Swim team prepares for regionals in Sitka

The high school swim team continued refining its skills and building its endurance at the invitational in Petersburg Oct. 13 and 14. The team competed in 20 individual and four relay events and the six athletes earned a combined 10 personal bests.

Maddy Davies had a standout weekend, competing in four individual events and two relays. Typically, high school swimmers log a maximum of 400 to 500 yards of racing at any given meet, explained coach Jamie Roberts. In Petersburg, however, Davies swam nearly 1,500 yards.

“She’s really gravitated to the longer races,” said Roberts. “In fact, she might be one of the only swimmers that I’ve heard say, ‘that was fun’ after exiting the pool following a 500-yard race.”

Alisha Armstrong also had an exceptional showing at the meet, with a personal best time in the 200-yard freestyle at 2.32.07 and in the 500-yard freestyle at 6:47.99.

Armstrong is “the second swimmer and the first female swimmer over the past six seasons to have competed in every individual event offered in high school swimming,” said Roberts. “She never backs down from a challenge, so when I told her she could accomplish that, she went for it.”

Jack Roberts and Nate Rooney both earned three personal bests each.

For Roberts, they were in the 50-yard freestyle at 22.41, the 100-yard freestyle at 48.96 and the 100-yard backstroke at 58.95.

For Rooney, there were in the 200-yard freestyle at 2:15.26, the 100-yard butterfly at 1:14.04 and the 500-yard freestyle at 6:43.93.

Anika Herman competed in three individual events and two relay events; Kalee Herman competed in both relay events.

Wrangell came in sixth place out of the seven teams at the event, with one gold, two silver and one bronze medal between the boys and girls teams. Juneau’s Thunder Mountain High School came in first with 10 gold medals, eight silver and four bronze.

“We are in our final week of preparation for the region championship next week,” said Roberts. “My focus is to work on refining the small details and encouraging the athletes to do whatever they can to stay healthy.”

The team will travel to Sitka to compete in the regional meet Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27 and 28.