The Hood River, Redmond, and Pendleton high school swim teams are prominent in the conversation about the 2022 Intermountain Conference swimming team championships.
The time to walk, er, swim the talk, will be all day Saturday at Hood River Aquatics Center, where spectators will be relegated to watching via video feed because of COVID concerns. Warm-ups begin at 9 a.m. with prelims at 10 a.m. After the conclusion of prelims there will be a 90-minute break before warm-up and the subsequent final session.
The team champions for girls and boys won’t be known until Saturday afternoon or evening, but HRV and Redmond are expected to battle for the boys crown, and those two schools and Pendleton are among the top girls teams — based on qualifying times this season.
“We’re really looking forward to districts,” Hood River Coach Shelly Rawding said. “It’s always a fun meet and the kids get up for it and they’re able to perform beyond what they do at dual meets.”
The winners of district final events qualify for the OSAA state swim meet Feb. 19 at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton. Some of the second-place finishers should also earn a state qualifying spot as wild-card entrants — based on their district finishing time. This year marks the first state meet since 2020. The 2021 state meet was canceled because of the COVID pandemic.
Pendleton won last year’s girls meet — by one point, 376-375, over Hood River — and The Dalles was third. Hood River won the boys crown over runner-up Redmond and third-place finisher, The Dalles.
A number of swimmers are back to defend their girls individual titles, including Emma Titus of Hood River in the 200-yard freestyle, and teammates Sarah Arpag in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, and Michelle Graves in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke.
“Our goal is for our team to win districts because we lost by just one point last year to Pendleton, which was so frustrating because it was so close,” Titus said. “It’s really nice to have home advantage for districts, so that’s like an added bonus for us. I feel like I have a chance to win district titles in both the 200 and the 100 freestyle.”
Titus was second a year ago in the 100 free.
Gavin Hackett is HRV’s lone returning individual district champion returning from the Eagles’ 2021 title-winning team. Hackett won the 100 butterfly over Michael Cole of The Dalles. Cole, who also was third in the 50 free a year ago, said there’s an air of excitement in anticipation of district.
“I feel like we’ll be able swim better at districts because we’ll be tapering this week and not having as hard of practices,” he said. “Our relays will be swimming real good and everyone is going to have a great meet, I think, and we’re just really excited to compete at districts.”
Swimmers can compete in up to two individual events and two relays. Each school can enter four athletes in individual events and two teams in relay events.
The Dalles assistant Coach Nate Timmons said the Riverhawks’ best chance to earn a state qualifying spot will be in relays and they’ll also have a shot at qualifying in a couple of individual events, as well. “We’re really excited about going into districts and we’re hoping to have some good finishes,” he said. “This is a great group of kids and I’ve really enjoyed coaching them.”
Lydia DeGennaro, a junior from The Dalles, qualified for the 2020 state meet in the 50 free and 100 free and in the 200 free relay. “I hope that I can make it to state again, and I think I have a good chance,” said DeGennaro, who was second in the district 50 free a year ago. “We’re hoping to qualify in the relays so that our seniors can go to state.”
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