In his second attempt to replace the old breaststroke record, established by Scott Schreiner in 2001, Brian Greaney swam an outstanding 100 meter breaststroke race during the January 10 meet at Stayton. Greaney finished first in this event and clocked a time of 1:11.24, which was 0.06 seconds faster than the old record.

The Sisters High School girls finished in second place behind Cascade and the boys were only beaten by a strong team from Gladstone. “It was our competition’s depth and their ability to fill each event with the maximum number of athletes that kept us in second place,” coach Hedemark commented.

Nevertheless, both girls and boys brought home several first place finishes.

A very strong medley relay team with veteran swimmers and State Championship top finishers Brittany Baldessari, Felicia Pledger and Courteney Satko swam outstanding splits and senior Chelsea Flanders demonstrated that she will definitely be in the top during the upcoming District Championships. The relay finished first with a time of 2:09.1. The “B” medley with Johnson, Cretsinger, Berg and Valdez were 6^th and the “C” relay with Carlson, Claire Greaney, Wavrin and Norman were 10^th out of 14 participating relays.

The boys’ medley relay “A” followed suit in a tightly contested event against Cascade’s top group of swimmers. Greaney, Herron, Sellentin and Duvenick raced outstanding segments and out-touched their competition by 0.28 seconds for first place.

Brian Greaney added another first place in the 200 meter freestyle in which his closest competition, Gladstone’s Corey McCormick was 14 seconds behind.

Event 6, the boys 200 meter Individual Medley, went to the Outlaws as well. Holden Sellentin, another one of Sisters’ top all-round swimmers, kept his closest rival, Gladstone’s senior Telli Philo at bay and finished in first place with a best time of 2:27.40. Sellentin’s time is already 5 seconds faster than his District Championship time last year.

The fifth first place finish for the Outlaws was earned by a good performance of senior backstroker, Brittany Baldessari, who kept Stayton’s freshman Megan Sills from touching the pad first. Baldessari’s time was 0.41 seconds faster than her rival’s and will certainly be significantly faster at District Championships, as Baldessari is quite capable of kicking it into the second gear.

Chelsea Flanders followed with a well deserved first place in the 100 meter breaststroke. Flanders swam a perfectly paced race with a powerful start and finish. Flanders came in 5.4 seconds ahead of her closest rival and put 9 other competitors in their place.

Not only did the Outlaws win several events, they also finished in second place in many others. One of the Outlaws’ top freestyle sprinters, Courteney Satko, was the fastest 50 meter swimmer of the day. She clocked a yard time of 27.54 ahead of Felicia Pledger 27.57 and Brittany Baldessari 27.69. Their only real competition in this event was Crystal Kibby, Cascade’s freestyle phenom and last year’s District Champion in the 100 yards breaststroke.

Felicia Pledger came in second in the 100 meter freestyle, with Courteney Satko close behind. Pledger’s converted time was 1:02.2 and Satko’s 1:02.8.

The “A” team of the 200 meter freestyle relay with Baldessari, Flanders, Satko and Pledger had to succumb to Cascade’s freestylers, but definitely left the rest of the competition behind.” Even though the Outlaws’ second place time was not yet close to their best from last year, all of them showed fantastic spirit in their individual legs.” Coach Hedemark.  

Holden Sellentin finished the meet with another second place finish for the Sisters team. His time of 1:08.3 in the 100 meter backstroke was also a personal best by one second. The next meet for the Outlaws is on January 18 against Mollala, Stayton and Cascade.