|
Facing
some of their top rivals in the 3A district, the Outlaw swimmers
competed on Thursday,
December
15 in the first invitational of the season against Sweet Home, 3A
State Champion Sherwood, Philomath, Stayton, Mollala and Blanchett.
 Brittany
Baldessari spoiled State Champion
Sherwood’s nearly flawless performance. Instead of placing first
and second in every event, Sherwood had to concede the 100 yds
backstroke to
Baldessari
who swam an outstanding race
from beginning to end.
Baldessari’s
time of 1:08.14 was already faster than last year’s prelim time of
District Champion Sarah Rosa. “1:08 is an excellent time for the
beginning of the season” coach Hedemark commented.
Baldessari,
new to Outlaw Swimming, but certainly no novice in the sport,
showed more of her talents by setting a new
Sisters
High School
record in the 50 yds freestyle. Leading the 200 yds freestyle ”A”
relay in a blistering 26.50, followed by
Aria Garau
in 33.25,
Cammie
Patterson
in 31.34 and
Jessie
Swaner
in 30.5,
Baldessari
replaced Hilary Hedemark’s old
1997 record of 27.07 seconds.
 Allie
Opsahl and
Camille
Pedersen framed the “B” relay
with 31 second splits, while
Deidre
Kelleher
and
Chelsea Flanders
swam good segments for the beginning of the
season. “Strokes are looking good but significant time drops will
come with the perfection of starts and turns”, coach Hedemark
remarked..
In
the 200 yds freestyle,
Baldessari
finished fourth in a time of
2:21.8 behind Sherwood and Sweet Home.
Pilliod
and
Flanders
looked strong in the
individual medley.
 Newcomers
Camille Pedersen and
Aria Garau
teamed up with
Chelsea Flanders
and
Tori Carlson
to swim to a respectable 2:34.5 in the first heat of the medley
relay.
Aubyn Geser
lead the second heat in a personal
best backstroke segment, followed by
Jessie
Swaner in the breaststroke,
Brittany Baldessari
in the butterfly and
Rachel
Pilliod as anchor in the
freestyle.
Geser
swam another personal best in the 100
yds.
backstroke, almost one second faster than at the end of last
season at District Championships. The relay’s final time of 2:20.8
put the Outlaws behind Sherwood, Philomath and Sweet Home.
On
the boys side,
Tyler Young’s
exceptional butterfly leg of 29.8 and
Steven
Waltosz’s
freestyle segment of 30.1 helped the Outlaws earn additional
points in the competition.
Young’s
time represents a personal record of
more than 2 seconds from last year’s District Championships.
 Justin
Dean’s freestyle leg of 31.5
in the relay was also a personal best by almost 3 seconds, with
Dylan
Stuwe
in the “B” relay hot on his heels in a time of 32.2 seconds.
Waltosz
impressed with two additional
50 yds freestyle sprints, the best one in a time of 28.8 seconds.
“If
Steven can swim that fast without a refined turn and suffering
from a leg cramp, his performance at Districts could be stellar”,
coach Hedemark.
Eric Brown,
Joe
Mantecon,
Clifton Williams
and
Jake Scott
contributed to the team effort. All events
contested by the Outlaws helped eliminate the first meet of the
season jitters and showed great promise individually and in
relays.
The next
meet for the Outlaw swimmers will be against Cascade at the
Stayton Community Pool,
January
12, 2006.
|
