ALBANY — As the competitors took the blocks for the beginning of the 500-yard freestyle Saturday in the Special District 4 swim meet at Albany Community Pool, Philomath High’s Lucas Brandt was a solid favorite to win the race.
Based on seed times, Brandt was more than 28 seconds faster than his nearest competitor. In other words, It would take some sort of unique and unforeseen situation for the Warriors sophomore to not follow through and finish in first place.
And that came very close to happening.
“My suit broke on the block,” Brandt said. “I had to go ask the officials and they made a two-minute break. So I ran back, took off my tech suit, put on another suit and it was just a mess. But it is what it is.”
PHS coach Iliana Kaiser believed he was fortunate that the officials allowed him to go change.
“I was really surprised they let him swim,” Kaiser said. “They were very lenient and we were running ahead of schedule.”
It really didn’t matter what Brandt was wearing with a victory of nearly 23 seconds and his first automatic state qualification of the day.
Gallery: PHS swimming at Special District 4 Meet (Feb. 15, 2025)
A collection of photos from the Philomath High swim team’s appearance in the Special District 4 meet in Albany on Saturday.
Said Kaiser, “They gave him two minutes and he was back a minute later. The adrenaline helped him on the first 100.”
Three races later, Brandt won the 100-yard breaststroke to qualify in a second individual event. His time came in at 1:02.99, which is a strong second seed for the state meet. Marshfield sophomore Carter McGriff had a slightly faster time in his district race with a time of 1:02.78 to nab the top position.
“I’ve been swimming breaststroke for maybe three years now,” Brandt said. “I’d say it’s definitely a very hard stroke to develop and it’s a very slow process. Lately, my times have been getting a lot better though.”
Brandt and three teammates will also compete at the state meet in the 200-yard medley relay after they finished second and ended up filling an at-large spot as the eighth seed. Junior Mason Stevens, junior Cameron McLennan and senior Alex Dye also swam legs on the relay and finished with a time of 1:49.81 — an improvement of about 2 seconds over their previous best.
For state, those four will make the trip along four alternates — junior Evan Hernandez, senior Ethan Aynes, junior Ike Avery and sophomore Wyatt Coen.
Elsewhere individually for the boys, McLennan qualified individually in the 100-yard butterfly with his time of 58.35, which placed him second at the district meet. For state, that time gets him the sixth seed.
In choosing the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, Brandt said he considered the competitiveness of what he would expect to see at state. In particular, he wants to race a particular swimmer.
“There’s a friend, he’s a freshman named Coe Dauler and I think I just really want to race a higher competition in the 500,” Brandt said. “I think I could’ve won the 200 IM pretty handily, maybe, but that’s not fun.”
Dauler, who swims for Catlin Gabel, is the top-seeded 500 freestyler with a district time of 4:48.55. La Grande’s Zane Ricker is second at 4:54.00 and Brandt third at 5:06.96. Those three times are by far the best in the list of 12 qualifiers.
Meanwhile, senior Kyah Weeber will represent Philomath at state for the girls with a return appearance. Weeber placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke at the district meet and qualified as the fourth seed with a time of 1:16.10. Weeber also will go in the 100-yard butterfly as the seventh seed after a third-place finish in the event at Albany with a time of 1:09.28.
Out of the relays, the Warrior girls qualified in the 200 medley with junior Kathleen Donovan, senior Kateri Pindell, Weeber and sophomore Emma Mecham. Alternates accompanying the team to Beaverton will be freshman Alyssa Weeber, senior Hanna McDaniel, sophomore Kate Burriel and senior Brooke McDaniel.
Pindell just barely missed qualifying in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:22.53, which got her fifth place in the district race. The 12th and final qualifier in the event made it with a time of 1:22.06.
The wintry weather that swept through the area earlier in the week and led to school cancellations and challenging road conditions led officials to rework the schedule into a one-day event. As a result, all preliminaries were eliminated with timed finals only over a meet that lasted about 5-1/2 hours.
“I think overall it was better for them having a one-day meet instead of a prelim-finals because they’re tired,” Kaiser said. “Usually they’re entry times to get into state are 2 or 3 seconds slower than what their fastest times are. Some kids pace well on the first day and they’re able to go faster on the second day … that can be hit or miss.”
Brandt would rather have the prelims to warm up for finals.
“I think having that second race in finals could really improve your times,” Brandt said. “Having no prelims and having just finals is much worse. I think my performances could have been a lot better.”
Weeber qualified in the same two events last season as a junior when she finished eighth in the breaststroke and 11th in the butterfly.
“I was definitely worried about only having one shot but it worked out in my favor,” Weeber said, a reference to the meet changing from a two-day event to a single day with timed finals. “I was actually sick yesterday so having one day today worked out in my favor. I’m happy with how it went.”
Weeber’s previous experiences at state provide insight on what to expect.
“It definitely is a little mental — it can get in your head but for me, I feel like since I’ve already been there, that’s a big thing,” she said.
In the team standings, the boys won a third-place trophy with 157 points behind Marist Catholic (270) and Sweet Home (251). In the girls’ competition, Sweet Home won with 235 points ahead of Junction City (178) and Marist Catholic (143). The Warriors were fifth (126) just behind fourth-place Salem Academy (136).
The 4A/3A/2A/1A meet is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton with evening sessions that get started at 6:30 p.m.
“We’re going to go a little harder on Monday and then have a little mini baby taper,” Kaiser said about preparation. “We’re leaving Friday because we’re in the evening session and then we’ll come home Saturday.”
