Based on early results, Philomath High sophomore swimmer Lucas Brandt appears to be trending toward eventually breaking the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke.
But he’s not there just yet.
“It’s kind of tragic — the first meet, I was 0.3 off and now I’m thinking I’m .01 off,” Brandt said following Friday’s four-school meet at Clemens Community Pool.
Gallery: PHS swimming at home meet (Dec. 13, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s home swim meet at Clemens Community Pool on Friday.
In last week’s season-opening meet, Brandt finished the event in 1:01.96, which was 0.35 of a second shy of Patrick Williamson’s school-record time of 1:01.61 that had been set in 2015. On Friday, as Brandt believed, he missed the record by one-hundredth of a second.
It’s one of two school records that he has in his sights, saying, “I was thinking I could get the 100 breaststroke record and possibly in the 200 IM.”
Actually, Brandt already owns the 200 individual medley school record with a 2:03.39 that he swam last season. In winning the event Friday, he came in with a time of 2:04.31.
As a team, Philomath had a stellar meet by sweeping first place for both the boys and girls. The boys finished with 116 points to beat out Crosshill Christian’s 62, Junction City’s 38 and Kennedy’s 27. For the girls, PHS racked up 201 points with Junction City second at 144, Crosshill Christian third at 97 and Kennedy fourth with 36.
In addition to Brandt’s victories, other winners for the boys included senior Emmitt Gaskey in the 50 freestyle (27.29 seconds), junior Cameron McLennan in the 100 butterfly (1:01.84), sophomore Wyatt Coen in the 500 freestyle (6:47.56) and junior Mason Stevens in the 100 backstroke (1:10.42).
Philomath also won two relays with Stevens, Brandt, McLennan and senior Alex Dye in the 200 medley (1:54.26) and Dye, junior Ike Avery, McLennan and Brandt in the 200 freestyle.
Senior Kyah Weeber continued her winning ways in the girls’ portion of the meet by taking first in both the 200 IM (2:39.03) and 100 freestyle (1:03.81). Sophomore Emma Mecham had a first-place finish in the 50 freestyle (30.96), an event that typically draws a lot of competitors.
The Warrior girls also won the 200 medley relay with Mecham, Weeber, sophomore Kate Burriel and senior Kateri Pindell, and the 200 freestyle with junior Ellie Dye, Mecham, Pindell and Weeber.
Brandt believes he can challenge for high medals at the 4A state meet in February. At this early part of the season, he’s leaning toward the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke for his individual events. Last year as a freshman at state, he placed third in the 500 freestyle and fourth in the 200 IM.
“Some of the seniors in the other districts for state are definitely competition for me — at least in the 100 breaststroke,” he said. “There’s this guy from a school in Portland, we’re kind of neck-and-neck, and I’m really excited to race him.”
Brandt has mastered the different strokes in various events and it’s that versatility that helps him perform well in the individual medley, which combines the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
“I’d say my weakest link is definitely the fly … I know I need to work on that,” he said. “It’s like I go to practice and I might do a sprint set fly instead of maybe working on more breaststroke.”
Brandt has developed his swimming skills through participation in the club program at Corvallis. There has been a disruption, however, with club swimmers forced to practice at other venues because of the closure of Osborn Aquatic Center, which was shut down because of structural integrity issues.
“We haven’t been able to practice in our regular pool,” Brandt said. “I think we had been to between 12 and 13 pools over time until we settled here at Philomath. But it’s really affecting my practice — it’s reduced practice times. We’re limited on sets at some pools.”
Still, Brandt appeared to come into the PHS season in pretty good shape, which is evidenced by the times that he’s been swimming without being pushed much in this events at three low-profile meets.
“Despite all of the hardships, I think it’s been good,” he said. “I’d say I’m still practicing hard here and getting my work done. I was honestly surprised at the times I’ve gotten personally … With the competition, I’d say I’ve been doing pretty well.”
Philomath was scheduled to compete in a meet Saturday at Sweet Home. The Warriors will then take a break from competition over the holiday break.
