Members of the high school swim team achieved several personal records and two swimmers made it to the finals at the Southeast regionals last weekend in Juneau.

Freshman Seth McMaster set his personal record for the 200-yard freestyle, swimming it in 2:30.03, dropping over eight seconds. McMaster also dropped over seven seconds in his 100-yard freestyle, swimming a 1:07.68.

Sophomore Arabella Nore set two personal records, as well as making the finals in the 100-yard butterfly. Nore swam the 200-yard-freestyle in a time of 2:35.90, dropping over 11 seconds. She also swam a 1:26.25 100-yard butterfly, three seconds faster than her previous personal best, coming in at eighth place.

Junior Peter Houser dropped just over a second in both his races, setting two personal records.  Houser swam the 50-yard freestyle in 32.01, as well as a 1:43.01 100-yard breaststroke.

Co-captain Madelyn Davies, a senior, dropped nearly five seconds in her 100-yard breaststroke, setting her personal record at 1:35.40. Davies achieved a season personal record in the 200-yard freestyle, swimming a 3:10.86, dropping roughly nine seconds.

Co-captain Andrei Bardin-Siekawitch finalled and achieved personal records in both his events. The senior set his 100-yard freestyle PR at 56.97 seconds and placed seventh in the finals. He achieved eighth place in the 100-yard backstroke, with a personal record of 1:08.00, a nearly six-second drop from his previous PR.

Sophomore Lynnea Harrison competed in the 100-yard freestyle, achieving a time of 1:11.38.

Coach Victoria Houser said she was delighted with the results of the meet, held Oct. 30-31 in Juneau.

“I’m very proud of the progress made by these athletes, with the swimmers bringing in multiple personal records. The whole team and I are sad to see seniors Andrei Bardin-Siekawitch and Madelyn Davies go,” the coach said.

“I am extremely hopeful about some of the upcoming athletes with incredible talent and dedication,” team manager Johanna Sanford said.

“Regionals is always bittersweet for the seniors, since it was our last high school meet, but I’m glad I got to end my WHS swim career on such a high note,” Bardin-Siekawitch said.

“The entire team did exceptionally well, with PRs across the board. There’s nothing more encouraging than hearing your teammates and coaches cheering you on as you swim,” he said.

“It’s been an awesome four years and I hope to keep swimming in college and beyond.”

When it came down to team placings, Wrangell’s small team of six swimmers was outscored by the much larger teams in the regionals. The Juneau-Douglas: Yadaa.at Kalé girls won for the fourth year in a row. The boys division was won by Sitka High School, denying the Juneau boys a three-peat for the title.

Ketchikan earned the team sportsmanship award.

The Wrangell swim team was accompanied by Mike Harden, an elite-level swim coach from North Carolina, brought in by Bearfest for the third time this year to assist in training of the team. He helped coach leading up to regionals.

“I am so blown away with the significant amount of challenges this team has had to work through just to get in the pool and train. You guys put in your time, energy and intellect to get in the water and compete. I am so impressed that everyone dropped time and have faith that this program will continue to grow,” he said.

“If you can overcome all this now and succeed, then we can only continue to go up from here. The passion in this community is truly building something special.”