Strong showing for swim team at regionals

The Wrangell High School Swim Team travelled to Sitka this past weekend for the Region V Championship. Coach Jamie Roberts explained in a summary of the meet that each swimmer could enter into a maximum of two individual and two relay events. The top eight swimmers of each preliminary event, held on Friday, Nov. 1, would advance to the regional finals on Nov. 2.

Preliminaries, Nov. 1:

Jacob Allen took 12th place in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:04.62. He advanced to finals in the 100-yard backstroke with a personal best of 1:16.04.

Jimmy Baggen took 10th place in the 50-yard freestyle at 25.35. He advanced to finals in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best of 1:12.75.

Paige Baggen took 13th place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best of 1:41.07. She advanced to finals in the 500-yard freestyle.

Carter Hammer took 14th place in the 200-yard freestyle at 3:17.75, and 19th place in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:30.09.

Laura Helgeson took 13th place in the 1000-yard freestyle with a personal best of 1:10.91. She advanced to finals in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best of 1:27.16.

Coby Holder took 16th place in the 50-yard freestyle at 29.37, and 17th place in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:12.37.

Wade Jack took 11th place in the 50-yard freestyle at 26.18. He advanced to finals in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best of 1:15.14.

Ashleigh Loomis took 16th place in the 50-yard freestyle at 32.56, and 14th place in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:10.98.

Tasha Massin took 20th place in the 50-yard freestyle with a seasonal best time of 37.00, and 19th place in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:36.12.

Aaliyah Messmer took 15th place in the 50-yard freestyle at 31.09.

Renee Roberts advanced to finals in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle.

Of the 12 Wrangell swimmers competing in regionals this year, six made it to the finals.

Finals, Nov. 2:

Jacob Allen took 7th place in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:16.37.

Jimmy Baggen took 4th place in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:12.98.

Paige Baggen took 8th place in the 500-yard freestyle at 7:25.76.

Laura Helgeson took 8th place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best of 1:26.76.

Wade Jack took 5th place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best of 1:14.53.

Renee Roberts took 2nd place in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyles with personal bests of 25.34 and 55.50, respectively.

Relay results:

The girls' 200-yard medley team took 5th place with a personal best of 2:24.36. The boys' 200-yard medley team took 4th place with a personal best of 2:11.49.

The girls' 200-yard freestyle team took 6th place with a personal best of 2:07.76. The boys' 200-yard freestyle team took 5th place with a personal best of 1:48.59. Coach Roberts said that a highlight of this race was watching Wade Jack swim his leg of the relay at 24.92 seconds.

Getting under the 25 second mark has been one of Jack's goals for two years, she said. She also added that Jimmy Baggen also swam under 25 seconds in his leg of the race, at 24.60.

In all, the team made 11 new personal best times and four relay team best times.

Laura Helgeson, Wade Jack, and Tasha Massin each earned the All Academic Award. Wade Jack and Renee Roberts also earned the Great Sport awards. Coach Roberts added that she wanted to recognize her senior swimmers: Laura Helgeson, Tasha Massin, Wade Jack, Coby Holder, and Sean Rooney.

In order to advance to the state championship, Coach Roberts wrote in her summary, a swimmer needs to take first place in their Regional event or be among the top 16 fastest swimmers for their event in the State. The first four available spots in the state championship are reserved for the regional champions, she explained. The remaining 12 spots are awarded based on the time a swimmer finishes in the Regional finals. Wrangell has one swimmer heading to State this year. Renee Roberts, who went to State last year, will once again represent Wrangell in Anchorage this weekend. She will be competing in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. It will be a tough competition, she said, but she is excited.