A highly motivated group of Outlaw swimmers came, saw and conquered the competition in individual and relay events that paved their way to the State Championships at Mt. Hood Community College February 16 and 17.

Well prepared and focused, the girls’ medley relay team with Brittany Baldessari, Courteney Satko, Jessie Swaner and Felicia Pledger set the tone for the rest of the meet.

Seeded first after Friday’s preliminary races, the girls’ foursome fought off their arch rivals Philomath, Sweet Home and the number 2 seed, a very determined and restructured Marist team until the very end. Felicia Pledger raced as anchor an incredible freestyle segment and almost caught the Marist alternate, senior Ginny Anderson, at the wall. Marist won the event with a time of 2:02.48 and the Outlaws earned silver with a time of 2:02.97. This represents an almost four second time drop from their season best and establishes a new Sisters High School record.

The girls’ “B” team with Hillary Johnson, Chelsea Flanders, Tori Carlson and Jordyn Valdez were seated 13^th after prelims and did not qualify for championship or consolation finals. Chelsea Flanders and Jordyn Valdez swam personal bests in their segments.

Possibly turned on by the girls’ success in the medley relay and the proximity to third place and a medal, the boys put on a stellar performance that ended in personal bests from the day before. Drew Herron swam an incredible breaststroke in 37.1 (PR) seconds and Holden Sellentin, asked to swim all out on his butterfly, shaved two whole seconds off for a PR of 29.95. The boys held fourth place comfortably (2:01.58) behind Sweet Home, Marist and Philomath (1:59.27).

The boys’ “B” medley relay with Allan Schaad, Jake Scott, Justin Dean and Dylan Stuwe finished 6^th in consolation finals with a time of 2:26.68.

The girls did not have an entry in the next event, the 200 yard freestyle. However, on the boys’ side Brian Greaney was the Outlaws’ contender for another medal in the first of the three most exciting races of the championships. Greaney’s closest rival, 6’2” Sweet Home freshman, Kieran Schaefer, touched the pad one second before Greaney on the 50 yard mark. Schaefer build his lead to 1.5 seconds on the 100 yards before Greaney made his move to bring it home with negative splits of 28.35 and 28.21 for a seemingly simultaneous touch. Schaefer 1:50.0, Greaney 1:50.33 and silver for the Outlaw.

Freshmen Courteney Satko and Holden Sellentin both represented the Outlaws in the 200 Individual Medley. Satko won consolation finals with a four second time drop (2:38.88) and Sellentin, the youngest championship finals competitor on the men’s side, cut two seconds off his personal best and was the 6^th fastest in our district (2:32.19).

The Outlaws won their first gold medal in the next event, when sophomore Felicia Pledger held off a group of very talented junior and senior freestyle sprinters from Junction City and Sweet Home, as well as her own team mate. Pledger swam a perfect race, bettering her prelim time of 25.96 by 0.11 seconds and set a new Sisters High School record. Brittany Baldessari finished third in 27.19.

The men had not qualified any 50 yd freestyle sprinters into consolation or championship finals.

Jessie Swaner was the only Outlaw qualifying for the 100 yd butterfly event and finished 5^th in consolation finals with a two second time drop and a PR of 1:16.58. Marist’s senior, Alexis Pennington was 4^th in a time of 1:16.35.

Jake Scott swam the 9^th fastest butterfly time in the district at prelims. However, he was disqualified for a false start and could not compete in finals.

Event 11, the 100 yd women’s freestyle, was seriously contested by outstanding sprinters from Blanchet, Junction City and Sisters. Felicia Pledger, seeded third after prelims behind Marie Miner and senior Darcy Spillman, swam another perfect sprint with splits of 27.6 and 29.1 and finished second overall. Her final time of 56.67 is another new Sisters High School record and earned Pledger the silver medal.

The Outlaws did not have any qualifiers for the men’s 100 yd freestyle or the 500 yd freestyle events.

Event 15, the girls’ 200 free relay, brought gold to the Outlaws for the second time. Having barely missed first place in the medley relay, all four swimmers put everything on the line to keep their competition at bay. Attacked by Junction City in lane 4 and Philomath in lane 2, the Outlaw girls sprinted to the exchanges and the finish line in record segments. Baldessari led with 27.1, followed by Swaner (29.2 PR), Satko (26.7 PR) and Pledger (25.7 PR) to a first touch on the pad  with a new Sisters High School record of 1:48.7 ahead of Junction City (1:48.99).

Following the success of the girls, the boys, with only one experienced competition swimmer, raced equally impressive legs. Brian Greaney led the group with a 24.6 (PR), followed by Allan Schaad 26.8 (PR), Eli Callan 26.3 (PR) and Holden Sellentin 26.8 (PR), to a fifth place overall.

Silver and gold medals were awarded to the Outlaw swimmers in the next event, the 100 yd backstroke. Brittany Baldessari, only 0.09 seconds behind Marist’s Mary Cummings on the first 50 yard turn, touched the wall in second place with a time of 1:08.11.

Brian Greaney, barely challenged by Sweet Home’s Jayce Calhoon in prelims, swam a perfect race with splits of 27.1 and 28.5  to first place and the gold medal (55.6). Holden Sellentin finished second in consolation finals (1.09.97 PR).

Courteney Satko won consolation finals in event 19, the 100 yd breaststroke in a time of 1:21.19. Jessie Swaner finished 4^th (PR 1:24.72) and Chelsea Flanders 6^th (PR 1:25.55).

Top finisher on the boys’ side was Drew Herron in prelims with a 1:21.9, an almost five second drop from his entry time, but not fast enough to swim in finals.

Winner of consolation finals in the 400 yd freestyle relay were Chelsea Flanders (PR1:11.5), Tori Carlson (PR 1:13.3), Jordyn Valdez (1:15.4) and Hillary Johnson (PR 1:10.98). Their combined time of 4:51.3 was almost six seconds faster than their prelim race.

The boys followed suit in the last race of the championships and put out best efforts for a 5^th place in consolation finals. Jake Scott led with a PR 1:10.7, followed by Travis Myrick (PR 1:20.8), Drew Herron with a seven second drop from his personal best (PR 1:10.5) and Justin Dean (PR 1:11.95) to conclude the events at the 2007 District 3 Swimming Championships.

Both the medley and freestyle relays with Baldessari, Satko, Swaner and Pledger qualified for State Championships. The relays are seeded fourth and third respectively. Baldessari also qualified in the 50 yd freestyle (6^th seed) and 100 yd backstroke(5^th seed). Pledger is seeded second in the 50 free and third in the 100 free for State and Greaney is seeded second in both the 200 free and 100 backstroke. The Outlaws travel with alternate Chelsea Flanders to State Championships at Mt. Hood Community College, February 16 and 17.

 Over 260 swimmers, representing twelve 3A, 2A and 1A high schools, competed at District 3 Championships in Albany February 9 & 10, 2007.