In a wave of unprecedented  time drops by the entire swim team, the freestyle relay team with Justin Hedemark, Casey Meudt, Casey Pyke and Kyle Whipps swam all the way to a qualifying spot at the State Championships in Corvallis, February 20 and 21. Hedemark also qualified individually in the 100 yard backstroke and the 200 yard Individual Medley.

Teams with over 200 swimmers representing eleven 3A, 2A and 1A high schools competed at the District 3 Championships in Albany Friday, February 13 and 14.

The Outlaw girls “A” team with Andie Lesowske, Bree White, Kate Canja and Jillian McConville started off the prelims in the 200 yds. Medley Relay with a bang. Seeded 14th, they improved their entry time by eleven seconds and moved into 10th place, qualifying for Consolation Finals the next day. Their final time of 2:21.21 was another four seconds faster and good enough for 8th place overall.

Casey Meudt led the boys medley relay team in the backstroke, followed by Morgan Mansker in the breaststroke, Justin Hedemark in the butterfly and Kyle Whipps in the freestyle to a new Sisters High School record. The prelim time of 1:58.00 put them in 4th place for Championship Finals, close enough to challenge 3rd place Cascade. Inspite of their incredible efforts, the Outlaws could not quite catch the Cougars and ended the race 0.79 seconds behind and in 4th place overall.

Four Outlaws were entered in the 200 yard freestyle event. Rikki Glick won the first heat of the prelims with a 12 second time drop from the Redmond meet just a week ago. Glick finished with a time of 2:48.41 ahead of Andie Lesowske and Kat Diener. The fourth competitor in this event was eighth seed Kate Canja. Canja bettered her entry time by more than two seconds and won  Consolation Finals on Saturday.

Justin Hedemark held fourth position in the Individual Medley from prelims to finals and his time of 2:21.26 made the qualifying cut for State Championships.

Over one hundred swimmers were entered in the 50 yards freestyle event. Six girls and five boys represented the Outlaws. Måren Burck won Heat 5 and Jillian McConville, Rachel Pilliod and Kalyn Brink raced each other in Heat 6, all finishing with best times. Morgan Mansker, Brandon Kinzie and Casey Pyke lowered their entry times during prelims in this race also. Casey Meudt won Heat 5 with a best time of 25.4 and a spot in Championship Finals. On Saturday, Meudt swam 25.26 and held third place behind Jordan Helms from Marist and Chris Edmonds from Philomath. Kyle Whipps finished third in Consolation Finals in 26.22 seconds.

Freshman Jessie Swaner and Sophomore Kat Diener were the only entries in the 100 yards butterfly. Swaner easily won her heat with a 15 second time drop and defended her number one position in Consolation Finals with a time of 1:21.34, edging out Stayton senior Stephanie Briney by 0.6 seconds. Diener finished in the second alternate spot for Consolation Finals.

In a field of forty-eight competitors, Kate Canja bettered her entry time in the 100 yard freestyle by 2.3 seconds, and swam her way into Consolation Finals once more. She finished in 12th position overall. Kyle Whipps touched the pad in 1:04.39 which landed him an alternate spot for another swim on Saturday. 

More relay action and true excitement came with events 15 and 16, the 200 yards freestyle relays. The Outlaws “B” team with Rachel Pilliod, Maren Burck, Rikki Glick and Bree White were the first to smash their entry time of 2:22.20 by almost 7 seconds. On the “A” team, Kate Canja  swam the lead with a season best of 29.8 seconds, followed by Kalyn Brink, Jessie Swaner and Jill McConville. Their combined  time of 2:04.77 was an improvement of more than four seconds and good enough for 4th place in Consolation Finals.

The boys’ relay with Justin Hedemark, Casey Pyke, Kyle Whipps and Casey Meudt swept their fiercest opponents, the Philomath Warriors, the Stayton Eagles and the Cascade Cougars in prelims with a 3.5 second drop from just a week ago at Redmond. Seeded third going into Championship finals, the Outlaws not only held on to their third place, but kept all three teams successfully at bay, and with a time of 1:41.42 earned a trip to the State Championships. Hedemark swam a new Sisters High School record in his segment with a time of 24.61.

Marist won the event with Junction City runner-up.

Måren Burck, Andie Lesowske and Aubyn Geser competed in event 17, the 100 yard backstroke. Best finisher was Burck with a time of 1:26.56 and second alternate position for Consolation Finals. On the boys’ side Casey Pyke made it into Consolation Finals with a time drop of more than three seconds and finished on Saturday with another improvement and a final time of 1:10.62. Casey Meudt swam into third place with 1:04.98, 3+ seconds faster than he had ever touched the wall before and Justin Hedemark bettered his entry time as well and secured his first place going into Championship Finals. The one-three seed for the Outlaws was definitely new territory for the boys and powerhouses Cascade and Sweet Home were gunning for them in the final heat. Hedemark led the entire way when second seed Brokaw, in a last ditch effort, produced a powerful finish into the wall and secured a first place with a time of 1:01.95 to Hedemark’s 1:02.34. Casey Meudt finished in fifth place. Brandon Kinzie finished 13th.

The last event contested by the Outlaws was the 100 yards breaststroke with Bree White, Jessie Swaner, Rachel Pilliod and Morgan Mansker challenging the competition. Bree White swam into Consolation Finals with a time drop of 5.33 seconds and bettered her seed time by another 0.86 seconds to a 1:27.61. Mansker had the best race of the season with a 4.02 second improvement and a most exciting last length of the pool, racing Stayton’s Jason Kintz. Mansker finished in 1:23.79 to Kintz’s 1:23.28.

Only first place finishes in each event are selected automatically for participation at the State Championships, thus representing the four districts. The remaining eight spots in each event are made up of the next eight fastest competitors from all 3A, 2A and 1A schools. This year marks the first time the Outlaws are sending a boys team to State.