The Dalles High Riverhawks and the Hood River Valley High Eagles competed in the Class 5A Intermountain Conference District swim meet Saturday in Hood River and both squads enjoyed success, with numerous swimmers qualifying for the OSAA state meet Feb. 18 at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton.
The Eagles, guided by Coach Shelly Rawding, enjoyed tremendous success with their girl’s squad, which recorded 14 top-five finishes, including winning district titles in six events. They also won the IMC District team championship with 94 points; Redmond was second with 91. The Eagles were led by three-time district champions Emma Titus and Sara Arpag, and two-time district champion Nora Sandoval, as the trio combined for a total of eight top-two finishes.
Hood River has 13 team members qualify for the state meet, including two boys and two girls relay teams along with swimmers in 12 individual events.
“They had a wonderful swim meet, especially the girls,” said Rawding. “They lost by just one point last year to Pendleton and they won by three points this year. It’s very fun to have close, friendly competition ... We have swimmers in 14 out of 22 events at the state meet, which is just awesome. We have lots of individual qualifiers, as well. We still have lots of work to do, so we’ll continue training to get ready for the state meet on Friday.”
The Eagle boys quartet of Zayd Ziada, Lucas Elliot, Kaitaro Hawkins and Angus Kellems took second in the 200-yard medley relay (1:58.37) to earn a state qualifying berth in that event. HRV’s quartet of Jackson Bullock, Hawkins, Elijah Adams, and Gavin Hackett took second place to The Dalles in the 400-free relay to qualify for state.
The Eagles had a 1-2 finish in the 200 freestyle finals with Titus (2:02.57) first, followed by Sandoval (in a state qualifying wild card time of 2:04.57) in second. Titus also won the 100 free (56.64) and she combined with teammates Sandoval, Abby Tomlinson and Arpag to win the 400-free relay (3:52.82) and earn a state qualifying spot for all four Eagle swimmers. The Eagle quartet of Sandoval, Graves, Titus and Arpag also earned a state qualifying spot in the 200 free relay after taking second (1:46.85) place to Redmond (1:44.83).
“I really enjoyed this, because it’s my last home meet as a senior,” said Arpag, who won the 100 butterfly (58.24) and the 100 backstroke (1:01.34) to qualify for three state-meet events. “I was really happy with my times, because since COVID, I haven’t really been able to get back to where I have been. I’m excited to go swim in the state meet for the third time in my Hood River Valley High School career.
“I took second in the 100 fly in the 2020 state meet, so I’m hoping to win a state title in the 100 fly this year. … It was really awesome seeing our team do so well and win the district championship.”
Arpag is seeded first among qualifying times in the 100 butterfly.
Sandoval won a district title with her victory in the 500 free (5:28.15) to earn an individual state meet qualifying spot.
Eagle swimmers who also notched multiple top-five event finishes included Maya Arndt, Sophia Cross, Tomlinson, and Graves, who took second (1:16.12) in the 100 breaststroke and second in the 200 IM (2:27.89). She earned state wild card berths in both events.
Arndt, Graves, Cross and Tomlinson swam to a third-place finish in the 200 IM relay (2:06.85). The Dalles quartet of Kendall Webber, Hannah Haight, Lydia DiGennaro and Kennedy Abbas took second (2:03.42) behind winner Redmond (1:55.97). The Riverhawk team qualified for state as a wild card selection.
Led by district champion Elliot, who won the 100 breaststroke (1:08.54), the Eagle boys swimmers recorded 16 top-5s and finished second in team scoring with 81 points behind IMC District Champion Redmond (89 points).
“This is going to be my first year going to state, so it’s actually pretty awesome,” said Elliot, who recorded a fourth in the 200 IM (2:23.09), just behind Skyler Coburn (2:20.52) of The Dalles. “The meet turned out a lot better than I thought it would. I dropped five seconds off my breaststroke, which was way better than I thought I could do. I’m pretty proud of my team and we all got a ton of PRs.
