Intermountain Conference foes Hood River Valley and Redmond continued to serve notice that this year’s district swimming meet will prominently feature athletes from both schools. That, and the fact that based on head-to-head meetings this season, there is no clear favorite to win the title.
The Eagles and Panthers matched strokes for the second time in as many weeks Jan. 26 at a four-way meet in Madras. Redmond came out on top in both the boys (119-93) and girls (114-112) competitions. Two weeks ago in Hood River, the margin of victory was less for the Redmond boys over HRV (85-78), and the HRV girls won by a comfortable margin, 96-63.
Hood River Coach Shelly Rawding said: “We are still at mid-season workouts right now. Swimmers are racing well, and the season is going about as expected. With our pool closed on Mondays, we are down 20% of our pool time from previous seasons — so I think the kids are doing great and racing very well especially with our lack of pool time.
“Attendance has been up all season long and the swimmers have really good attitudes.”
Redmond the boys 2019 and 2020 district championships and finished second to HRV last spring. Hood River’s girls team was second to Pendleton last season.
The Eagle girls were led last week by the steady Emma Titus, who won the 200-yard freestyle and was second in the 100 free. In the latter race, Titus and Redmond’s Olivia Still swam stroke for stroke in an exciting match-up. Titus had a slim lead after 50 yards, 29.17 seconds to 29.26, but Still had a faster finish and won, 59.74 to 59.93.
Titus’ win in the 200 free was HRV’s lone victory in the girls competition, and she had to earn it against Redmond frosh Molly Konop. The two swimmers were tied after 100 yards and, unlike later in the 100 free, Titus was able pull ahead over the last half of the race, winning in 2:08.08 to 2:08.44.
One difference in last week’s outcome vs. two weeks ago was the absence of HRV’s Abby Tomlinson in two individual events. Tomlinson swam legs on Hood River’s runner-up 200 and 400 relays, but did not start in the 50 free and 100 free. Rawding said: “COVID exposures and motion sickness from the bus ride … a variety of reasons for kids not at this meet or not swimming all their events.”
A noticeable absence on the HRV boys team was Lucas Elliott. He has been the top individual medley and breaststroker swimmer for the Eagles this season but missed the meet. Teammate Jackson Bullock was there. The sophomore distance freestyler won two individual races —– the 200 and 500 free — and swam a leg on HRV’s first-place 400-free relay.
Hood River will compete at home Thursday against The Dalles, the final tune-up before the Feb. 12 district championship — also at Hood River Aquatics Center.
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