Hood River Valley’s girls swim team capped off a successful season with its fourth-place finish in Friday’s OSAA Class 5A state meet in Beaverton.
The Eagles clinched the fourth-place trophy when senior Sarah Arpag finished fourth in the 100-yard backstroke and then anchored HRV’s third-place 400 freestyle relay. The three points Arpag earned in the backstroke gave the Eagles 23 overall; the relay placing earned them eight more for a team total of 31.
“As a coach, I was incredibly proud of the way all our swimmers swam at state,” HRV Coach Shelly Rawding said. “Only two swims for our team at the state meet were not season-best times, and almost 100 percent of them were all-time best times. The swimmers really geared up, got excited and not too stressed out, and made themselves proud to be an Eagle at the state meet this year. It was super fun.”
Hood River won the Intermountain Conference girls district meet team title two weekends ago at Hood River Aquatics Center. Friday’s meet was held at Tualatin Hills Aquatics Center.
In addition to the backstroke, Arpag was part of two second-place finishes at state — the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle relay. She and Redmond frosh Willow Messner staged another competitive battle in the butterfly. The two swimmers were the class of the field at the IMC meet two weeks ago, when Arpag won 58.24 to 58.48. Messner turned the tables at state, edging Arpag, 57.96 to 58.15.
Arpag’s five team points moved the Eagles into sixth place through nine events. Three events later, the senior co-captain anchored HRV’s 200-free relay to second place. Senior Nora Sandoval led things off with a 27.08-second 50; sophomore Michelle Graves swam her 50 in 27.19 and the Eagles were in fourth place. Junior Emma Titus clocked 25.89 for her third leg, closing the gap on the then second- and third-place teams, Springfield and Willamette. Arpag dug deep for a 25.10-second 50 to pull the Eagles from fourth into second behind winner, Redmond. Hood River’s time in the relay was 1:45.26.
Arpag and Sandoval, who also placed ninth in the 500 free (5:34.42) were the senior leaders for the Eagle girls the entire season.
“Sarah was a standout senior swimmer this year. Less than a handful of swimmers at the (state) meet scored more points than Sarah did. … All four of her times were best times this season, and three of her times were all-time best times,” Rawding said. “Being that we were shut out of the pool due to COVID for six months over the past two years, and we currently only have pool time four days per week instead of our usual five due to staffing issues at the pool, what she was able to do given our water limitations was spectacular.”
Sandoval joined Arpag on both of the Eagles’ placing relays.
“Nora added a huge boost to our team with her ability to swim fast on relays when needed,” Rawding said. “This was her only year on the high school team, and you really need four swimmers to ‘put it all together’ for the state meet to make it happen, and Nora’s ability to swim fast for the relays when it came down to the wire was a huge asset for our team.”
Titus put her team on the scoreboard with her fifth-place (two team points) effort in the meet’s second event, the 200-yard freestyle. Titus swam the race in 2:02.41; Sandoval was a non-scoring seventh. The top six individual and relay finishers earned team points at state.
Titus doubled in the 100 free a few races later, scoring three points with her fourth-place finish in 55.85. Teammate Abby Tomlinson dipped under a minute, as well, finishing 11th in 59.59.
HRV’s Graves was eighth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.62, and ninth in the 200 individual medley in a personal-best 2:26.09. Both times were about a second and a half faster than she swam those races at district.
Hood River solidified its fourth-place showing with a third-place finish in the meet’s final event, the 400-free relay. The team of Titus to Sandoval to Tomlinson to Arpag touched the wall in 3:48.65, a four-second improvement from district.
The Hood River boys were led by a number of season- and all-time best swims, although the Eagles did not score any team points. Hood River’s 200 medley relay lowered its season time by more than three seconds, finishing 10th in 1:55.21. Team members were: Zayd Ziada, Lucas Elliott, Kaitaro Hawkins and Angus Kellems.
Elliott, a junior, was eighth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.22. Sophomore Jackson Bullock was 10th in the 200 freestyle in 2:04.45; junior Gavin Hackett was 10th in the 100 butterfly in 58.11 — a two-second improvement from district.
Hood River’s 400 free relay of Bullock, Hawkins, Elijah Adams and Hackett was ninth in 3:42.08.
Swim notes: In the boys 5A state meet, Crescent Valley won with 65 points, ahead of West Albany (61), Redmond (34) and Parkrose (26). Crater senior Marcus Gentry and Churchill senior Charley Page-Jones set OSAA all-time championship records. Gentry broke the OSAA record in the 100 backstroke in 48.03. He also set a 5A meet record in the 200 individual medley in 1:49.60. Page-Jones broke the previous OSAA meet record in the 100 butterfly, winning that race in 47.63 seconds.
In the girls meet, Wilsonville junior Helena Jones set 5A meet records in two events: the 50 freestyle in 22.96 seconds; and the 100 freestyle in 49.83 seconds. Churchill won the girls meet with 60 points, Crescent Valley was second with 55 and Redmond third with 44.
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