Hood River swimmers sweep La Salle

Girls meet highlights included Emma Titus’ one-second win in the 100 freestyle — 1:03.42 to 1:04.53 — over La Salle sophomore Kayla Chapman. Earlier in the meet, Chapman had edged HRV’s Sophie Cross in the 50 free, 29.81 to 29.99, while Titus had won the 200 free in 2:19.11. Titus finished fifth in last year’s Class 5A state meet, while Chapman was ninth in that race and fifth in the 100 backstroke.

The closest girls races of the day were arguably the 400 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. In the 400 free, HRV’s Maya Arndt edged Maya Crimin, 5:46.08 to 5:46.87. The stroke-for-stroke race was close the entire way, with Crimin leading by .01 after the first 100 before Arndt took over after the midway point – slowly building her narrow margin of victory. In the 100 breaststroke, the meet’s final individual race, Ella Simms of Hood River edged Gabrielle Wolfe, 1:29.25 to 1:29.55.

Delaney Hackett and Sophia Helleberg went 1-2 for HRV in the 100 backstroke, and Hackett added a win in the 100 butterfly. Michelle Graves won the 200 individual medley for the Eagles.

The HRV girls won both of the meet’s other relays. Arndt, Hackett, Helleberg and Titus teamed up to take first in the 200 freestyle relay; and Arndt, Helleberg, Abby Tomlinson and Titus won the 400 freestyle relay.

Boys highlights for HRV were many. The Eagles swept the three relays for 24 team points. Zayd Ziada, Lucas Elliott, Kaitaro Hawkins, and Jackson Bullock combined to win the 200 medley in 2:06.48 — four seconds faster than La Salle; Elliott, Caiden Titus, Rohan Faber and Elijah Adams teamed to win the 200 free relay (1:55.98); and Adams, Hawkins, Ziada and Titus were on HRV’s first place 400 free relay to close the meet.

Caiden Titus and Owen Sheppard went 1-2 in the 200 free and 100 free; Adams, Hawkins and Elliott went 1-2-3 in the 200 individual medley — with Adams edging Hawkins by less than a second; Hawkins edged La Salle’s Nik Jelusic by less than a half second in the 100 butterfly (Jelusic had edged HRV’s Bullock by a touch in the 50 free earlier, 27.59 to 27.61); Adams and Faber went 1-2 in the 400 free; Ziada won the 100 backstroke; and Elliott and Faber went 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke.