The Philomath High School boys and girls swim teams defended Clemens Community Pool Tuesday afternoon in a tri-meet that included Stayton and Blanchet Catholic. The boys defeated the two visiting teams by a large margin and the girls finished in a tie for first with the Eagles.
The PHS boys won seven races with freshman Lucas Brandt and sophomore Mason Stevens each touching first in their individual events. Sophomore Cameron McLennan also had a win and the Warriors took wins in two relays.
Brandt continued his unbeaten streak in individual events with victories in the 50-yard freestyle (24.42 seconds) and 100 freestyle (52.50). Brandt won the 50 free by nearly 3 seconds over the runner-up and the 100 free by nearly 9 seconds.
Stevens had wins in a pair of events that featured only Philomath swimmers. He swam a 2:38.80 to take first in the 200 individual medley with sophomore Ike Avery second in 2:56.50. In the 500 freestyle, Stevens won in 6:45.48.
McLennan’s win came in the 100 butterfly by more than 20 seconds over his lone opponent.
The winning 200 medley relay featured freshman Wyatt Coen, junior Alex Dye, Avery and Stevens in 2:22.69. In the 200 freestyle relay, senior Henry Katsikis, Dye, McLennan and Brandt won by a little more than a second in 1:48.03.
In addition to Avery in the 200 IM, other runner-up finishes included junior Emmitt Gaskey in the 200 freestyle (2:29.25), Katsikis in the 100 freestyle (1:01.33), sophomore Blake Hauck in the 500 freestyle (7:35.92) and junior Ethan Aynes in the 100 breaststroke (1:21.83).
Junior Kyah Weeber had a first in the 100 breaststroke and second in the 200 IM for the girls. Weeber won by nearly 3 seconds in the 100 breaststroke in 1:22.82 and finished the 200 IM in 2:39.84.
Freshman Emma Mecham turned in a time of 31.80 to take first in the 50 freestyle. Senior teammate Madison Juhl was second in 31.98 in a close race. Freshman Kate Burriel won the 100 butterfly in 1:20.85 — a margin of 20.49 seconds over the runner-up.
Philomath also had a win in the meet-opening 200 medley relay with sophomore Jessica McLennan, junior Kateri Pindell, Weeber and Juhl swimming a 2:21.23. Philomath’s second entry in the event finished runner-up in 2:25.48 with sophomore Logan Cook, junior Brooke McDaniel, Burriel and sophomore Maggie King.
The 400 freestyle relay with Juhl, Maggie King, senior Ginny Lauzzana and sophomore Lucy King was second in 5:26.15. Junior Natalee Barton was second in the 500 freestyle in 8:33.84.
In a fun end to the meet, Philomath’s boys 400 freestyle relay had a swimmer out and Weeber filled in. The foursome swam a 4:15.42 in what goes in the books as an unofficial appearance but the time would’ve placed them second.
The boys scored 101 points with Blanchet second at 54 and Stayton third with 42. Philomath and Stayton each scored 87.5 to share first place and Blanchet was third at 25.
Philomath’s swim teams are scheduled to next compete Saturday at the Albany Sprint Meet. The event begins at 10 a.m. at Albany Community School, located next to South Albany High.
