By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Sitka High School girls swim team won their first race of the 2018 Region V Southeast Conference championships in Petersburg on Saturday.
And they won their last race.
And in between they won every individual and relay race they entered, becoming one of a few high school teams in an Alaskan regional championship to do so.
“I am still in shock,” Sitka coach Ben Adams said three hours after the meet. “Everything just went off perfectly. Every time the kids were in a tight race they came out on top. Once that momentum started it just could not be stopped. It was fun, really, really fun.”
The Sitka girls captured the region crown with 390 team points, Juneau-Douglas was second with 357, Thunder Mountain third 345, Petersburg fourth 220, Ketchikan fifth 177, Wrangell sixth 84, and Craig seventh 11.
The Sitka High School girls swim team and coaches pose with their championship trophy after arriving at the Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport on Sunday night. Left to right are head coach Ben Adams, coach Alex Dailey, Erin Blankenship, Kira Davis, Kyleigh McArthur, Kai Frawley, Molly Blackmon, Chloe Cagle, Jessica Davis, Razie Guillory, Sophia Schwantes, coach Dawn McClung, Kessie VonSheerschmidt, coach Emily Danielson, and Grace Harang. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Sitka senior Kayleigh McArthur in a team phone interview.
“Amazing, we feel amazing,” classmate Molly Blackmon said.
“It was fun having our whole team right there cheering on each swim,” classmate Jessica Davis added.
The Alaska School Activities Association does not keep region records.
A search through archived data shows that the JDHS Crimson Bears girls swept the 2007 SE regions (except for the dive competition). Adams, then a Sitka swimmer, won two events for the Wolves boys, preventing the JDHS boys from sweeping.
The 2011 West Valley girls won every Region 6 Mid Alaska Conference championship swim event and the 2008 Kodiak girls won every Region 3 Northern Lights Conference championship swim event. The 2011 Dimond boys won every Region 4 Cook Inlet Conference swim event, including the dive, but not the 100 back.
No team has swept all swim events and the dive.
“I think this is very impressive,” ASAA associate executive director Rus Schreckenghost said.
The Wolves girls began their record result with a win in the 200 medley relay, an expected victory and a race they’re a state contender in. Individual wins count as nine team points and relays count as double, so the Wolves put the first 18 on the score chart.
Davis started in the back stroke and hit a split of 27.73, followed by junior Kai Frawley with a breaststroke split of 33.51, sophomore Sophia Schwantes hit a 27.76 fly split, and McArthur finished with a 25.24 free for a time of 1:54.24.
Then Blackmon won the 200 free by a finger, literally, posting a 2:03.03 to JDHS senior Cameron Howard’s 2:03.05 and Petersburg freshman Allie Morgan’s 2:03.06. It was Blackmon’s career best high school time.
“I wasn’t sure if I would make my prelims time but I felt good,” Blackmon said. “It was really nice and I was really surprised. I couldn’t see who was where, I was just concentrating on trying to get to the wall as quick as I could. I didn’t know they were that close or if they were in front of me or not. After I saw the result I looked straight at the coaches. I was in shock and they were freaking out. I felt like all the hard work I put in had paid off.”
Sophomore Grace Harang followed with a win in the 200 IM, posting a 2:13.32 (splits of 29.29, 34.08, 39.36, 30.59).
McArthur followed with a 50 free win of 25.72, a personal best time.
“I went into the event tied for fourth,” McArthur said. “I was really excited when I looked over for my breath and was ahead of everybody. I felt like I swam faster than ever before. I was just trying to go as hard as I could. I didn’t have any feeling, I was just going and then I touched the wall and looked up at the scoreboard and I saw there was a “1” by my name. I was super excited and smiled and looked at the coaches and started crying a little bit.”
Waiting for the diving competition to finish, the butterflies were churning, literally, and Davis rocketed across the pool for the title in the 100 fly in 1:00.54.
“After Molly won the 200 free and then Kyleigh came up and won the 50 free I knew something was happening,” Davis said. “I was just hoping to win my own race. There were a lot of close races and it was just really exciting to watch those. And it was really fun to watch our girls win those events.”
McArthur then got her third podium finish, winning the 100 free in 56.21 (27.19, 29.02).
Harang followed with her second win of the day, taking the 500 free in 5:21.21 (28.86, 31.48, 33.08, 33.15, 32.66, 32.30, 32.51, 32.82, 32.61, 31.74).
The 200 free relay of Blackmon (27.06), Schwantes (26.22), Harang (25.61) and McArthur (25.11) won in 1:44.00.
Davis then added her third win, taking the 100 back in 1:00.05 (28.79, 31.26) with Blackmon second in 1:04.45 (31.58, 32.87).
