THE DALLES — The Dalles High School girls swimming team qualified athletes in four individual events and two relays for this weekend’s OSAA Class 4A/3A/2A/1A state meet.
The Riverhawks placed second behind host La Grande at the District 1 championships last week in La Grande. The Dalles’ girls squad scored 173 team points to place second behind host La Grande.
The Dalles girls won the meet’s final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay in 4 minutes, 10.56 seconds. The Riverhawks’ team of Lillien Vaught, Riley Elliott, Laura Black, and Kaiya Doty beat runner-up Pendleton by four seconds. All but Black, who is a senior, are juniors. They will be joined at state by freshman alternate Fiona McInnes.
The same Riverhawk relay team will compete in the 200-freestyle relay at state, after finishing third in a fast, photo-finish district final. La Grande won in 1:46.16, Catlin Gabel was second in 1:46.17 and The Dalles third in 1:49.41. Those three times are the top three times heading into the 4A/3A/2A/1A state finals.
Doty also qualified for state in two individual events — the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke. Doty was third in the breaststroke in 1:13.22, a time which seeds her sixth in the state meet. She finished fourth in the IM in 2:31.18. Doty was eighth in state in 2025 in the IM and fourth in the backstroke.
Black finished fourth at district in the 50-yard freestyle in 27.03 and Vaught was fourth in the 100-yard freestyle. Black also was sixth in the 100-yard freestyle.
The Dalles had six others who finished in the top 12 at district in individual events and some swam legs on the Riverhawk 200-yard medley relay which was seventh. Vaught was sixth in the 200-yard free (2:18.42) and McInnes was ninth (2:30.85). (The 200 free final included champion Becca Koza of Cove; she is the three-time defending state champion in that event.) The Dalles’ Claire Carnahan was ninth in the 200-yard IM in 3:12.69 and ninth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:32.96.
Katelynn Benjamin was seventh in the 100-yard butterfly (1:16.60) and eighth in the 500-yard freestyle (6:45.93); Elliott was fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:24.01) and 10th in the 100-yard freestyle (1:07.92); and Adele Black was 10th in the 500-yard freestyle.
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