The Outlaw swimmers racked up two first place finishes and several top six spots in an Invitational competition at the Stayton Community Pool on January 13.

 A slightly reduced team of six boys and seven girls garnered top places in the meet against Cascade, The Dalles, La Salle, Stayton and Mollala.

 Kate Canja finished first in the 200 meter freestyle event with a converted yard time of 2:20.9, a personal best by four seconds. Byron Womack added the other top place finish with his second attempt at the 100 meter distance in the freestyle. Getting off the blocks with a powerful start, Womack only let the competition come close in the third length of the distance but finished the job with more than one second lead over Jeff Kemp and Ben Novak from La Salle. Womack’s converted yard time of 57.8, a personal best, puts him in a good position for the district Championship line-up.

 The first event of the meet set the confidence level not only for the veteran swimmers but also for the novices on the team. Aubyn Geser led the 200 medley relay with a personal best of 38.2 in the backstroke, followed by Jessie Swaner in the breaststroke, Kate Canja in the butterfly and anchor Rachel Pilliod in the freestyle with a PR of 32.3. Their combined time of 2:25.30 put the group of girls in a solid third position behind The Dalles and Cascade.

 A combined “A” and “B” relay with Casey Pyke, Kyle Whipps, Tyler Young and Byron Womack followed with similar determination to swim into the top spots.  Casey Pyke pushed off on the back, Kyle Whipps added a fast breaststroke segment in 34.5, Tyler Young swam the butterfly in 32.10 and Byron Womack brought the relay home in a personal best of 24.8. Only La Salle and the Stayton Eagles finished ahead of the Outlaws.

 Tyler Young turned around almost immediately to swim one of the more difficult events in the competition, the 200 meter individual medley. He swam a solid race in a time of 2:43 which put him fifteen hundreds of a second behind David Patty from Stayton. La Salle’s James Hanson and The Dalles’ Jordan Davis finished first and second respectively.

 Kate Canja added a third place to her accomplishments with a personal best of 29.5 seconds in the 50 meter freestyle. One and a half seconds separated the top three girls. Chelsea Flanders and Aubyn Geser competed in the same event. On the boys side, Kyle Whipps finished third in the same event, barely one second slower than first place finisher Naoya Kita from Stayton. Justin Dean and Clifton Williams were the other 50 meter freestyle competitors.

 Jessie Swaner was the only Outlaw entered in the 100 meter butterfly and finished fourth with a personal best of 1:21.1.

 The girls added a fifth place in the 200 m freestyle relay to the team score. Kate Canja led the group, followed by Chelsea Flanders, Rachel Pilliod and Jessie Swaner. On the boys’ side it was again a combination of “A” and “B” relay teams that swam into fourth behind La Salle, Cascade and Stayton. Womack started off with a PR of 24.4, followed by Justin Dean, Casey Pyke and Kyle Whipps.

 In the backstroke Aubyn Geser improved her old time by a whole second and Tori Carlson competed for the first time in this event, setting a very respectable base time. Casey Pyke followed with a PR of 1:13.

 The last event for the Outlaws was the 100 meter breaststroke. Jessie Swaner, Rachel Pilliod, Byron Womack and Tyler Young swam outstanding races. Swaner finished third with a personal best behind Jenee Young from Cascade and Meredith Fong from La Salle. Pilliod had a five second time drop from the December meet at Sweet Home and clocked 1:32.6. Womack, in his first attempt at the 100 meter breaststroke finished fourth in a time of 1:23.5 behind two swimmers from La Salle and Ryan Crowther of Stayton. Tyler Young was right behind with a 1:24.10. All times have been converted from meter times to yard times.

 The next competition is set for January 21 again at Stayton with teams from North Marion, Mollala, Cascade and the host. District Championships are scheduled for February 11 and 12 at the Aquatic Center at South Albany High School.