Swim team does well at Regionals, one swimmer heading to State

The season is nearly at an end for Wrangell's high school swim team. They competed in the regional tournament in Petersburg last weekend. Coach Jamie Roberts explained that in regionals, swimmers could enter into only two individual events and two relay events. The swimmers achieved nine personal best times last weekend, she said. The results of the competition are as follows:

Xoe Affholter took 20th place in the 50-yard freestyle with a personal best of 36.04 seconds, and 19th place in the 100-yard freestyle with a personal best 1 minute and 23.61 seconds. Jimmy Baggen took 11th place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.18 seconds, and 4th place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best of 1 minute and 13.16 seconds.

Laura Helgeson took 17th place in the 50-yard freestyle with a personal best of 34.15 seconds, and 11th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1 minute and 33.47 seconds. Wade Jack took 10th place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.77 seconds, and 8th place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 59.74 seconds.

Aaliyah Messmer took 17th place in the 100-yard freestyle with a personal best of 1 minute and 13.65 seconds, and 16th place in the 100-yard backstroke with a personal best of 1 minute and 41.65 seconds. Tasha Massin took 13th place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1 minute and 30.69 seconds. Sophie O'Brien took 14th place in the 50-yard freestyle with a personal best of 31.89 seconds, and 12th place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best of 1 minute and 36.36 seconds. Renee Roberts took 3rd place in the 50-yard freestyle with a personal best of 26.07 seconds, and 3rd place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 57.23 seconds. The 200-yard Medley and Freestyle relay teams also both came in sixth place.

"If you notice over the last three months, we started in August and our first competition was in the end of August, it seems like every month we had a large number of personal bests, and we're still getting personal bests with each meet we swim. So it just means the kids are improving every time they swim," said Jamie Roberts.

For most of the team, regionals were the end of the season. For freshman swimmer Renee Roberts, however, the season is not quite over yet. She will be representing Wrangell at the state tournament in Anchorage on Nov. 2 and 3. Jamie Roberts said it was very exciting to have a member of her team, as well as her daughter, go to state.

In order to advance to state, she explained, a swimmer has to take first place in their event at regionals, or be in the top 16 times for the entire state. Four openings for the state competition are reserved for the Regional champion in each of the four swimming Regionals in Alaska. The next twelve spots are awarded based on the time a swimmer finishes in the finals of the regional championship.

"It's a little bit surreal," she said. "We knew it was a possibility going into it, but the girls around the state have been swimming some really fast 50 and 100 frees ... But it's really exciting. I mean, could you ask for more from the first year of a program?"