Kendall Webber picked up a win and a second in two individual races, and The Dalles girls swim team racked up 10 top-5 finishes for third place at last weekend’s Riverhawk Invitational held in Hood River.
Added to the girls’ efforts, the short-handed boys group had six swimmers active with Will Evans, Bryce Harris and Grant Loughmiller guiding the team to 112 points for fourth place.
“Most impressive to us was that we are continuing to have most of our swimmers posting PRs past the midpoint of our season,” TD head coach Derek Shortt said. “The times keep coming off and the goals keep getting closer to being realized. This tells us that we are on the right trajectory for districts in a month.”
Webber posted a final time of six minutes and 14.53 seconds to notch her win in the 500-yard freestyle, 25.09 seconds better than her next opponent, and in her 200-yard freestyle race, Webber touched the wall in 2:23.96 to earn runner-up honors.
“Kendall has some personal goals that she has set for herself. If she continues on the same trajectory, she will have a real good chance to meet those goals,” coach Shortt said.
Joining Bree Webber, Jaeden Biehn and McKenna Bailey, Kendall Webber and the girls 200-yard freestyle relay team placed third with a mark of 2:03.71.
In the girls 400-yard freestyle relay, Lydia Evans, Hanna Rodriguez, Maddie Larson and Hanna Haight were good for third place after a combined mark of 5:07.78, which was 22.69 better than the Riverhawk quartet of Sharon Mann, Quinn Raffensperger, Shea McAllister and Maddie Troutt (5:30.39).
The Webber sisters, Lydia Evans and Haight also added a fifth-place rush of 2:20.75 to score 16 team points in the 200-yard medley relay.
Bree Webber was fifth-best in the 50-yard freestyle (30.18) and the 100-yard freestyle (1:08.64), Lydia Evans tacked on a 7:33.08 for fifth in the 500-yard freestyle and went for 1:24.61 to grab another fifth-place outcome in the 100-yard backstroke.
Haight had final mark of 1:27.88 for fifth place in the 100-yard breaststroke
Larson secured sixth place in the 200-yard freestyle (2:52.14) and Rodriguez was right behind in the same race with her seventh-place tally of 3:04.40.
Biehn placed seventh in the 100-yard freestyle (1:13.15) and eighth in the 50-yard freestyle (31.48) and Rodriguez ended up seventh in the 100-yard backstroke (1:43.99).
Hood River won the girls division with 307 points and St. Helens tallied 237 points to earn second place.
TD (167), La Salle (102) and Rainier (15) rounded out the standings.
On the boys side, St. Helens (240), La Salle (163), rainier (147), The Dalles (112) and Hood River (74) made up the order of finish.
Will Evans had the boys’ best output in the 200-yard freestyle with a solid time of 2:14.46, less than four seconds behind St. Helens’ Nick Brooks (2:10.57).
Evans and Harris slugged it out for an epic 50-yard freestyle race with Evans finishing with a fourth-place time of 25.45, while Harris picked up fifth place after a flurry of 25.49.
“Both of these swimmers have been competitive in practice and it was great to see both of them push each other in a meet,” coach Shortt said.
Evans also matched up with Harris, Jonathan Snodgrass and Loughmiller in the 200-yard freestyle relay, where they enjoyed a runner-up time of 1:56.21, and that same quartet also put up a 4:33.37 for third in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Harris timed out in 59.16 for fourth place in the 100-yard freestyle, and Loughmiller added a 7:40.31, a 50-second drop, to secure fourth in the 500-yard freestyle.
“Grant has made huge strides so far this year and I think he is beginning to realize his potential,” coach Shortt said.
Loughmiller placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle (2:46.65), winding up a spot ahead of Snodgrass (2:49.01).
Snodgrass claimed sixth in the 500-yard freestyle (8:01.39), Sven Deruette tallied a seventh-place mark of 1:12.32 in the 100-yard freestyle and Logan Alvarez hit for a 1:30.34 to take 12th place in the 100-yard freestyle.
The Riverhawk Invitational was also the last home meet for six seniors, Biehn, Mann, Deruette, Bailey, Larson, and Moria Ramirez-Navarrete.
Coach Shortt said that those six seniors were recognized for their hard work and commitment to the team, which is a vital aspect for a first-year coach.
“Our swimmers have really stepped up and embraced the culture of team solidarity and competitiveness that we have been working hard to build,” Shortt said. “This team is growing both in terms of our swimmers’ performance and as a program. We are having a very successful season so far.”
The Dalles heads to La Grande on Saturday, Jan. 26 with a start time of 9 a.m.
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