After having to settle for a pair of fifth-place marks a year ago, North Medford’s Dylan Wittenberg took it up a notch Saturday to finish runner-up in two events at the Class 6A boys swimming state championships in Beaverton.

Wittenberg’s effort was one of several solid marks turned in by Rogue Valley swimmers at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center, with St. Mary’s standout Elise Chamberland also turning in a pair of second-place marks in the Class 4A/3A/2A/1A girls swimming state meet held at the same site.

Competing in his senior season, Wittenberg returned to state in the 100-yard freestyle but switched from the 200 free to the 50 free for the 2024 meet.

Both boys events saw Wittenberg hold up well, finishing in 21.41 seconds in the 50 free finals to touch second only to Lake Oswego’s Minsong Kim (21.05). In the 100 free finals, Wittenberg finished a fraction of a second ahead of Sunset’s Andrew Ignatescu for second place, with Wittenberg hitting the wall at 45.83 seconds and Ignatescu coming in at 45.84. Nelson’s Mason Hopper won the event (45.16).

Last year, Wittenberg was fifth in the 100 free (47.22) and 200 free (1:43.80) at the state meet.

Also in the 6A girls meet, South Medford’s Ellie Carson was 14th in the 200 free preliminaries (2:01.84) and didn’t advance to the finals and teammate Jazmin Elwood was 14th in the 100 butterfly prelims and did not advance.

Chamberland was the lone returning state champion among the local swimmers but was held off twice by a Koza from Cove Union, as sisters Becca and Sarah earned three individual girls titles between them.

The reigning 4A/3A/2A/1A champion in the girls 100 free, Chamberland suffered her first loss of the high school season after her time of 54.07 seconds wasn’t enough to fend off Becca Koza (51.91).

Chamberland was able to finish a notch ahead of her state performance from a year ago in the 50 free, when she was third, by barely finishing second to Sarah Koza (24.53) in 24.78 seconds.

The St. Mary’s girls also received a solid effort from Annikka Fetro, who placed third in the 200 freestyle (2:03.36) and fourth in the 500 free (5:40.60). Fetro was runner-up in the 200 free and third in the 100 fly at last year’s state meet.

The Crusader girls had also qualified for state in the 200 freestyle relay but did not reach the finals, but Cascade Christian was able to use the team of Six Ava, Ella Price, Josie Scaglione and Joezie Mitchell to place fifth in the event (1:49.16) a year after securing the state title.

In the boys meet, St. Mary’s saw the quartet of Sully Rizvi, Lucas Impert, Sawyer Mortensen and Alex Titianu place second in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:35.00, just a tad behind Newport (1:34.72). Phoenix wound up fourth in the event in 1:36.88 behind the efforts from Quin Davis, Makaio Potts, River Delco and Cody Martin.

Also placing in the 4A/3A/2A/1A meet were Davis in the boys 500 free (fifth, 5:08.53) and 200 free (sixth, 1:57.35); Titianu in the boys 50 free (sixth, 23.40); Mitchell in the girls 100 butterfly (fifth, 1:05.41); and Cascade Christian’s Myles Anderson in the boys 500 free (sixth, 5:17.90).

Neither boys 200 medley relay team from St. Mary’s or Phoenix made it into the finals, nor did the Challengers’ boys 200 free relay squad. The St. Mary’s boys were fifth in the 400 free relay prelims but wound up being disqualified in the finals.

State qualifiers unable to reach the 4A/3A/2A/1A finals were: Cascade Christian’s Caleb Scaglione (50 free, 100 free) and Joshua Clark (100 breaststroke); Anderson (200 free); Impert (200 free); Delco (50 free, 100 free); Potts (100 fly, 100 back); Mortensen (100 fly); Ava (100 free); and Josie Scaglione (100 free).

In the Class 5A state meet, Ashland’s Aiden Espinoza placed fourth in the boys 100-yard backstroke (57.10) and fifth in the 100 fly (55.16) as the only local swimmer to reach the finals.

Espinoza was also part of two relay teams (200 medley, 400 free) with Malachi Loeliger, Lucky Garcia and Fugui Slawta that did not advance out of the preliminaries.

Crater’s Sarah Duron (50 free) and Ashland’s Calia Van Heusen (6:23.97) each were 12th in their respective girls events in the prelims and did not advance.

For para athletes, Cascade Christian’s Juliet Hehn placed second in the mixed 100-yard freestyle (1:28.79) and fourth in the 50-yard freestyle (42.29).