesar, David Cruz Gas-
par, 170/182
Dakota Mathison, 113/120
Diego Silva-Villa, 170/182
Aikino Kershaw, 120/126
Sam Taylor, 170/182
Damien Vidales, 120/126
Tyler Tackitt, 182/195
Naiomi Upega Leon,
120/126
Lawson Talamantez,
182/195
Cole Biamont, 126/132
David Toyooka, 182/195
Axel Garcia Mota,
126/132
Luke Nelson, 195/220
Frederick Hoeffliger,
126/132
Andrew Gastelum,
132/138
Jeremiah Stanley,
195/220
Forrest Tice, 195/220
Gunnar Knox, 285
Terra Wolden, TBA
opened with a pin (3:04) against Mazama’s
Brycen Johnson.
Seaside’s top returner is Nelson, who fin-
ished second at 220 in the district meet, high-
lighted by a 7-1 decision over Tillamook’s
Dawson McKibbin in the semifinals.
Once he took the mat at the state meet in
Portland, Nelson continued his winning with
a first round, 8-2 decision over Lincoln Clark
of La Grande.
Seaside’s two opening round victories at
state were the first wins for the Gulls in state
competition since 2006.
Gastelum was eventually pinned in the
quarterfinals but bounced back with one con-
solation victory, while Nelson had one more
meeting with McKibbin, who he defeated
9-1 in the fifth-place match at state.
Time for some rebuilding in the water
— in and around the pool — for the Sea-
side swim program.
After a more than a monthlong closure,
the Seaside pool has been re-filled, with
water and swimmers, and the Gulls are
ready to go for the 2019-20 season.
The Sunset Pool was officially reopened
Nov. 25.
(The closure came after the learner pool
failed to comply with an Oregon Health
Authority code for public water systems,
leading to the possibility of cross contam-
ination between the learner pool and main
pool.)
The first official day of winter sports
practice was Nov. 18, which left the Sea-
side swim team without a home pool for
the first week. Instead, the Gulls held some
practices at the Astoria Aquatic Center
(what are friendly rivals for?) and did some
conditioning.
The pool has been upgraded with under-
water lighting, and the entire filtration sys-
tem for the lap pool was replaced, allowing
the district to keep a cleaner and more effi-
cient body of water. The project work was
estimated at $90,000.
Meanwhile, Seaside swim coach Shane
Spell is handling the rebuilding job for the
Gulls.
Seaside has 15 new swimmers in the
program, “and the whole team has been
working hard for a big season,” Spell said.
“They handled the first week without a
home pool really well, getting some dry
land work in and a couple of practices in
at Astoria Aquatic Center, and have really
taken advantage of being back in the home
pool and getting ready for our first meet
(Dec. 7).”
Despite their fourth place team finish
in the district meet last season, the Seaside
girls still had their share of success and
state qualifiers.
The Gulls’ foursome of Kendy Lin,
Kaisa Liljenwall, Anna Huddleston and
Nicole Blankenhorn highlighted Seaside’s
meet by winning the 200-yard freestyle
relay in a season-best 1 minute, 52.46 sec-
onds — which they trimmed to 1:50.21 in
the preliminaries at state.
Lin also qualified for the state meet with
her fourth-place time (1:07.87) in the 100-
yard backstroke. Lin did not qualify for the
finals at state, but did set a personal best
time of 1:06.63 in the backstroke.
Hailey Hoffman
Seaside freshman Logan Dennis in the
pool.
THE SWIMMERS
GIRLS
Logan Dennis, Fr.
Brooke Blankenhorn, Jr.
Leif DeWinter, Jr.
Nicole Blankenhorn, So.
Adrian Dzul-Fisher, So.
Ashley Conrad, Sr.
Henry Garvin, Jr.
Ashlee Fraser, Jr.
Ben Hagman, Sr.
Linnea Hagman, So.
Justin Hallocks, So.
Sarah Kelley, Fr.
Sam Heroux, So.
Kaisa Liljenwall, Sr.
Cameron Lippert, Jr.
Tori Rehnert, Fr.
Liam Matlock, So.
Taryn Shay, So.
Max Matviyenko, Sr.
Sofia Shipley, Fr.
Masyn McCullock, Fr.
Sarah Sills, Jr.
Sean Olea, So.
Kara Spell, Sr.
Ethan Olson, Jr.
Annika Wunderlich, So.
Aiden Ousley, So.
BOYS
Elliot Ousley, So.
Westin Carter, Jr.
Leif Rehnert, So.
Patrick Chapman, Jr.
Lucas Thompson, Jr.
Shawn Collins, Jr.
Luke Verley, So.
Lin and Huddleston will be among those
who will be missed this season. Liljenwall
(a student at Warrenton High School) and
Blankenhorn both return.
“We graduated nine seniors last year,
including state qualifiers Kendy Lin and
Anna Huddleston,” Spell said. “Big shoes
to fill.”
The Seaside boys have 21 swimmers on
the pre-season roster, with just two seniors.
The Lady Gulls have 13 swimmers, with
three seniors.
“We had a good group of sophomore
guys swimming most of the off-season,
so that should really help their progress,”
Spell said.the coach. “Tons of potential this
year. We just need to make every practice
count.”
The swimmers, Spell said, “are pushing
each other, and we’ll just see what happens
as the season kicks off and we aim towards
districts (Feb. 14-15 at Newport) and then
getting swimmers to state,” the following
weekend at Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center.
SeasideSignal.com • 7