Schwantes won her third event, the 100 breast in 1:10.94 (33.62, 37.32) with Frawley third in 1:14.72 (35.30, 39.42).
The girls’ final race was the 400 free relay.
“It was actually the least stressful,” Adams said. “We knew how strong we were and everyone just kind of relaxed in the pool and went crazy out of it.”
Sitka won in 3:47.09 with freshman Razie Guillory (28.52, 59.45), Blackmon (27.48, 56.55), Harang (26.30, 55.19) and Davis (26.73, 55.90).
“It was the first time ever that Sitka has won every single race,” McArthur said. “That is pretty exciting.”
Swimmers who place out of the first position also contribute to the scoring.
Erin Blankenship posted personal best times through the whole meet.
“It feels great,” Blankenship said. “It’s an indescribable feeling, really. You know that you are part of the team, you’re working hard, and everyone else is working hard and you know that you are contributing and doing your part.”
Among placings were Blankenship seventh in the 200 free in 2:16.15, 10th 500 6:12.47; Frawley fifth 200 IM in 2:28.08; Schwantes fifth 100 fly in 1:03.69; Guillory seventh 100 fly in 1:06.52 and eighth 500 free in 5:54.17; junior Chloe Cagel ninth 100 breast in 1:32.83; and junior Kessie Von Scheerschmidt fifth diving with 233.75 (TMHS senior Rosemary Kiessling first 298.65).
“We had a lot of girls that were scoring points,” Adams said. “And the points start to add up in a big way. When you have everybody pitching in like that it really makes a difference.”
The senior girls commented that they could not have done this feat without their coaches, who told the girls at the beginning of the season that they were retiring.
“And so are we,” Davis exclaimed.
The senior girls also won the Academic Team Award with a 3.5 GPA.
“It was a very good regions to end on,” Blankenship said.
“Definitely,” added Blackmon.
“We’ll keep the intensity high and keep working hard for state,” McArthur said.
State qualifiers are the individual region swim champions and next 12 fastest times across the four regions (16 total), relay champions and next four fastest relay times across the regions (8 total), and top two divers from each region and next eight highest dive scores (16 total).
On the boys side senior JD Gagner won the lone Wolves gold medal, placing first in the 200 IM with 2:08.25 (28.06, 32.67, 37.79, 29.73) and freshman Tytan Frawley was second in 2:08.53 (27.86, 33.28, 39.57, 27.82). The two qualified for the state meet.
JDHS won the boys team title with 427 points, followed by TMHS 304, SHS 266, PHS 192, KHS 182, CHS 82, and WHS 26.
“I have been working for that for a while now,” Gagner said. “I have been sick and running a fever for half a week, and swimming on top of that kind of wipes you out. I was racing Tytan and was pretty confidant, but he came back and almost beat me. Even in practice he really helps me with my game and improves me, so props to him.”
In other finals, JDHS won the boys 400 relay in 3:25.94, Sitka was second in 3:27.21 (Frawley, junior Sid Fleming, senior McKinley Janik, Gagner), and are seeded fifth in the state.
JDHS sophomore Caleb Peimann first 100 fly in 56.03, Gagner second 57.35, sophomore Hunter Littlefield 11th 1:10.62.
JDHS was first in 200 medley relay in 1:45.37, Sitka third in 1:45.37 (Frawley, Gagner, Janik, Fleming).
TMHS senior Chris Ray first 500 free in 4:55.23, Frawley third in 4:57.09, Janik fifth in 5:03.70.
TMHS junior Micah Grigg first 200 free in 1:50.62, Janik was second 1:50.66, freshman Wesley Urias eighth 2:27.38, freshman Colton Ewers 10th 2:36.89.
JDHS senior Tate Goering first 100 free in 50.54, Fleming second 54.58, junior Thomas Bailey 11th 1:06.93.
JDHS senior Tyler Weldon first 50 free in 22.56, Fleming fourth in 24.55.
JDHS senior Cian Hart first in dive with 367.60, Sitka junior Branden Widdison fifth 234.95, freshman Aiden Bailey sixth 214.95 and freshman James McGlone disqualified.
JDHS first 200 relay in 1:40.31, Sitka fifth 1:51.71 (Littlefield, A. Bailey, Urias, Thomas Bailey).
JDHS’ Peimann first 100 back in 56.57, Urias seventh in 1:12.41.
TMHS senior Raymie Matiashowski first 100 breast in 1:02.70, A. Bailey ninth 1:21.80.
The ASAA State Swim & Dive Championships are Friday and Saturday at the Bartlett High School pool in Anchorage.
