Colony boys, Palmer girls make early splash in 2012

PALMER — Matt Hanley believes his Colony High boys swimming team has the pieces. Now it’s just a matter of piecing it all together.

“The boys are looking strong,” Hanley, Colony’s first-year head coach, said Monday. “We might be in decent shape.”

Hanley said the Knights have a handful of strong swimmers leading the team. That list includes captain Zane Mileur, Zach Bloom, Joseph Anderson, Gavin Nelson and Alex Kessler.

“They can all do just about everything, stroke-wise, and they’re all year-round swimmers,” Hanley said. “It’s going to be interesting kind of seeing where the motivation lies, where the strength lies this season. There are so many different ways we could go. That’s nice in a way.”

Colony made its season debut at the Homer Invitational over the weekend and placed second in the boys’ class. Alex Kessler led the Knights with a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.05 seconds.

“I knew he was going to have a strong race,” Hanley said of Kessler.

Hanley said Kessler could stand out in a variety of events this year, including the breaststroke or backstroke.

“We’ll spend the next couple weeks feeling out the strokes, looking at what the other guys are doing,” Hanley said.

Kessler was also second in the 200 individual medley.

Mileur finished second in the 200 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke on Saturday.

“He’s ready to do some good work,” Hanley said of Mileur.

Bloom was second in the 100 backstroke.

During the Region III Championships last season, Kessler finished third in the 100 backstroke.

The Palmer girls also enjoyed a strong start to the season with a third-place finish in the girls’ class at the Homer Invite. Palmer finished with 56.5 points overall, just behind runner-up Kenai (60).

Veteran Noelle Graham returned to take first place in the 100 butterfly. Naomi Graham was second in the 50 freestyle and third in the 100 butterfly. The Moose also have Katie Stark, who was second in the 100 freestyle.

Noelle Graham finished as the runner-up in the 100 butterfly at the Region III Championships last year. Stark was third in the 50 and fourth in the 100 at regions.

Joe Provo is among the top athletes returning to the Palmer boys program. Provo finished fourth in the Region III Championships 1-meter diving competition.

Daniel Jackson was fourth for the Moose in the boys’ 50 freestyle Saturday.

Eliza Zugg is captaining the Colony girls team this season. Conner Minder (third in the boys 50 freestyle Saturday) and Mike Foy are among the leaders on the Wasilla Warriors swimming team.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him @matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.

Homer Invitational

Friday-Saturday, Homer

Boys team scores:

1. Kodiak 150; 2. Colony 69; 3. Homer 37; 4. Palmer 30; 5. Kenai 29; 6. Wasilla 11; 7. Seward 4.

Boys individual results:

200 medley relay — 1. Kodiak 1:44.59; 2. Colony 1:52.59; 3. Homer 1:59.47; 4. Palmer 2:02.92; 5. Kenai 2:03.16; 6. Kodiak 2:07.15.

200 freestyle — 1. M. Smith, Kod 1:52.66; 2. Z. Mileur, Col 1:58.62; 3. R. Hanson, Kod 1:58.76; 4. J. Hanson, Pal 2:01.07; 5. A. Levan, Kod 2:02.24; 6. M. Nagle, Hom 2:08.40.

200 IM — 1. N. Lincoln, Kod 2:10.28; 2. B. James, Kod 2:11.19; 3. A. Kessler, Col 2:11.91; 4. J. Nagle, Hom 2:19.61; 5. J. Anderson, Col 2:24.40; 6. G. Smith, Hom 2:32.68.

50 freestyle — 1. D. Schauff, Kod 23.65; 2. J. Anderson, Kod 24.05; 3. C. Minder, Was 24.59; 4. D. Jackson, Pal 24.74; 5. M. Nagle, Hom 25.55; 6. T. Udomporn, Col 26.37.

1-meter diving — 1. K. Brister, Hom 183.45; 2. C. Gross, Ken 175.30; 3. J. Provo, Pal 173.70; 4. B. Ashwell, Ken 166.80; 5. I. Hall, Hom 160.70; 6. B. Rowe, Hom 158.05.

