ALBANY — In pretty much any sport, the athletes that go above and beyond with hard work in practice will likely experience some level of success in competition. Then there are those who put in extra time and effort in the chase to be the best.
Philomath sophomore Cameron McLennan appears to be one of those athletes. And he enjoyed the payoff Saturday in Albany at the 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 4 swim meet.
“This is what I’ve been working for all year,” McLennan said after winning the 100-yard butterfly earlier in the day. “When there’s no practice, I come in on Saturdays and work on my turns. It worked out.”
Second-year head coach Iliana Kaiser also mentioned the work that he puts in.
“He’s been doing a lot of extra work, staying after practice for like 20 minutes just working on that fly and getting that muscle memory down — and it paid off,” she said.
McLennan was one of four athletes in six events to qualify for the state championships with their performances in the two-day district meet. Freshman Lucas Brandt won both the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle, senior Henry Katsikis advanced with his time in the 100 breaststroke and for the girls, junior Kyah Weeber qualified in both the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke.
“It’s really great just seeing all of their hard work pay off,” Kaiser said. “In an environment where you have all of these fast kids, it pushes them to swim faster instead of being sort of around the same time … they know they have to do well if they want to move on.”
The 100 butterfly final turned out to be a highlight of the meet. The stage was set for a showdown when the top two swimmers turned in exceptional times during Friday’s prelims — Marist Catholic junior Jonathan McDonough with a 57.18 and McLennan with a 58.47. Coming into districts, McLennan had the top time with a 1:01.07, Cascade senior Jacob Gehley was also in the mix with a 1:01.17 and McDonough was sitting at 1:03.38.
“Today, we came in and he was a second ahead of me and took my spot in first place,” McLennan said, referring to seeding. “I was not about to have that.”
Gehley was disqualified in prelims so it would be McDonough vs. McLennan.
Both swimmers came out fast with McDonough holding a lead of just over a half-second through the first 50 yards.
“After the first 25, my turn was pretty bad and he passed me and took me out,” McLennan said. “He was about a half of a body length ahead of me all the way back for another 50.”
McLennan, however, gained momentum on his final turn and kicked strongly for the wall.
“I caught him on the turn and we were neck-and-neck and I pushed one step further than he did,” McLennan said. “When he glided into the finish, I touched the wall.”
McLennan won with a time of 57.64 with McDonough second at 57.84.
“He was on that kid’s shoulder for the first 75 and then he just dug deep and out-touched the kid,” Kaiser said.
McLennan said he was shocked at first.
“I really thought I wasn’t going to win because he just kept wiped me yesterday and I just pushed as hard as I could,” he said.
The result sent Philomath’s team members into a frenzy, including Kaiser and assistant coach Ophelia Katsikis.
“I was in near tears, I was in shock, he was in shock, Ophelia was in shock and there was a lot of jumping, a lot of energy,” Kaiser said.
The next stop will be the state meet, scheduled for Feb. 16-17 at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton.
“The real challenge was to make it to state,” McLennan said. “I know I’m not going to place at state but what I was working for was to be there.”
McLennan actually could be in contention for a medal. The top four swimmers have times that appear on paper to be insurmountable but McLennan and McDonough could find themselves among those fighting for fifth or sixth.
While McLennan’s accomplishment might have been the most thrilling, Brandt had a memorable meet of his own by taking first in both the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle.
Brandt’s presence in the Philomath High swim program this season has been dramatic with nothing but victories in each of his individual races regardless of the event. The district meet represented a new challenge.
“I was kind of scared of the competition but it turned out well for me,” Brandt said. “I got a PR in the 500 and was right on with my best time in the 2(00) IM so I’m pretty happy with those two.”
The competition was in the 500 freestyle with three swimmers in contention for top honors — Brandt, Marist Catholic senior Micah Hugo and Sweet Home junior RJ Abbott.
“Me and Mica were neck-and-neck the whole race and I just outsprinted him in the end,” Brandt said.
Brandt’s sprint was 0.77 of a second better than Hugo over the final 100 yards and he touched at 4:58.29. Hugo was second at 4:59.50 and Abbott ended up a distant third at 5:15.14.
“I think it was nice for him to have Micah to race against,” Kaiser said. “They pushed each other the whole time, he listened to the cues, he trusted any advice I had given him and that.”
Brandt and Hugo rank 1-2 heading into the state meet. La Grande junior Zane Ricker had a 5:02.29 at districts for the third-fastest time. Abbott qualified as well and has the fifth-best time.
By the way, Brandt’s time was 1.49 seconds off the school record of 4:56.80, set by James Dye in 2018.
Brandt wasn’t challenged in the 200 IM with a time of 2:06.91 in prelims and 2:03.67 in finals. His win was 14.46 seconds faster than the runner-up.
“I was going for the district record but unfortunately, I was a second off,” Brandt said. “But it was a really fun race.”
Of the four strokes — butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle — Brandt does have a favorite. “It’s got to be the breaststroke,” he said. “If you’re a good breaststroker, you’re really good at IM.”
Brandt owns the school record with the 2:03.39 he swam a few weeks ago in a home meet. The previous record had been in place since 1982.
“I try not to go as fast in the beginning and try to build up to a sprint at the end,” Brandt said.
Weeber heads to state for the second straight year — last season going in the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM. This time around, she goes in the 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly.
“I was a little off my time yesterday but I was still super pleased with how I did because I was still maintaining my time,” she said about the butterfly. “I was still within a 1:08, so that’s what I was looking for.”
Weeber’s time of 1:08.71 was good for fourth place but fast enough to qualify her for state with the 11th-best time among all districts. It was a personal-record time for her.
“My strategy going into that race was to go all out on the first 50 and then maintain for the last 50 of the race and I did pretty well,” she said.
In the breaststroke, Weeber placed third in 1:16.34, which is the ninth-best time from among those that qualified.
“My breaststroke is probably my favorite event and I was really happy that I was able to get a 1:16,” she said. “I was hoping for second pace but third place is still amazing.”
Katsikis placed second in the 100 breaststroke and his time of 1:11.48 was good enough to get him to state as the No. 9 seed. Sweet Home junior Shayne Schuster took the win by a fair margin with Katsikis involved in a battle for second with Marist Catholic junior Michael Coffey and Cascade senior Tyler Bitikofer.
Katsikis led Coffey by just over seven-tenths of a second through the first 50 yards. Over the second half of the race, the pace slowed a little but he still ended up beating Coffey by 0.92 of a second.
Sophomore Mason Stevens had a top-six finish with his performance in the 100 backstroke. Stevens came in with a 1:11.61 for sixth.
The boys 200 freestyle relay placed third with junior Alex Dye, McLennan, Stevens and Brandt in 1:42.90. The girls 200 medley relay was fourth in 2:14.14 with sophomore Jessica McLennan, junior Kateri Pindell, Weeber and senior Madison Juhl. Neither of those times, however, were enough to get them to state.
On a down note, Philomath’s 200 medley relay, which includes Brandt, Katsikis, McLennan and Dye — was disqualified during its prelim race. Philomath’s A and B teams in the relay were among five that were hit with DQs.
“It was disheartening for some but it was the motivator for a lot of individual wins for sure,” Kaiser said.
Sweet Home swept the team titles. For the boys, Marist was second with Cascade third and Philomath fourth. In the girls’ standings, Salem Academy finished runner-up with Junction City third and Stayton fourth. Philomath finished seventh.
