By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Sitka High’s young swim team kicked off the season with solid results at a meet in Ketchikan over the weekend. Though the team includes a large contingent of freshmen this year, the Wolves took home a number of first- and second-place finishes against several other teams from across Southeast.
In the 200 freestyle, senior Emma Gassman took first place in 2:04 on Friday. She followed that up by securing a first in the 50 free in 26.58 and in the 100 backstroke in 1:02 on Saturday.
She was particularly pleased with her backstroke race.
Sitka’s swim team and coaching staff pose for a photo, Friday, September 16 on Rotary Beach in Ketchikan. The young team opened their season with a meet there last weekend. (Photo provided by Meghan Devine)
“The 100 back was really exciting. I went almost the time that I went at regionals last year, and that’s pretty good to see early in the season,” Gassman told the Sentinel.
So far, she thinks the season is going well, and appreciates getting to compete in a sport without significant COVID restrictions, for the first time since her freshman year.
“We have two senior girls and three freshmen girls, and I would say everyone’s doing really well considering this was our first season that’s normal in a while,” Gassman said. “And our relays did pretty good, too. It was fun to just go at it with everyone.”
After years of pandemic precautions, the swim squad has reintroduced a number of team bonding activities in an effort to recreate a traditional team atmosphere, Gassman added.
“We’re putting in a lot of work to make it like my freshman year, and like we just brought back team breakfast, a little team bonding thing and that’s pretty fun… It’s really nice to not have masks and be more or less back to the way things used to be.”
Though Sitka’s team is young this year, Gassman looks forward to watching her freshman colleagues improve and compete through the season.
“I’m really excited for the freshmen girls, because that’s a really exciting time. A lot of them have only swum club, so this is their first experience like this and I’m just trying to make it the best I can for them,” the senior said.
Gassman also competed in Friday’s 200 medley relay alongside Klayeah Lozada, Kanen Alley and Sydney Davis. The group finished second in 2:13. In the 200 freestyle relay, Gassman, Lozada, Alley and Mia Turner finished second in 1:51.
After years swimming with the Baranof Barracudas Swim Club, Mia Turner is eager for the chance to swim for the high school.
Though she’s only a freshman, Turner took first in Saturday’s 500 yard freestyle in 6:14.
She described the 20-lap race as “pretty cool.”
“It was really weird because the last time I swam the 500 I was wearing a tech suit. So I went a lot faster. But now that I wasn’t wearing a tech suit, I felt slower. But I was still faster than everybody else,” Turner recalled.
As well as participating in relays and the 500, Turner swam in the 200 free, 50 free, 100 free and 100 backstroke. She took fourth in the 200 free in 2:19, with her teammate Kanen Alley in sixth place in 2:34.
The high school team, she said, feels much like the Barracudas club.
“It feels almost the same as BBSC because it’s with a lot of the same people – they’re just older,” the freshman said. “I swam with them when I was younger and it’s like the same now, but it feels like more of a team and not me as a little kid and them as good swimmers. It feels like we’re all good swimmers.”
Looking to the future, she’d like to compete at the state level in the 500 free.
Another Sitka freshman, Klayeah Lozada, said the early-season meet was a good time for team bonding.
“It was kind of overwhelming. I kind of liked how the team bonded with each other, like with breakfast and stuff,” she said. “And also when we go to the school and sleep over there – it was pretty fun.”
While she hopes to improve her times during the season, Lozada enjoyed meeting some old friends at the Ketchikan meet.
“My times weren’t really the best, but then I didn’t really take it that personally. And then I got to meet some old friends from Juneau.”
In Friday’s 100 freestyle, she took second in a minute flat. Kanen Alley took seventh in that race. On Saturday, Lozada finished third in the 200 individual medley in 2:32 and third in the 100 butterfly in 1:09. In Friday’s 50 free, she finished sixth.
Like Turner, Lozada would like to compete at the state level this year if possible.
In the men’s 200 medley relay, Sitka’s Henrey Ward, Jaden Costelo, Brandon Stevens and Porter Bastian finished third on Friday in 1:58. Stevens took third in the 200 free in 2:04, also on Friday, with freshman Sam Davis in ninth place. Costelo claimed third in the 50 free in 24.09, with Bastian coming in fifth in 25.83. Ward tied for 10th place in the 50.
Costelo surged to first place in the 100 free in 52.98 and Brandon Stevens took second in Friday’s 100 breaststroke. Bastian finished third in the 100 breast, while Sitka’s Matthew Leach claimed fifth.
On Saturday, Costelo finished second in the 200 IM in 2:16 and Stevens took fifth in the 50 free. In the 500, Costelo came in second in 5:47.
Sitka’s new coach, Meghan Devine, was pleased with her team’s performance.
“The results are pretty good. ... This year we have a young team, so for about five of them it was their very first meet,” Devine said.
She emphasized the need for her swimmers to improve their endurance.
“Since we do have a younger team, it’s really important to build up that endurance. But we’ve had a lot of good attention and I’m working really hard at basic skills,” the coach said. “And I’m just looking forward to building that speed and endurance as we move throughout the season.”
