A sophomore with an individual state title to his name, a junior who overcame in-season challenges to win a medal and a senior with a strong finish to her high school swim career highlighted Philomath High School’s appearance at the 4A/3A/2A/1A Swimming State Championships Friday and Saturday in Beaverton.
Sophomore Lucas Brandt won the 100-yard breaststroke and placed third in the 500 freestyle, senior Kyah Weeber was a double medalist as well with third in the 100 breaststroke and sixth in the 100 butterfly, and junior Cameron McLennan medaled in the 100 butterfly with a sixth-place finish.
Brandt became the first PHS individual to bring home a first-place medal from state in a decade. Patrick Williamson during his senior year in 2015 won the 100 breaststroke with a then-school record 1:01.61.
“We get a lot of comments from other coaches that he’s pretty impressive for a 15-year-old sophomore,” Philomath High coach Iliana Kaiser said about Brandt’s presence in the pool. “It’s exciting to see how he’ll do the next couple of years and after high school and what his competition is going to look for him.”
Brandt obviously goes hard in the pool to try to get the best out of himself.
“I was pushing for the state record, which was pretty close to my club time, but it doesn’t always work out right,” he said.
Valley Catholic’s Luca Foord holds the 4A/3A/2A/1A state meet record with a 58.50 in 2020.
“He’s put in a lot of time with his club team and when he’s able to make our team practices,” Kaiser said. “He’s also done so well in the past couple of weeks with all the times that he dropped. He’s broken that breaststroke record, I think three times now.”
Brandt came out fast and led nearest competitor by 1.17 through the first 50 yards. He also had the fastest 50 over the second half of the race.
Not only did Brandt win a first-place medal but in his third-place performance in the 500 freestyle, he added his name to the team’s school record board for the fourth time. His time of 4:53.43 in prelims broke the PHS record that had been in place for seven years when James Dye had a 4:56.80 to place third at state in 2018.
La Grande senior Zane Ricker finished first in 4:37.65 and Catlin Gabel freshman Coe Dauler was second in 4:42.31. Brandt swam a 4:56.49 in finals.
Besides the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, Brandt also has Philomath High’s all-time best times in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke.
Always striving to be better, Brandt said about his evening in Beaverton, “I’m pretty happy but I was hoping to do better in the finals of the 500 free.”
Philomath also had an exciting showing in the 100 breaststroke in the girls’ race with Weeber’s third-place medal. Sweet Home senior Kirsten Sautel was the breakaway winner in 1:04.98, Newport sophomore Gwenn Postlewai was the runner-up at 1:11.35 and Weeber was a solid third in 1:13.13.
“My breaststroke was definitely my best race,” Weeber said. “I came in, I think, with around a 1:15 and I ended with a 1:13 so I got a pretty good time drop. I was also fifth (in prelims) and came back with third so I was really excited. I was pushing myself hard in that event.”
Kaiser said it was exciting to see swimmers like Weeber push beyond what they thought had been their capabilities.
“I was in near tears watching Kyah’s breaststroke,” Kaiser said. “I was just so proud of her. She’s also been a little stagnant with her times this season and I know she really wanted to push herself and overcome another sickness at districts.”
Earlier in the evening, Weeber placed sixth in the 100 butterfly in 1:06.24.
“It was a really good way to end the season since it was my first time being a finalist and I dropped a lot of time,” Weeber said. “It was really exciting.”
Weeber said she plans to continue swimming in college, which she has narrowed down to George Fox and Linfield.
McLennan placed sixth in the 100 butterfly for the second straight season. His 57.49 in finals was a personal-best time.
“I’m actually a little disappointed with my end time,” McLennan said. “I thought I could do quite a bit better but I ended up focusing on other events instead of my fly. I didn’t quite go as far as I wanted to.”
Despite those thoughts, it was a notable finish for a swimmer that had to work through some challenges this season.
“He had a lot of ear infections and other things that kept him out of the water on and off over the past month,” Kaiser said. “I’m proud of him for being able to get in the water and put in the hard work to get to where he is today.”
Two relays also qualified and competed for the Warriors. The boys’ 200 medley relay of junior Mason Stevens, Brandt, McLennan and senior Alex Dye just missed reaching the finals with a time of 1:48.27 in Friday’s prelims and finished seventh.
The girls also advanced their 200 medley relay to state and they were 11th in 2:07.80 with junior Kathleen Donovan, senior Kateri Pindell, Weeber and sophomore Emma Mecham.
The swim meet was staged at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center, an Olympic-sized pool facility originally built back in the 1990s.
“It’s pretty awesome, pretty spectacular,” Brandt said about the experience. “Our team usually consists of a smaller group of people but we had both our relays making it this year, the girls for the first time in a long time, and we were able to take alternates … so we had a packed team of 16, 17.”
The level of competitiveness hangs in the air at state championship venues.
“It can be a little nerve wracking but there’s a lot of other swimmers in the same boat,” Weeber said, “but you get to chat with them before races and it’s really fun.”
Said McLennan, “Everybody’s looking at you and you’re striving to be the best and to do more. It’s a very fun atmosphere.”
In the final team standings, the boys were ninth with 12 points for their highest finish at a state meet since an eighth place in 2019. The girls tied for 13th with five points.
