Philomath High freshman Lucas Brandt took his skills in the pool to Los Angeles earlier this month to participate in the prestigious Pacific Coast All-Star Competition.
Brandt competed Jan. 6-7 with Oregon Swimming in the 13-14 age group at the meet, which took place at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park and featured top swimmers from all around the region, including Southern California.
Brandt competed in six individual events and four relays. His top placing came in the 100-yard breaststroke with sixth in 1:01.47. To give you an idea of the quality of athletes at this meet, the winner in the event had a time of 56.96. Brandt’s time would be a school record back at PHS — Patrick Williamson holds it with a 1:01.61 in 2015.
In his other individual events, Brandt was 11th in the 500 freestyle (5:02.99), 11th in the 200 breaststroke (2:19.44), 12th in the 400 individual medley (4:32.53), 15th in the 100 backstroke (56.98) and 15th in the 200 IM (2:06.83).
Brandt swam legs on four relays. He and his Oregon Swimming teammates were seventh in the 200 medley relay (1:43.89), seventh in the 400 freestyle relay (3:33.39), eighth in the 200 freestyle relay (1:34.17) and eighth in the 400 medley relay (3:50.21).
Brandt competed with Philomath High in Monday’s home meet and extended his unbeaten streak in individual events. An appearance Friday at Sweet Home remains on the schedule before tapering in preparation for the Feb. 9-10 district meet in Albany.
Two Shining Stars on all-state dance team
Philomath High School seniors Kaylie Blake and Jadyn McMullen earned spots on the Dance Drill Coaches Association of Oregon’s 4A/3A/2A/1A all-state team Sunday at Wilsonville High School.
Only five dancers statewide earned the distinction in the classification — the others being Kleary Brown and Lillian Bigby, both of Astoria, and Jada Utberg of Valley Catholic.
In other classifications, all-state dance team selections included 22 in 6A and eight in 5A.
To be eligible for all-state, each dancer must be recommended by their coach as meeting core dance skills, be in good standing with their school and all members of the dancer’s coaching staff must be a member of the DDCA, which has sponsored the all-state team since 2011. Only seniors are eligible to audition.
The highest scoring dancers in each group are eligible to win up to $1,000 through a DDCA dance scholarship. All-state dancers will perform at the OSAA championships in March.
The all-state routine featured a mix of jazz, hip-hop and contemporary dance and came in under 2 minutes. The first round featured the jazz portion of the routine, which dancers were able to learn from a video released earlier in the month. Half of the dancers moved on to the second round, which included learning sessions for the hip-hop and contemporary dance sections followed by auditions of the full routine.
The all-state dance team auditions had been postponed for a week because of the recent winter storm.
PHS cheerleaders prepare for state
The Philomath High School cheerleading team will participate in the state championships on Feb. 9-10 at Oregon City High School. The team, coached by Kathy Kohler with assistance from Corren Webster and Shannon Rice, will compete in the 4A Traditional category.
The team is scheduled to take the floor on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 2:30 p.m. The state championships have a very structured schedule that breaks down each stage of the experience. For example, Philomath will gather for a photo at 1:35 p.m.; do an initial check-in at 1:55 p.m. followed by a first practice at 2 p.m.; go through a second check-in at 2:05 p.m. and a second practice session at 2:10 p.m.; and move into the on-deck position at 2:15 p.m. leading up to the actual performance.
The day’s final performance occurs at 4:15 p.m., which will be followed by an awards ceremony for the session.
This year’s cheer program features all underclassmen — juniors Cali Cannon, Jaycee Chantharabhumi, Kaylie Kohler, Olivia Rice, Tatum Pope and Zoe Ringwald, sophomores Ginnah Hopper and Josey Schreiber, and freshmen Ciara Seits, Emily Garcia, Erynn Kohler and Paige Ehlers.
In other news related to the program, the cheerleaders will be heading to a National Cheerleaders Association camp June 23-26 at the Great Wolf Lodge in Centralia, Washington.
The camp features various classes that cover several topics — training related to the game-day experience and stunt skills are a few examples — and culminates with a final day competition. Such camps typically serve as a strong team-bonding activity.
The Philomath School Board granted approval for the out-of-state trip during its Wednesday night meeting.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
