Brianna Webber, of The Dalles swim team, was a key component in the 200-and-400-yard freestyle relay events, where the group captured seventh and sixth place, respectively, at Saturday’s Hood River Invitational. Webber, a sophomore, also turned in a time of two minutes and 33.59 seconds for 10th place in the 200-yard freestyle race.
Brianna Webber, of The Dalles swim team, was a key component in the 200-and-400-yard freestyle relay events, where the group captured seventh and sixth place, respectively, at Saturday’s Hood River Invitational. Webber, a sophomore, also turned in a time of two minutes and 33.59 seconds for 10th place in the 200-yard freestyle race.
Although dwindled down in roster size because of illness and injuries, The Dalles swim coach Shea MacNab found a way to shuffle things around with several athletes in different events in an effort to maximize their performances.
Natalie Varland and Caleb Miller turned in runner-up finishes, and the varsity swimmers notched nine top-8 outputs at the Hood River Invite Saturday.
“It’s always exciting to have swimmers try new events and it’s important that we are able to place swimmers in all the different events for our team points,” MacNab said.
“Swimmers that take on new events and challenges help out our entire team and make our team much more diverse in the events we are able to place swimmers in.”
Varland had her best 100-yard breastroke swim of the past four weeks with a time of one minute and 18.11 seconds to grab second place, and she helped lead the freestyle relay team to sixth in the 400-yard event and seventh place at 200 yards.
Varland also secured 10th place with a final marker of 29.67 in the 50-yard freestyle.
“Natalie has yet to swim a lifetime-best in her 100-yard breaststroke this season, but this performance is very encouraging that she is once again building confidence with her stroke and making the adjustments necessary to continue to hold the No. 1 spot at districts,” MacNab said.
Joining Varland in the 400-yard freestyle relay were Emily Nolasco, Lydia Evans and Brianna Webber, and they matched forces for a 4:57.54.
Nolasco, Webber, Varland and Jaden Biehn then notched seventh place with a 2:02.90 in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Webber placed 10th in her individual 200-yard freestyle race (2:33.59), Nolasco picked up a 7:48.84 for 12th in the 500-yard freestyle, improving on her previous best by 11 seconds.
“This will be one of Emily’s events at districts, so seeing that much improvement at this point in the season is a good sign,” MacNab said.
The duo of Hanna Rodriguez and Sharon Mann both improved on their lifetime-best swims in the 200-yard freestyle by more than six seconds each, with Rodriguez going for a 3:21.36 and Mann hitting a 3:40.43.
Rodriguez showed improvement on her 100-yard backstroke time of 1:53.27, Lydia Evans shaved down 13.27 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke, as she took off another second this week, following up on a 10-second drop last weekend.
Miller, a first-year swimmer, participated in his first 500-yard freestyle and he notched a time of 5:31.53 to grab second place, and in the same event, Silas Fields placed fifth after a 7:25.46, and Jonathan Snodgrass went for an 8:55.49 to lock down seventh place.
Adrian Castellanos swam his first-ever 200-yard freestyle and posted a 3:21.96 and he tallied a 1:20.33 in the 100-yard freestyle, Asa Madsen improved on his 50-yard freestyle time with a 39.39, Will Evans swam in his first 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:36.82 to claim 12th place.
Peter Cardosi continued his spirited battle at the top of the league standings in the 50-and-100-yard freestyle, posting a 27.63 in the 50, and a 58.87 in the 100, which placed him eighth in the field.
At this point in the season, MacNab and assistant coach Derek Shortt are impressed with where the team is at and the improvements they continue to display each week.
The Dalles has one more meet in La Grande this Saturday in a final tune-up before districts on Feb. 9-10 in Hood River.
“We are in the hardest part of the season, and that means our workouts have been intense over the past three weeks and that will continue,” MacNab added. “All of the athletes are sore and tired, but we are still seeing improvements being made and that is an exciting thing to see leading up to districts.”
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