Swim team breaks personal records at Juneau meet

The Juneau Invitational Sept. 15 and 16 was a weekend full of progress and personal bests for the Wrangell swim team.

The team participated in 27 individual and four relay events during the two-day event, which was hosted by Thunder Mountain High School and Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. The meet featured 100 swimmers from six schools.

Together, the Wrangell Wolves earned 18 personal records in Juneau, meaning that nearly 70% of the athletes’ times were the fastest they had ever recorded in that event.

On the boys team, senior Jack Roberts finished in second place and achieved personal records in all four of his events — the 200-yard freestyle at 1:53.79, the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:04.57, the 100-yard butterfly at 54:98 and the 200-yard individual medley at 2:05.32.

Senior Nate Rooney placed fourth in the 100-yard freestyle with a personal best time of 1:00.73.

On the girls team, senior Alisha Armstrong, freshman Maddy Davies and freshman Johanna Sanford recorded personal best times in all their events. Armstrong swam a 30.88 and 30.71 50-yard freestyle, a 1:07.75 100-yard freestyle and a 1:18.77 100-yard backstroke. Coach Jamie Roberts noted that Armstrong’s recent work on her underwater push-off technique has paid off, resulting in a nearly four-second reduction in her backstroke time.

Davies swam the 50-yard freestyle in 42.76, the 200-yard freestyle in 3:24.35 and the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:46.78 and 1:45.24.

Sanford swam the 50-yard freestyle in 33.85, the 100-yard freestyle in 1:15.42, the 200-yard freestyle in 2:52.98 and the 100-yard backstroke in 1:34.54.

Anika Herman and Andrei Bardin-Siekawitch also represented Wrangell at the meet.

Thunder Mountain girls took first place in the competition both days, with Ketchikan boys taking the top spot both days in the team scores.

Roberts was impressed by the way her swimmers handled the exhausting event schedule. “Our meet went late on Friday, ending around 10 p.m.,” she said. “I think it is tough to perform your best when you should be winding down for the day. But it didn’t seem to affect their performances.”

The team’s next competition will be at the Ketchikan Invitational Friday and Saturday, Sept. 29 and 30.