“It’s been kind of transitioning year, because we only have two seniors (Aden Cross, Moze Banks), but we have a lot of juniors. A lot of us are getting PRs and we’re getting better for next year.”
HRV’s Kaitaro Hawkins was just behind Lucas in fifth (2:29.20) in the 200 IM. Lucas also combined with teammates Hackett, Bullock and Elijah Adams for third place in the 200 free relay (1:43.93). The Dalles quartet of Michael Cole, Wesley Parker, Coburn, and Carter Randall finished second (1:39.82) behind first-place Redmond (1:37.14). The Dalles earned a spot at state with its effort.
The Riverhawks did one spot better in the final event, the 400 free relay, as they won in 3:44.32 to advance to state. HRV was a close second at 3:45.20, and also qualified for state.
“Everybody had an amazing day in the meet,” said Cole, who took second (23.37) in the 50 free and second in the 100 free (52.94). Redmond’s Ryan Konop took first place in both events. “We did tapering in practice with lighter workouts this week and everyone swam really great and we got lots of PRs. I went my to state my freshman year on our 200-free relay, so this is the second time I’ve qualified for state.”
Eagle swimmers who also notched multiple top-5s included Bullock, who took second in the 200 free (wild card qualifying time of 2:03.99), followed by Randall (2:10.57) and HRV’s Rohan Faber in fifth (2:17.62). Hackett (1:00.25) was runner-up to Pendleton’s Cahill Robinson (55.85) in the 100 fly, followed by Randall (1:04.91) and Hawkins (1:06.54).
“It’s amazing to win the district championship in the relay,” said Randall, who qualified for state for the first time ever. “We worked so hard all year, going through snowstorms and a COVID pause, and we tried hard at every practice. Now all our work has paid off and it feels great to be going to state — I’m really excited.”
Bullock took second (5:52.65) to Ridgeview’s Drew Harding (5:48.38) in the 500 free and HRV’s Zayd Ziada was third (6:27.08), followed by Canon Dorzab (6:34.60) of The Dalles.
“I’m super excited, because this will be the first time that I’ll actually be able to swim at the state meet,” said Coburn, a junior who qualified for the 2020 state meet as an alternate. “I’m really proud of our team; we did really good like I knew we would and it’s just awesome.”
The Hawks, guided by Coach Shea Macnab, recorded 10 top-five boys finishes. The eight-member Riverhawks boys squad took third in team scoring with 54 points.
“We had kids that dropped so much time in every single event,” said Macnab. “We placed swimmers in the top three in 12 individual events. We’re a small team, but we finished strong with lots of second-, third- and fourth-place finishes, so I’m just super proud of all these kids.”
The six-member The Dalles girls squad notched a total of seven top-5s, highlighted by runner-up finishes in the 200-medley relay in a The Dalles High School record time (2:03.42). DiGennaro also took second place in the 50 free (25.59) and she was third in the 100 fly (1:03.84). Both times earned her a place at state as a wild card entrant.
“I set personal records in both the 50 free and the 100 fly, so I had a really good day,” said DiGennaro, a junior who qualified for the state meet two years ago as a freshman. “I’m very happy and I’ve been trying to cut times for a while now and I haven’t been able to do that since my freshman year. I finally did it today, so that was really good for me.”
Webber and Haight also notched third-place individual finishes. Haight (1:18.35) took third in the 100 breast and Webber took third in the 100 back (1:08.85). Webber recorded a fifth-place finish in the 500 free (6:25.32).
“The meet went really well, and it was definitely crazy to have prelims for the 500, which has never happened before,” said Webber. “Having to swim two 500s in one day was definitely a challenge and I was so tired. I actually dropped more time on my second 500 than the first one, which was really amazing. I took third in the backstroke, and I earned a medal, which was so surprising. It was just a fantastic meet, and it was definitely a good way to conclude the (league) season.”
Webber, Haight, Kennedy Abbas and DiGennaro will swim in the 200 free relay at state, earning a wild card berth.
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