The Hood River Valley Swim Team Osprey finished 17th overall at the 11 and Over Oregon Swimming Championships this past weekend at Mt. Hood Community College.
Despite falling outside of the top-10 as a team, every swimmer for team Osprey reached multiple personal best times and a couple of athletes achieved HRVST records along the way.
Sarah Arpag (14) and Michelle Graves (12) led the way for team Osprey at the state meet as they each cemented their names in HRVST history.
Arpag lowered her own HRVST record, which was set earlier this summer, in the 100-meter backstroke with a final time of one minute and 11.15 seconds.
Along with her record-breaking performance, Arpag led HRVST in scoring with a team high 20 points at this meet, and an “Age Group Zone” qualifying time in the 100-meter freestyle with a final time of 1:01.79 (fourth place finish).
Athletes who qualified for the “Age Group Zone” competition in Roseville, Calif., will be chosen on July 31 (unavailable at press time) based on Oregon Swimming team needs and qualifying times.
Other results for Arpag at the Oregon Swimming Championships: Placed third in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:17.70; placed fifth in the 100-meter backstroke; placed sixth in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:35.76; seventh in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:35.45; 18th in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:15.20.
In the 12-year-old division, Graves finished with a final time of 39.25 in the 50-meter breaststroke, tying a HRVST record which was set in 2008 by Mariah Rawding.
Graves scored nine points and placed top-10 in three separate events, including a seventh-place finish in the 50-meter breaststroke.
Other results for Graves at the Oregon Swimming Championships: Placed sixth in the 100-meter breast stroke with a time of 1:26.34; placed seventh in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:45.23; placed 11th in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 31.60; placed 15th in the 50-meter butterfly with a time of 36.02.
Outside of the HRVST record-breaking performances by Arpag and Graves, more than a handful of other Osprey athletes went on and swam to top-finishes at the Oregon Swimming Championships.
Nora Sandoval (13) scored 17 points for the team and achieved a Senior Sectional qualifying time in the 400-meter freestyle with a third-place finish (4:43.09). She also placed fourth in the 1500 meter freestyle with a 30 second time drop on the last day of the meet (19:13.89). Sandoval was sixth in both the 800-meter freestyle (9:56.27) and 200-meter freestyle (2:18.46) events.
Other results for Sandoval at the Oregon Swimming Championships: Placed 10th in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 5:38.19 and 12th in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:43.00.
Allie Burke (17), who is heading to Pacific Lutheran University this fall to swim for the Lutes, scored 9.5 points and finished fifth in the 800-meter freestyle (10:00.96). She tied for sixth in the 400-meter freestyle (4:55.35) and was also sixth in the 1500-meter freestyle (19:52.94). Burke ended the meet with a 14th place finish in the 400-meter individual medley.
Willow Hollowell (11) swam to personal best times in every event she competed in at this meet, including a nine second drop in the 200-meter freestyle for a 10th place finish. Hollowell’s top finish was fifth place in the 50-meter butterfly (34.40).
Other results for Hollowell at the Oregon Swimming Championships: Placed seventh in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:20.69; placed seventh in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:53.34; placed eighth in the 100-metere backstroke with a time of 1:22.25; placed 21st in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:39.25.
Phillip Hecksel (19) had a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter butterfly (2:18.78), finished seventh in the 200-meter freestyle (2:06.28) and eighth in the 50-meter freestyle (25.57). Hecksel also swam to a 12th place finish in the 100-meter freestyle (56.12) and 18th in the 100-meter butterfly (1:02.03).
Christopher Dankenbring (13) had a drop in the 800-meter freestyle of 36 seconds to finish in fifth place with a time of 10:20.34. He also placed 10th in the 200-meter fly (2:44.99) and 11th in the 1500-meter freestyle (20:41.07).
Other results for Dankenbring at the Oregon Swimming Championships: Placed 14th in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:22.71; placed 14th in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4:58.62; placed 16th in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 5:55.97.
Skyla Hollowell (12) finished in the first alternate position for finals twice — she took ninth place in both the 200-meter individual medley (2:48.99) and in the 400-meter freestyle (5:13.93). She was 13th in the 100-meter butterfly (1:19.53), 14th in the 200-meter freestyle (2:31.15), 16th in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:33.65) and rounded out her line up with a 17th place finish in the 100-meter backstroke (1:20.84).
The HRVST Osprey will finish its summer season with the Newport Seahorse Invitational meet Aug. 10-12.
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