Sisters High School swimmers made a statement at Stayton in a non scoring, four way meet on Saturday, December 18, that they have several athletes who will be competitive during the District Championships this season. 

The Cascade Relay Meet included swimmers from Valley Catholic, Dallas, Cascade and Sisters and its format gave each team the option of swimming mixed boys and girls relays in 20 events. Only the 400 m Medley Relay, the 200 m Medley Relay and the 4x50 m Free Relay had a mandatory  two girls-two boys configuration. 

Sisters did not enter the first event but fielded a strong combination for event number 2, the 200 m Medley Relay. Chelsea Durdan-Shaw led the Outlaws with an outstanding backstroke leg in 37.6 seconds, followed by Seth Perrine in the breaststroke in a 43.5 second race. Converted to yard times, Seth came within 0.04 seconds of last year's district time, an incredible time for the beginning of the season. HilaryHedemark connected with a fast butterfly leg in 33.3 seconds and Kevin Carlsmith anchored the relay with his 29.7 second freestyle into first place for the Outlaws. 

Another victory for the Outlaws was event # 4, the  4x50 m Freestyle with Hedemark, Mansker, Durdan-Shaw and Whipps. First year swimmer Adam Guggenheim helped veterans Hilary Hedemark, Chelsea Durdan-Shaw and Jamie Cundiff to yet another first place finish. 

Relay # 7 was the 300 m Backstroke event in which the first and third swimmers completed 100 meters, the second and fourth competitors 50 meters each. Inspite of her ongoing recovery from shoulder surgery this summer, Hilary Hedemark came within a second of last year's district entry time and Chelsea Durdan-Shaw swam a second faster than during  last year's district finals. Jamie Cundiff improved her split from a 39.6 to 38.5 from the meet in Sweet Home two weeks ago. Jacquelien Mansker, Dana Hughie, Anna Evered and Jessica Durham turned in solid performances in several breaststroke relays.

from left: Jacquelien Mansker, Adam Guggenheim, Jessica Durham, Heidi Whipps and Anna Evered