An almost complete girls and boys team competed January 11 against the Cascade Cougars and the Stayton Eagles at the Community Pool in Stayton.

          Not only did several Sisters High School records fall again, but the boys won the team competition with 108 points over Cascade (71) and Stayton (54) and the girls came in second behind Cascade. Several girls and boys won events and numerous personal records made this meet successful for most swimmers, inspite of the very slow meter pool.

          The foursome of Britanny Baldessari (backstroke), Courtney Satko (breaststroke), Jessie Swaner (butterfly) and anchor Felicia Pledger (freestyle) outswam archrival Cascade by almost two seconds to win the event in a converted time of 2:06.09, a new Sisters High School record.

          Hilary Johnson, Chelsea Flanders, Tori Carlson and Jordyn Valdez competed in the same event, achieving personal bests in their individual strokes.

          Brian Greaney led the boys in the medley relay with a good backstroke leg, followed by Drew Herron in the breaststroke, Justin Dean in the butterfly (PR 37.7) and Thad Anderson in the freestyle (PR 27.8), to a winning time of 2:11.6. The “C” relay with Brown, Callan, Scott and Stuwe finished fourth for valuable team points.

          Event 3 featured Hilary Johnson and Kathleen Greaney in the 200 m freestyle. Both girls swam excellent races within two seconds of each other and good enough for third and fourth place. The Outlaws had no boys enter this event.

          Freshman, Courtney Satko, one of the big talents for Sisters High School Swimming, swam to a second place finish and personal best in the 200 m Individual Medley. Chelsea Flanders joined Satko in the same event and dropped more than 11 seconds off her best, touching the wall at 3:00.39. The boys did not enter the Individual Medley event.

          Britanny Baldessari, freestyle sprinter and backstroke expert, defeated the fourteen swimmer strong competition and finished first in the 50 m freestyle with a (converted) time of 27.5 seconds. Kathleen Greaney, Aubrey Cretsinger and Taylor DelGuidice competed in the same event. Newcomer Thad Anderson came dangerously close to winning this event also, but succumbed in the end to Stayton’s Jacob Brinlee by a mere 0.7 seconds. Anderson’s time represents a personal best (28.05). Justin Duvenick was barely one second behind for a well deserved third place. Dylan Stuwe, Billy Sampson, Nick Luz and Travis Myrick were also entered in this event.

          Event 9, the 100 m butterfly, featured Jessie Swaner, Jake Scott and Justin Dean. Swaner swam the fastest time (PR 1:18.4), last years 6^th fastest District Championship time. Scott was second and Dean third among the boys.

          Felicia Pledger had little competition in her outstanding 100 m freestyle race. She finished the event in 59.23 seconds ahead of Cascade’s Dayna Young, Britanny Baldessari, Lauren Littrell and Sara Oliver. Brian Greaney continued the winning streak on the boys’ side with a fantastic swim and new Sisters High School record (54.03). Greaney’s time replaces Justin Hedemark’s 2003 record and is well within the top six times in our district.

          The Outlaws added another first with Jessie Swaner’s effort in the 400 m freestyle. She finished the race more than three seconds ahead of her Cascade competitors. There were no entries on the boys’ side.

          The most competitive race was decidedly the 200 m freestyle relay with Britanny Baldessari in the lead, followed by Jessie Swaner, Courtney Satko and Felicia Pledger.  The Outlaw girls missed their own record (1:51.30) by one second and touched the wall 0.02 seconds behind Cascade High School.  For the top three spots, this event will definitely be one of the most closely contested at District Championships. Last year’s winning time was 1:48+ and third place 1:51.

          The boys, on the other hand, had no trouble defeating Cascade and Stayton for first place. Brian Greaney, captain of the boys, lead his group with a 25.2 second segment, followed by Thad Anderson (28.6), Allan Schaad (28.2) and Justin Duvenick (28.6) to a well deserved victory in the 200 m freestyle relay. Cascade followed in second place, six seconds behind. The Outlaws “B” team with Eli Callan, Justin Dean, Dylan Stuwe and Drew Herron finished 4^th and the “C” team with Travis Myrick, Billy Sampson, Nick Luz and Eric Brown was 6^th.

          Both 100 m backstroke events went to the Outlaws. Felicia Pledger clearly won with a time of 1:12.2, ten seconds ahead of Cascade’s Shalane Glidewell and Brian Greaney set another Sisters High School record with his effort of 58.13 seconds. He replaces Justin Hedemark’s time of 58.72, third fastest at 2005 State Championships. “Greaney’s chances to swim into the top at this year’s State competition are excellent”, coach Hedemark commented.

          Allan Schaad, although disqualified for an illegal finish, swam the second fastest time in this event. Schaad shows great promise in all strokes.

          Chelsea Flanders, Jordyn Valdez, Drew Herron and Eli Callan competed in the 100 m breaststroke. Top finisher was Drew Herron with a second place and a personal best of 1:26.21.

          The Outlaw boys clinched first place overall with their final performance in the 400 freestyle relay, squeaking by the Stayton Eagles with 0.6 seconds. Eric Brown, Justin Dean, Jake Scott and Justin Duvenick swam excellent segments. Top performer was Justin Duvenick with a 1:10.9. The “B” relay with Dylan Stuwe, Travis Myrick, Drew Herron and Thad Anderson was third.

          The Outlaws travel back to Stayton on January 19 for an invitational meet, hosted by the Stayton Eagles.

SHS SWIM TEAM 2006-07