In their second meet of the season, the girls came home victorious from Sweet Home and Brian Greaney was successful in setting one new high school record. The meet included teams from Philomath, Blanchet, Stayton, Central, Sweet Home. All teams were allowed to enter two scoring relays and two swimmers in each of the 11 events.

Starting the competition with the 200 medley relay, the foursome of Brittany Baldessari, Chelsea Flanders, Courtney Satko and Felicia Pledger raced to a first place finish in a good time of 2:06.41. Compared to last year’s meet against Sweet Home, the Outlaws already swam more than two seconds faster than that last Friday.” If their commitment to practices and work-outs continues, their old records are surely to be broken this year,” coach Hedemark commented.

The “B” relay with Hillary Johnson, Kathleen Greaney, Tia Berg and Zoe Wavrin earned valuable points with their 6^th place finish.

Senior Chelsea Flanders swam an outstanding 200 yd freestyle race to finish 4^th behind Sweet Home, Stayton and Blanchet. Flanders’ flip turns are some of the quickest and most precise on the girls’ team.

In one of the very challenging events, the 200 yds medley relay, freshman Tia Berg proved again that she will be in the top when District Championships roll around. Berg finished 3^rd in a time of 2:38.28  behind Sweet Home senior Sarah Rosa and Blanchet’s Marie Miner.

The battle in the 50 freestyle was certainly predictable. Fe Pledger raced both lengths neck on neck with Philomath’s Barry McLaren. Pledger hardly ever gives up an inch but in the end McLaren outtouched her by .05 seconds. “It is pretty amazing that Fe can do that while splitting her practice times between club volleyball and swimming” noted coach Hedemark.  Baldessari finished third, keeping Blanchet’s Nikole Ottolia at bay.

Inspite of little training time in the 100 yds butterfly, Zoe Wavrin swam a great race, finishing 5^th with a time of 1:24.91.

Event 11, the 100 yds freestyle, showed the classic rivalry between Fe Pledger and Blanchet’s Marie Miner. Miner barely put Pledger into second place during last year’s District Championships and duplicated that effort at Sweet Home. However, Pledger shows more physical strength than Miner and will certainly take advantage of that at the end of the season. Barry McLaren, who had won the 50 yds freestyle, was third.

The Outlaws did not have a competitor in the 500 yds freestyle.

During the second relay of the meet, the Outlaws showed their strengths and depth by finishing 1^st and 5^th , beating Blanchet, Staytion, Philomath and Sweet Home. Baldessari led with an official time of 27.3, followed by Flanders (29.3), Satko (27.8) and anchor Pledger (27.7) for a first place finish in a time of 1:52.1. Taking off one second+ per swimmer by the end of the season should get this relay back into the top at Districts and State.

Baldessari won easily in the 100 yds backstroke. Even though her final time of 1:08.5 does not reflect her ability, her closest competitor, Stayton’s Emily Sills, was almost four seconds behind her. Hillary Johnson swam a perfect race in the same event and finished in solid 5^th place.

Chelsea Flanders won the next event, the 100 yds breaststroke, with impressive four lengths of perfectly split 50’s and outstanding turns. Flanders clocked 1:21.5, one and a half seconds ahead of Barry Ottolia from Blanchet.

The girls did not score in the 400 yds freestyle relay but all previous scores were enough to win the meet with 74 points over Sweet Home with 73 points. “If we can put two girls in each event, the Outlaws will be a challenge to anybody in our district”, coach Hedemark.

On the boys’ side, event 1, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th place of the 200 yds medley relay was up for grabs. Sweet Home won handily with a time of 1:54.2 with Blanchet, Philomath and Sisters following close behind. In the end, Sisters (Greaney, Herron, Sellentin and Duvenick) had to succumb to Blanchet and Philomath with a time of 2:01.7 The same relay swam into 4^th place of last year’s District Championships with 2:01.6. “If they train well and consistently, this group will be in the top again at the end of the season” coach Hedemark.

Holden Sellentin’s time of 2:12.8 put him in third place and was a winning time of last year’s consolation finals. The Outlaws boys did not place in the 200 yds Individual Medley or the 50 yds freestyle.

Brian Greaney’s first attempt to take down the Sisters High School record in the 100 yds butterfly was successful with his time of 1:00.1. Greaney’s time replaces Justin Hedemark’s 1:02.5.

The Outlaws did not participate or score in the 100 yds freestyle or the 500 yds freestyle. The 200 yds freestyle relay with Greaney, Herron, Duvenick and Sellentin finished 5^th with a time of 1:49.2 which was the winning time for District consolation finals last season.

In the 100 yds backstroke, Holden Sellentin finished 4^th in a close race with Central’s Ian Pryce, last year’s 5^th place finisher at Districts.  Sellentin’s time of 1:09.4 is already better than his last year’s best mark.

Greaney’s second attempt to challenge an old Sisters High School record, failed by a mere one tenth of a second. Scott Schreiner, top breaststroker in the state during the 2001/02 season, marked a best time of 1:11.3 in the 100 yds breaststroke. Greaney was timed at 1:11.4 for this event.

The Outlaws were again disqualified for an early take-off in the last event of the meet, the 400 yds freestyle.  

The next competition takes place in Bend on January 8 against Mountain View and Bend High School.