Cascade Christian sophomore Myles Anderson and junior Juliet Hehn were joined by St. Mary’s senior Elise Chamberland in each posting a pair of top-two marks Saturday to pave the way for the locals at the Class 4A/3A/2A/1A swimming state championships.
The Phoenix boys swim team also enjoyed a memorable state meet, placing fourth overall in the team standings at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton.
Anderson lowered his preliminary time in the boys 100-yard freestyle by more than a second to finish runner-up to Newport’s Ben Hurty and just ahead of Phoenix sophomore Quin Davis. Hurty won in 48.36 seconds, while Anderson was second in 49.39 and Davis third at 50.05.
Anderson also dialed it up a notch in the finals of the boys 50 free, finishing a half-second better than his preliminary time to again touch the wall second behind only Finn Bizzell of Astoria. Bizzell won in 22.01, while Anderson finished runner-up at 22.41.
St. Mary’s sophomore Sawyer Mortensen placed fourth in the same event in 22.96.
Chamberland provided a steady effort in each of her podium finishes, placing second in the girls 50 free by a fingernail behind Catlin Gabel freshman Summer Whittle before finishing runner-up in the girls 100 free to Becca Koza of Cove.
In the girls 50 free, Whittle touched the wall first in 24.73 seconds to eke out a win over Chamberland, who finished in 24.77. Koza won in 52.84 in the girls 100 free, and Chamberland came in at 55.04.
Competing among the para-athletes in Saturday’s mixed 50 free and 100 free, Hehn won the 100 free in 1:21.87 and placed second in a close finish in the 50 free (37.07).
St. Mary’s junior Alex Titianu cruised in for a second-place medal in the boys 200 free in 1 minute, 46.95 seconds, trailing only La Grande senior Zane Ricker (1:42.25). Davis placed fourth in the event for the Pirates in 1:49.09.
Davis also joined seniors River Delco and Makaio Potts and sophomore Cail Decker to place third in the boys 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:32.68 behind Catlin Gabel (1:30.85) and North Bend (1:32.60).
With the solid weekend showing, Phoenix finished with 26 points in the boys team standings to finish behind Catlin Gabel (70), Newport (47) and La Grande (30). Cascade Christian finished 10th in the boys standings with 10 points and St. Mary’s was 13th with eight points.
The Crusader girls placed ninth overall with 10 points, and Catlin Gabel pulled off the school sweep with 87 points in the girls competition to finish well ahead of Sweet Home (44).
In the Class 6A state championships, North Medford sophomore Eli Stebbins advanced to the finals in the boys 50-yard freestyle and finished eighth overall in 22.34 seconds. Jesuit junior Suiyao Li won in 21.32 seconds.
North Medford senior Eva Ringger had qualified for state in the girls 50 free and girls 100 backstroke but was unable to qualify for either final through the preliminaries Friday. Ringger was also part of a girls 200 freestyle relay with seniors Erika George, Mila Lavelle and Manda Reso but that SWC champion foursome was disqualified during Friday’s preliminaries.
Stebbins also missed advancing out of the prelims in the boys 100 free, and the situation was likewise for George in the girls 100-yard breaststroke.
