Wrangell swimmers started their practice sessions almost three months ago, ending a long season in the pool with several top 10 finishes at the Southeast high school regionals in Ketchikan.

The championship meet, held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, finished with the bigger swim programs in Southeast winning the top three team scores: Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé was the top girls team, followed by Petersburg and Ketchikan.

Among the boys teams, it was Juneau-Douglas, Ketchikan and Sitka in first, second and third.

Wrangell freshman Arabella Nore placed sixth in the 200-yard individual medley in the championship round on Saturday with a time of 3:09.62, improving on her time in Friday’s preliminary round of 3:13.00.

Nore placed seventh in the 100-yard butterfly on Saturday with a time of 1:29.27, shaving almost a second from her Friday prelim time of 1:30.04

Johanna Sanford, a senior, placed seventh in the 100-yard freestyle swim on Saturday, with a time of 1:06.37.

Sanford also finished in seventh in the championship round in the 100-yard backstroke, with a time of 1:22.11.

Wrangell sophomore Amura Roher finished 15th in Friday’s prelims in the 50-yard freestyle at 34.82, and 11th in Friday’s prelims in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:21.35.

On the boys team, junior Andrei Bardin-Siekawitch placed eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke finals on Saturday at 1:20.47. He placed tenth in the 50-yard freestyle swim in Friday’s prelims at 26.27.

Sophomore Peter Houser placed 13th in the 50-yard freestyle prelims at 35.85.

“We are fairly reasonable about it. We don’t believe that anybody is going to make it to state this year but it is great experience to go (to Southeast) and compete and see what it takes to go to state,” Wrangell head coach Tory Houser told the Juneau Independent newspaper at the start of the competition.

“Hopefully that is really going to get these athletes excited about working hard to just try and improve their own abilities, their own scores, and then try hard again next year,” she said.

“There has been a lot of energy in the swim program. Hopefully athletes that are graduating are going to come back and help out and lead the next generation of swimmers. I think there is hope for the future and a lot of propeller behind them.”