Five meets into his freshman swim season, Philomath High’s Lucas Brandt has never lost a race. Making the feat even more impressive is the fact that he’s competed in all nine individual events that can be entered in a standard meet.
Think about that for a minute.
“He’s good at everything I can put him in,” second-year coach Iliana Kaiser said following Philomath’s dual Friday against Sweet Home. “He’s already done all of the events … he’s a really hard worker and he always has a drive to want to win, which is good.”
Gallery: PHS swimming vs. Sweet Home, Rainier (Dec. 22, 2023)
A collection of photos of the Philomath High School boys and girls swim teams in a h home meet against Sweet Home and Rainier on Friday.
The only individual event that Brandt has appeared in more than once is the 200-yard individual medley. It makes sense. The race features four strokes — backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
So in February when it’s time to swim at districts for a trip to the state meet, what will he be focused on?
“I’m probably going to do maybe the 500 free and 100 breast,” Brandt said after helping teammates put chairs away following the meet. “I think those are the best events that I can place in.”
He competed in the 500 freestyle on Dec. 12 in the home pool and finished in 5:05.93. It’s not unfathomable that he could soon break the school record held by James Dye, who swam the distance in 4:56.80 in 2018.
“It’s one of the events that not a lot of people want to do and it’s easier to place in,” Brandt said about the 500, adding that it’s also a true challenge and provides an opportunity to appeal to college-level coaches.
Kaiser said she sees a quality in Brandt that’s often seen in the top athletes.
“He likes knowing how he can improve on things because he knows he’s good, but he also knows that he can be better,” Kaiser said, “which is a good concept that some kids don’t have when they are naturally good at something.”
Philomath so far this season has competed in only one invitational away from Clemens Community Pool. The Warriors will head on Dec. 28 to the Stayton Christmas Invite and Brandt welcomes the opportunity to swim against other schools in a more intense environment.
“I like going to those bigger meets because it gives me more understanding of our competition,” he said, “and it pushes me to go faster.”
Brandt, 14, competes in swimming pretty much year-round when you consider his activities with his Corvallis-based club team. But why does he love this particular sport so much in the first place?
“I originally started swimming to help with my ADHD and it just sort of came as a love for me over the years of training,” he said.
In addition to the individual events, Brandt also contributes to two relays in each meet. He’s competed with the 200 medley relay in all five of the team’s meets and in addition, has shared time in the pool with his teammates three times on the 400 freestyle relay and twice on the 200 freestyle relay.
Brandt appreciates the team-oriented aspect of swimming with a high school team, something not necessarily so apparent on a club team.
“I think our coaches can focus more on technique because they have fewer swimmers so a special thank you to my coaches,” Brandt said.
For this first season, Brandt said he’d like to continue to improve on his times, maybe break a couple of school records and make new friends from other teams in the sport.
In the tri-meet Friday at Clemens Community Pool against Sweet Home and Rainier, Brandt won the 200 freestyle (1:55.52) and the 100 breaststroke (1:04.73) by significant margins over the runners-up.
The Philomath boys had three second-place finishes in the meet — Mason Stevens in the 200 individual medley (2:28.59), Cameron McLennan in the 100 butterfly (1:05.20) and Emmitt Gaskey in the 100 backstroke (1:18.92).
For the girls, Kyah Weeber won two events with first in the 50 freestyle (30.36) and 100 backstroke (1:14.39) and Madison Juhl won the 100 freestyle (1:13.65). The Warriors had a 1-2 finish in the 100 breaststroke but the two swimmers were the only entrants with Kateri Pindell (1:29.86) and Natalee Barton (1:39.29).
Other runner-up finishes for the girls included Pindell in the 50 freestyle (32.22) and Kate Burriel in the 100 butterfly (1:22.05).
In the team scoring, Sweet Home swept the meet by a 110-76 margin for the boys and 96-77 for the girls. Rainier also competed but only with a handful of athletes.
Kaiser said the team is already looking strong in their sixth week since practice opened and through competing in five meets. To begin, several swimmers were lowering personal-best times from last season but even now as they begin to hit a training plateau, the coach isn’t seeing any drastic drops.
“They’re racing twice a week two days apart so it’s just encouraging them to make sure that they don’t get in a funk because they’re not necessarily dropping down every time out,” Kaiser said.
The days over the holiday break are among the toughest of the season and PHS swimmers have been lifting weights twice a week in the mornings and then practicing in the evenings.
“We had a couple of complaints today from all the weights … but in the long run, it will make them better and they understand that,” Kaiser said.
