In their last meet before District Championships, both girls’ and boys’ squads faced two of their toughest teams to beat.

Sweet Home’s Cougars easily won the men’s events with 152 pts. to the Outlaws’ 85 pts and Stayton’ s Eagles edged out Sisters High School by 20 pts. Several disqualifications for the Outlaws contributed to the point differential.

However, many personal records were set in relay and individual events, and, as usual, the girls’ medley “A” relay with Katie Stewart (backstroke), Tia Berg (breaststroke), Michelle Young (butterfly) and Samantha Williamson (freestyle) battled to a first place over Sweet Home’s top foursome.  The Outlaws’ final time of 2:07.12 was a best this season.

Michelle Young added another first place in the 100 yds butterfly race (1:06.00) just 0.20 seconds ahead of second place Sweet Home.

Samantha Williamson edged out Stayton’s Emma Englehart for a first place in the 100 yds freestyle.

Katie Stewart, Tia Berg and Codie Lagao added valuable team points with their second place finishes in the 200 yds individual medley (2:29.2), 50 yds freestyle (29.69) and 100 yds backstroke (1:15.01) respectively.  Geneieve MacKenzie was 3^rd in the 50 yds freestyle with a 30.4 seconds.

The girls also added a second place in the 200 yds freestyle relay (1:53.1) with Katie Stewart (28.3), Tia Berg (29.7), Sam Williamson (28.3) and anchor Michelle Young (26.8), being out-touched by Stayton’s “A” relay by 0.43 seconds.  The Outlaws’ “B” team with Geneieve MacKenzie, Marcy Calavan, Cierra Tigard and Codie Lagao finished a respectable second.

The last event of the evening, the 400 yds freestyle relay, went to Sweet Home as well. Stewart led off with a time of 1:04.7, followed by Tia Berg (1:05.6), Sam Williamson (1:02.1) and Michelle Young (1:00). Their combined time of 4:12.3 was about 2 seconds faster than Stayton’s “A” team.

On the boys’ side, the most exciting relay was definitely the 200 yds freestyle relay, when Tyler Baldessari, Tyler Berg, Seth Flanders and Jake Miller held the freestyle powerhouse of Sweet Home at bay by a mere 0.37 seconds.  

Baldessari led with a 25.28 seconds, followed by Tyler Berg (25.4), Seth Flanders (25.5) and Jake Miller (25.2) for a combined time of 1:41.38, just 0.37 seconds ahead of freestyle expert, Sweet Home.

The boys added a second place in the 200 yds medley relay and posted a best time in the process. Tyler Baldessari led in the backstroke (28.6), followed by his brother Ian (breaststroke 34.6). Jake Miller swam the butterfly and Tyler Berg as outstanding anchor (25.8) in the freestyle for an overall best time of 1:58.84.

The boys earned another second place in the 400 yds freestyle relay, when two JV swimmers (JT Harris 1:01.8 and Austin Williams 1:07.0) helped two varsity swimmers (Tyler Berg 57.2 and Jake Miller 58.2) to a decent finish behind the Sweet Home “A” team but well ahead of the Sweet Home “B” squad.

Individually, top finishes for the Outlaw boys included Tyler Baldessari’s second place in the 50 yds freestyle (24.92) and his second place in the 100 yds backstroke (PR 1:01.58). Tyler Berg added another second place with his PR performance in the 500 yds freestyle (5:45.81).

Some good third place finishes were earned by Jake Miller in the 50 yds freestyle (25.08), Seth Flanders in the 100 yds freestyle (1:00.09), Brennan Miller in the 100 yds backstroke (PR 1:07.45) and Ian Baldessari in the 100 yds breaststroke (PR 1:16.42).

The Outlaws travel to District Championships in Albany on February 11 and 12.