Renée Roberts places first in three events at Petersburg meet

The Wrangell High School swim and cross country teams competed in meets last weekend. The results were mixed, but a few athletes turned in personal bests and first-place finishes.

Swimming

The swim team competed in the Petersburg Invitational Swim Meet, going against teams from Juneau-Douglas, Thunder Mountain in Juneau, Petersburg, Craig, Sitka and Ketchikan.

Renée Roberts finished first in three of her events: the 50-yard freestyle (25.92); the 100-yard backstroke (1:05.02); and the 50-yard freestyle (26.18); and third in the 200-yard freestyle (2:08.28).

Jack Roberts showed a significant time improvement in the 100-yard butterfly, according to coach Jamie Roberts, coming in fifth at 57.85.

"Overall, they incorporated the techniques they have been working on in practice," Roberts said. "Several of them commented that they felt like the water was 'thicker.' Ketchikan [where the swimmers competed two weeks ago] is typically a pool where kids swim their fastest (for whatever reason), so I wasn't surprised that we didn't see a lot of time drops at this meet."

The swim team travels to Juneau for its next meet Oct. 15-16. It will not be able to travel to the meet in Juneau on Oct. 1-2 due to insufficient travel funds.

Cross country

The cross country team traveled to Sitka to compete in the Sitka Invitational on Saturday, running a 5-kilometer race against Ketchikan, Haines, Mt. Edgecumbe, Skagway, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau-Douglas, Thunder Mountain, Klawock, Metlakatla and Thorne Bay.

The boys' team had a combined time of 1:38:44.41, enough to garner seventh place out of nine competing teams. Their average time per runner on the team was 19:44.89. There were 89 competitors in the boys' race. Combined stats for the girls' team were not available. There were 60 competitors in the girls' race.

Runners results:

Girls

Liana Carney – ninth (21:35.37)

Mia Wiederspohn – 43rd (26:55.71)

Emma Martinsen – 54th (31:09.88)

Rylee Chelette – 59th (36:16.59)

Boys

Daniel Harrison – 19th (18:47.69)

Devlyn Campbell – 20th (18:48.06)

Ethan Blatchley – 25th (19:23.29)

Randy Churchill – 36th (20:09.42)

James Shilts – 67th (21:35.95)

Jimmy Baggen – 69th (22:12.39)

Swimmers results:

Girls

Alisha Armstrong – 15th, 50-yard freestyle (32.29); ninth, 100-yard freestyle (1:10.06); 14th, 50-yard freestyle (33.08); fourth, 100-yard breaststroke (1:42.95)

Ashleigh Loomis – 14th, 50-yard freestyle (30.50); 13th, 50-yard freestyle (30.74)

Renée Roberts – first, 50-yard freestyle (25.92); first, 100-yard backstroke (1:05.02); third, 200-yard freestyle (2:08.28); first, 50-yard freestyle (26.18)

Boys

Killian Booker – 20th, 50-yard freestyle (30.34); 14th, 100-yard freestyle (1:10.63); 20th, 50-yard freestyle (30.88)

Max Lloyd – 22nd, 50-yard freestyle (32.79); 12th, 100-yard breaststroke (1:33.47); 22nd, 50-yard freestyle (32.97); 15th, 100-yard breaststroke (1:33.28)

Tyson Messmer – 12th, 50-yard freestyle (26.52); 11th, 100-yard freestyle (59.04); 13th, 100-yard freestyle (58.73)

Jack Roberts – third, 50-yard freestyle (23.78); fifth, 100-yard butterfly (57.85); fourth, 100-yard freestyle (52.65); third, 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.31)

Boys' team

Boys' 200-yard medley relay team – seventh on Friday (2:08.53) and seventh on Saturday (2:08.55); boys' 200-yard freestyle relay team – seventh on Friday (1:53.06) and fifth on Saturday (1:53.31)