By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
The Sitka High Wolves swimming squad competed in the Region V meet in Ketchikan over the weekend, where most of Sitka’s athletes dropped time and four qualified to swim in the state meet.
Junior Emma Gassman took first place in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00 and second in the 200 freestyle in 2:00. She qualified for the state meet in both events.
“It was just a lot of fun, because all throughout the season I’d been trying to figure out if I wanted to do the 500 (free) or the 100 and then we just decided that the 100 was best for me in general,” Gassman told the Sentinel. “And it was really nice to see we made the right choice, because I had a really great time and I had a lot of fun.”
After years of competing in longer events such as the 500, Gassman was happy for the chance to shine in shorter races.
“I am a long distance swimmer, so it’s really nice for me to have the high school experience to be able to play with some of the shorter distances, and it just goes by so fast that you get to enjoy it,” she said.
The Wolves swim team poses for a shot before warm ups in Ketchikan last weekend at the Region V swim meet. In the back from the left stand David Davis, Matt Rice, Razie Guillory, Brandon Stevens, Vanya Dubiaha, Jaden Costelo and Ben Turner. In the front from left are Henrey Ward, Kai Davis, Meriedi Morrison, Kanen Alley and Emma Gassman. The photo was taken immediately before jumping into the pool, when masks were not required, but swimmers wore masks on deck when waiting to swim. (Photo provided by Tracie Harang)
The 2020 regional meet was canceled due to the coronavirus, and Gassman was glad to see her out-of-town friends again.
“I have a lot of friends that I talk to on the other teams,” she said. “And I get to see them, how they race at their best and really just push each other up and just let everyone know they’re doing a great job… I’m really excited to see my other friends that are up in Anchorage and be able to talk with them again… It’s just great to have the opportunity to have a normal state (meet) again.”
In the four-by-50-yard relay, Gassman, Mereidi Morrison, Kanen Alley and Razie Guillory took fourth place in 2:07. Alley also swam the 50 free in 28.07
Brandon Stevens, another junior, will head up to Anchorage with Gassman Thursday to swim the 100 breaststroke in the state meet.
Like Gassman, Stevens said the regional meet was a great chance to meet other swimmers.
“It was great. Just honestly the people, we’ve grown up with a lot of these people from a lot of these towns, and just being able to compete against them, it’s a lot of fun,” Stevens said. He took sixth in the 100 breast in 1:05.
Though this was his first time in a regional meet, he thought things went well.
“That was my first regionals. I asked a lot of questions, I didn’t know how it was and how big high school meets usually went… It went really smoothly and it was a lot of fun,” he said.
With the state meet days away, Stevens said he’s both “nervous and excited.”
After such a long gap since the previous regional meet, senior Razie Guillory said the meet went well.
“I thought it went pretty good. It’s hard to have anything to compare it to because we haven’t raced in so long, but yeah, it went OK… The last normal year was sophomore year, I’m a senior. I just really wanted to go to state my senior year, because I went my sophomore year and should have gone my junior year but it didn’t happen,” Guillory said.
She took fourth in the 100 free in 58.10 and fifth in the 200 free in 2:04. She’ll swim the 200 free in the state meet.
“I hope I’m happy with my swims (at state), that’s the main ambition for sure,” she said. Guillory hopes to break two minutes in her event.
Matt Rice took second in the long 500 free, right on the heels of his former teammate Tytan Frawley. Rice finished in 5:03, seven seconds behind Frawley.
In the state meet, Rice said his goal is to keep as close to Frawley as possible.
“I want to be close to Tytan. He used to swim here, he swims with Juneau now… He’s a really fun guy and he swims fast,” Rice said.
Rice, along with his teammates Vanya Dubiaha, Jaden Costelo and Brandon Stevens finished second in the four by 100 yard freestyle relay in 3:30. In the four-by-50 relay, Rice, Stevens, Costelo and Ben Turner took fourth in 1:49. Costelo took eighth in the 100 free in 52.26. David Davis finished the 200 free in 2:05.
After competing in a number of virtual meets last year, Rice was happy to be swimming in person again this season.
“The big meets are always fun; it’s a lot better than having virtual meets,” he said.
Overall, more than four-fifths of the times swum at the regional meet were personal bests for Sitka’s athletes, coach Tracie Harang said.
“We had really significant time drops from a number of the kids and sometimes it’s a combination of the rest (from tapering) and the excitement and adrenaline from a championship meet,” Harang said.
Only four swimmers on her team had been in a previous regional meet.
“Out of 12 swimmers, only four of them have ever been to a regional championship meet. So that was huge, eight of these kids had never even been to a meet of that level, so it was a little frightening for them, and a little nerve-wracking. But they showed up Friday night and ready to race and we had a number of kids get into finals we weren’t expecting,” she said. Nine Wolves made it into the finals in the Region V meet. Looking back on the season, the coach was grateful for the help she received from her assistant coaches, Meghan Devine and Chance Gray.
Like her swimmers, Harang was happy for the chance to compete in person again.
“This year everybody was excited for every opportunity we had to race. I think that COVID, if nothing else, taught us to appreciate some things that we always took for granted in the past,” she said. “And so to be able to compete against other actual people in the pool as opposed to virtual meets, it’s really so important for any sport. Even though everyone has a 25 yard pool, you can’t race somebody without being next to them. You can compare times, but you can’t race against them.”
Swimming - and sports in general - are a vital aspect of student life, she said.
“I was a little nervous coming into the season with our COVID numbers being high and the other cities were having COVID problems as well, but I think the high schools have recognized that sports are really important, just the healthy vibe that it gives these athletes,” the coach said.
The state swim meet will take place in Anchorage, Friday and Saturday.
