By Scott Swanson
Of The New Era/Lebanon Local
Sweet Home’s swimmers got a little bit of a unique experience Friday, in a head-to-head dual with a team that is bigger than they are, numbers-wise, at Lebanon.
“When I first booked the meet, I thought it was a tri-meet,” Coach A Jay Bronson said. But he discovered earlier in the week that it was just going to be the Huskies versus the Warriors.
The girls held their own, winning 102-58, but the boys were significantly outnumbered by Lebanon and it showed as the hosts took the victory, 112-51.
The fact that the Huskies were missing their best boys swimmer, RJAbbott, didn’t help their score either.
“Losing RJ for this meet kind of hurt,” Bronson said. “But the boys swam really well. I told them to just race, don’t worry about times. Just race.”
The boys got wins from Arman Marble in the 200 Individual Medley and from Blake Arthur in the 50 Freestyle.
Kirsten Sautel (200 IM and 100 Breaststroke) and Breeza Rodriguez (100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke) were both double winners for the girls, and Peyton Markell added a victory in the 200 Freestyle, while Rylee Markell won the 500 Free. The girls also won the 200 Medley Relay and the 400 Freestyle Relay.
Despite the fact that Sweet Home is swimming tired, he said, there were some personal bests on both the boys and girls side.
“Boden (Sayer) had some huge swims and Shayne (Schuster) had PRs in both the 200 and the 500,” the coach said. “Aly Voight and Rylee Markell both swam well. I told them as well that this was more about racing than best times, but they still were on their best times. That was good to see.”
Up next for the Huskies is the Albany Sprint Meet at 10 a.m. Saturday at South Albany High School, which includes all the teams that will be in the district meet.
“It will be good to see where everybody’s at,” Bronson said.