While on a cross-state overnight trip in Baker City, The Dalles High School swim coach Scott McKay walked away impressed with the outcomes his group of 15 posted at the BHS Invitational Saturday.
The Hawks posted nine top-3 finishes, including two wins from Ben Feil, a record-breaking win from Andrew Clifford, a second-place standing by Allie Wood and a top spot by the girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay.
“It was a more relaxed meet,” said TD head coach Scott McKay. “Consequently, I wasn’t expecting any personal bests, I hope to see those at districts, but I was surprised.”
Off the heels of nearly setting a new all-time school record in the 500-yard freestyle on Jan. 17 in Madras, Clifford wanted to give it one more shot since he won’t be swimming it at districts.
Clifford knocked it out of the park and then some, as he came out strong and stayed on pace with a drop of six seconds, setting a personal-best of five minutes and 23.11 seconds, which broke the old record by more than a second.
With an impressive win under his belt, McKay said Clifford is now focused on preparing for the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breastroke.
Feil scored one of his winning performances in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of one minute and 6.97 seconds.
He then managed to out-touch his opponent to win an exciting 100-yard freestyle race with a marker of 52.51.
Feil will see his best competitor in the 100-yard freestyle at districts Feb. 14 in Hood River.
Also on the boy’s side, Clifford placed third in the 100-yard breastroke in 1:12.01, Jordan McGuirk had a time of 1:09.57 in his try in the 100-yard freestyle and in the 50-yard freestyle, McGuirk stopped the watch in 31.48.
With those times, the Riverhawks posted 76 points for sixth place in the seven-team field.
La Grande (543), Pendleton (445.5), Hood River Valley (357) and Redmond (156.5) rounded out the top-4 overall.
The Pendleton girls chalked up top honors with 460 points, La Grande grabbed second place (402), Hood River Valley (281) was third and The Dalles (257) landed in fourth place out of the seven-team standings.
For the girls, Wood, Molly Nelson, Hannah Weeks and Annessa Clear combined for a time of 1:51.81 to take first in the 200-yard freestyle relay, breaking 1:52 for the first time this season.
In the 200-yard medley relay, Nelson, Weeks, Wood and Clear rallied for a mark of 2:08.75 to score second place.
Wood, a senior, dropped two seconds off her personal-best in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:07.97 for second place, an accomplishment that moved her up to the second-fastest 100-yard butterfly time on the D-21 record books.
“She came in second, but the first-place swimmer pushed her to her best time,” McKay said.
Clear, another senior, came in third in the 50-yard freestyle clocking in at 26.63, and she brought home second-place silver in the 100-yard freestyle at 59.24, getting beat by her nemesis from La Grande.
Weeks reeled off a time of 1:05.21 in the 100-yard freestyle, Wood scored fourth place in the 500-yard freestyle with her rally of 6:37.04 and Nelson notched a 1:12.26 in her 100-yard backstroke try.
Maya Hernandez ended up eighth in the 100-yard breastroke (1:35.35), Emily Peterson enjoyed a 1:40.16 in the same event and Domi Knight was good enough for a reading of 4:01.13 in the 200-yard freestyle run.
Hannah Mazeski kept her solid pace, Maddie Wood is back on point, as is Madeleine Morgan, and so both sides of the roster appear to be clicking at a rapid rate.
“We are positioned well for districts and have one more week of focused practices and then a week of taper before the district championships,” McKay said.
With five sophomore and three junior girls, the future for next year remains bright, and the boys have a small squad of determined athletes that challenge each other to improve every time they step into the pool.
McKay is hopeful everything comes together by Feb. 14 in Hood River.
“It is amazing what this team has accomplished so far this year with the limited amount of pool time,” the Riverhawk coach said. “Most teams have between eight and 10 hours in the pool and we have only six hours a week. But we make it work.
“This team has shown a lot of potential this year. We will see if the hard work pays off.”
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