A family affair

WASILLA — There was a time when Jeff Frey favored the hardwood over the pool.

“My freshman year I was a little more into basketball than swimming,” the Wasilla High School swimming standout said Thursday afternoon. “Then I started getting into swimming again.”

Since his rejuvenated interest in the sport, Frey has established himself as one of the top swimmers in the state and this season he has combined with his older brother, Charles, to help lead the Wasilla swimming and diving squad through, arguably, one of their most successful seasons in program history.

Jeff and Charles Frey are among 14 Wasilla athletes and 28 Mat-Su swimmers and divers who will compete in the ASAA/First National Bank Swimming and Diving Championships at the Bartlett Pool today and Saturday.

Last week, the Frey brothers led the Wasilla boys’ swimming and diving squad to a team title at the Region III Championships. Jeff Frey was named most outstanding male swimmer after winning a pair of individual events — the 50- and 100-yard freestyle.

Charles and Jeff Frey were also two pieces of a pair of Wasilla relay teams that swam to individual region titles.

The Frey brothers are having this success while swimming as a part of the same prep program for the first time during their high school careers. Jeff Frey’s interest in basketball led him to enroll at Colony High School as a freshman. After two years at CHS, Jeff Frey — now a junior — opted to make the move to Wasilla to swim with the Warriors’ during his brother’s final year of high school.

“It’s definitely nice to be on the same team,” Charles Frey said. “We don’t have to compete against each other on different teams.”

The addition of Jeff Frey to the team has only added to the family atmosphere of a Wasilla swimming and diving squad that prides itself on its tight-knit unit.

“We’re a close group,” Charles Frey said. “It’s a good atmosphere.”

The Freys are also only just one group of successful siblings that have contributed to the overall progress of the Wasilla swimming and diving squad.

The brother and sister combination of David and Rachel Kennedy sit at the top of the state’s diving rankings. Both won region titles last week and Rachel did so in record-breaking fashion.

There’s also the Merriams — Max and Maddie — whom the Frey’s credit for getting them into the sport.

“We got into (swimming) through Max and Maddie Merriam,” Jeff Frey said. “We’ve been friends since elementary school.”

The family atmosphere and relationships built among the Wasilla swimmers and divers has helped to prepare the Warriors for the opportunity to make school history this season.

“It’s a year-round sport so you’re training constantly,” Jeff Frey said. “It’s nice to have people to keep you going.”

This weekend, the local swimmers will strive to do something that no other Valley athlete has done in the last eight seasons — win a state swimming or diving title.

Former Palmer diver Richelle Knapp and Moose swimmer Dirk Craft were the last Mat-Su swimmers to win individual state titles, both achieving that feat during the 2000 state championships.

No Wasilla swimmer or diver has won a state title since Dwayne Hanson won the state diving title for the Warriors in 1990.

The Wasilla boys could also realistically become the first Valley program in the history of the ASAA sanctioned event to win a state team title.

“We definitely have a good shot at taking state,” Charles Frey said.

Charles Frey described the feeling during the Wasilla practices this week as a “nervous excitement.”

Wasilla head coach Matt Hanley said he sees the excitement of his athletes, but also the determination.

“(There’s) focus, but a lot of excitement,” Hanley said. “From minute to minute they’ll be bouncing off the walls to complete and total focus.”

The Warriors have a handful of top seeds heading into the state championships.

Jeff Frey is the No. 1 seed in the 100-yard freestyle and the state’s seed by time in the 50 freestyle.

The team of Jeff Frey, Charles Frey, Max Merriam and Christian Long own the top seed in the 400 freestyle relay. That same unit is also seeded second in the 200 individual relay medley.

Charles Frey owns the third seed in the 100 backstroke and Long is seeded third in the 500 freestyle.

In diving, both Rachel Kennedy is the top seed for the girls and David Kennedy for the boys.

Those around the Wasilla swimming and diving program predicted the 2008 squad would be a special group, and now the Warriors are enjoying the fruits of their labor.

“We’re excited to make it this far,” Wasilla sophomore Mariah Schachle said.

The excitement does not lie in just Wasilla’s end of the pool. Colony is sending 13 athletes to state. Four of those posted top-three finishes during the region championships.

“We’re all working harder,” Colony’s Suzannah Whitford, who finished third in the 1-meter dive at regions, said. “We’re more determined.”

The list of Colony state qualifiers also includes Katelyn Payne, who finished third in the 100 backstroke and 200 freestyle at regions, Rhowe Stefanski who was third in the 100 freestyle, and Alexander Deedy who was third in the boys’ diving.

The state swimming preliminaries start today at 1 p.m. at the Bartlett Pool and the diving preliminaries begin at 3:30 p.m.

The diving semifinals are slated for 9:30 a.m. Saturday, while the swimming finals are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.