By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
In her final meet as a Sitka swimmer before heading south to swim at the collegiate level, Emma Gassman set two Baranof Barracudas Swim Club records at the Alaska State Swimming Championship meet, and a number of her teammates set new personal best times.
Emma Gassman, BBSC star and Sitka High senior, gives a thumbs up after a swim race, Feb. 21 at the Blatchley pool in Sitka. (Sentinel photo)
Gassman, 18, set new club records in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:07, and the 400 individual medley at 4:50, placing second in the backstroke and sixth in the medley. Previous Barracuda records in those events were held by Jessica Davis and Grace Harang, respectively.
Going into the meet in Anchorage last weekend, Gassman had her sights set on the 200 backstroke record.
“Last year at JOs I was less than a second off the 200 back, so I knew that if I really focused on backstroke I could probably get it – but it just takes a lot of time to get to the level,” Gassman said at practice Wednesday.
The competition was formerly called the Junior Olympics, but in the past year it was renamed the Alaska State Swimming Championships.
Gassman, a senior at Sitka High School, recalled the moment she touched the wall in the 200 backstroke.
“I almost cried I was so happy,” she said. “And then in the 400 IM, I think I only got that record because of Skylar’s help with breaststroke. It’s never really been my thing, but then she worked on it with me a little bit and that really helped me.”
Skylar Moore is a Barracudas veteran who went on to swim at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and was back in Sitka coaching young Barracudas this year.
After SHS graduation, Gassman plans to swim for Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington.
While she aims to keep working on butterfly and backstroke, Gassman plans to take nursing coursework and excel in academics as well as athletics.
“I think I want to swim, fly and backstroke, mostly. I’ve kind of made my transition to being a stroke person,” Gassman said. She chose PLU “largely because of the environment that the team has, and the coach.”
“I started doing (nursing) prerequisites last year, so I’m hoping to graduate on an accelerated track, like less than four years,” Gassman said. “I’m kind of nervous to live near a bigger city, because I’ve been here my whole life, but I think it’ll be OK because, like I said, I’m going to have a pretty good environment with all the swim team and my peers to support me.”
Coach Kevin Knox was thrilled by Gassman’s times in Anchorage.
“In both of her back events, the 100 and the 200 back, she went from a low seed to the finals, to a medal, to a podium,” Knox said.
Also a capable long-distance freestyler, Gassman took fifth place in the 1,000-yard free in 11:18 and third in the 1,650 in 18:35. In a poll of the 19 coaches for Alaska Swimming Female Athlete of the Year, she was one vote behind the winner of that honor.
The Barracudas placed eighth in the statewide competition.
The Baranof Barracudas pose for a shot at the Alaska State Swimming Championship meet over the weekend in Anchorage. BBSC took eighth place overall while Emma Gassman, in back second from the right, broke two club records in her last swim meet for the team. She will swim in college beginning in the fall. (Photo provided)
Sitka’s Zach Martens tied for the first place high point honor among 13- and 14-year-old boys.
He swept numerous first place finishes, including in the 500 free in 5:12, the 1,000 in 10:44, the 1,650 in 17:54, the 100 breaststroke in 1:07 and the 200 breast in 2:28.
For much of the meet he swam alongside another talented swimmer who, in the end, split the high point award with him. Parker Hagan of the Ketchikan Killer Whales has challenged Martens at many meets.
“We go back and forth a lot… It feels good, because I feel like it’s a lot more fun to race people than just be by yourself,” Martens said.
In the 1,650, Martens isn’t far from the Barracudas club record, and he hopes to hit that mark next year.
He dropped times in all but one of his events at ASSC, and gave credit to assistant coaches Robbie Jarvill and Skylar Moore.
With the renaming of the state amateur swim championships, the kids now call it “the ASS Champs.” This, combined with his tie for the high point award, Martens said with a grin, makes him “the half-ASS Champ.”
The team has so thoroughly bought into the joke that they printed a number of stickers depicting a muscular donkey standing over the word “Champs.”
Martens said he particularly enjoys the team atmosphere, and renewing friendships with other teams.
Other Events
Olivia Jarvill, tied for the third place high point award in her classification. In the 100 back she took first in 1:15, and finished the 500 free in 6:46 to claim second. Olivia also earned second in the 50 back in 35.65 seconds and 100 fly in 1:21.
Corin Colliver, earned sixth in the 200 free in 2:02, in the 100 back in 1:05, and the 100 breast in 1:14. Teammate Taryn Fleming snagged second in the 200 fly in 2:29 and sixth-place finishes in the 1,000 in 12:36, the 1,650 in 20:32, the 100 back in 1:06, 200 back in 2:23 and 100 fly in 1:05. That mile time was a full minute faster than her previous personal record.
Klayeah Lozada earned third place in the 200 fly in 2:31, and finished fourth in the 100 fly in 1:04 and fourth again in the 200 IM in 2:25.
In the 200 free, Jake Peterson finished fourth in 2:25. He also took fifth in the 100 back in 1:15.
Touching the wall in 1:19, Evi Rice got second in the 100 breaststroke, a PR.
In the 100 breast, Brandon Stevens finished in 19th place in 1:08. Mia Turner, swimming in the 1,000 free, finished sixth in 12:04.
Ben Lihou touched the wall second in the 100 breast in 1:19. He also took third in the 50 breast in 35.15 seconds, and got fourth in the 100 IM in 1:13 and fourth again in the 500 free in 6:07.
The 500 – 20 lengths of the 25-yard pool – was a struggle, he said.
“Definitely the 500, I took fourth in that. Kind of died at the end there… It was around lap 13,” he said.
He says he has room for improvement in his 100 breaststroke – “I took one too many strokes on the (initial) 75.”
“This was my first state meet. I had swam in Age Groups and Southeast Champs,” he said. “Those were my only two travel meets beforehand. It was pretty amazing, it was only my second time being in the Anchorage pool.”
Knox had high praise for the Barracudas at their end-of-season meet.
“Olivia had 100 percent best times and went third place high point. Ben had 100 percent best times and is one of the top breaststrokers in his age group in the state now,” Knox said. “Klayeah had a personal record in her 200 fly and really great improvement in her 200 IM. She’s figured out some things with breast stroke.”
He said he’ll miss working with the swimmers who are graduating this year.
The state championship meet “is the season-culminating event, comes with a lot of goals that the kids are shooting for, so it’s really, really great to see them hit those,” Knox said. “And then a lot of emotion too, because it’s the end of the meet. You know, it’s bittersweet for me to lose our seniors, to lose Emma and Brandon to their next steps in life. But it’s also really fun to see them move on.”