100 butterfly — 1. N. Lincoln, Kod 58.06; 2. J. Anderson, Kod 59.68; 3. N. Hamlin, Sol 1:04.69; 4. J. Hanson, Pal 1:08.55; 5. T. Udomporn, Col 1:08.99; 6. Z. Milbradt, Pal 1:11.87.

100 freestyle — 1. A. Kessler, Col 54.05; 2. M. Mutch, Kod 56.11; 3. J. Dye, Ken 1:00.00; 4. T. Sworts, Pal 1:00.75; 5. S. Kirk, Kod 1:00.89; 6. L. Udomporn, Col 1:01.11.

500 freestyle — 1. M. Smith, Kod 5:04.96; 2. Z. Bloom, Col 5:23.40; 3. R. Hanson, Kod 5:23.80; 4. A. Levan, Kod 5:34.72; 5. J. Nagle, Hom 5:48.17; 6. M. Foy, Was 6:03.49.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Kodiak 1:36.20; 2. Colony 1:41.50; 3. Koidak B 1:45.24; 4. Kenai 1:45.46; 5. Palmer 1:47.95; 6. Colony 1:50.83.

100 backstroke — 1. D. Schauff, Kod 57.32; 2. Z. Bloom, Col 1:02.22; 3. C. Gross, Ken 1:08.44; 4. G. Smith, Hom 1:09.78; 5. M. Linscheid, Kod 1:11.21; 6. M. Evans, Ken 1:14.01.

100 breaststroke — 1. B. James, Kod 1:05.79; 2. Z. Mileur, Col 1:11.10; 3. M. Mutch, Kod 1:11.82; 4. D. Jackson, Pal 1:12.30; 5. C. Minder, Was 1:15.12; 6. C. Cowan, Hom 1:20.07.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Kodiak 3:38.39; 2. Colony 3:34.78; 3. Kodiak B 3:50.88; 4. Homer 4:03.29; 5. Wasilla 4:11.10; 6. Kenai 4:22.62.

Girls team scores:

1. Kodiak 135; 2. Kenai 60; 3. Palmer 56.50; 4. Seward 35; 5. Homer 20; 6. Colony 17.50; 7. Skyview 3.

Girls individual results:

200 medley relay — 1. Kodiak 1:58.03; 2. Kenai 2:06.41; 3. Soldotna 2:09.22; 4. Kenai B 2:16.09; 5. Colony 2:16.70; 6. Homer 2:19.06.

200 freestyle — 1. J. Lindquist, Kod 1:58.69; 2. I. Barnwell, Sol 2:08.62; 3. B. Horme, Kod 2:10.00; 4. S. Wallace, Col 2:15.66; 4. S. Hanson, Pal 2:15.66; 6. H. Vogt, Ken 2:23.81.

200 IM — 1. T. Lindquist, Kod 2:14.62; 2. S. Jones, Kod 2:23.56; 3. N. Graham, Pal 2:28.10; 4. I. Macinko, Kod 2:33.34; 5. J. Wanamaker, Ken 2:42.01; 6. Z. Hanson, Ken 2:46.37.

50 freestyle — 1. I. Hughes, Kod 25.21; 2. N. Graham, Pal 25.75; 3. K. Louthan, Ken 25.84; 4. O. Beckham, Sol 27.75; 5. E. Zugg, Col 28.07; 6. K. Heaven, Ken 28.28.

1-meter diving — 1. J. Lewis, Hom 174.80; 2. K. Dolma, Hom 141.75; 3. A. Ritchie, Ken 122.75; 4. S. Laselle, Pal 108.90.

100 butterfly — 1. N. Graham, Pal 1:05.20; 2. E. Millstein, Kod 1:14.31; 3. L. Ardt, Hom 1:19.34; 4. M. Mortan, Sky 1:19.93; 5. Z. Hanson, Ken 1:23.89; 6. I. McKittrick, Col 1:18.20.

100 freestyle — 1. I. Hughes, Kod 55.07; 2. K. Stark, Pal 56.02; 3. N. Graham, Pal 57.49; 4. K. Louthan, Ken 57.96; 5. R. Crosley, Col 1:02. 83; 6. S. Hanson, Pal 1:03.77.

500 freestyle — 1. T. Lindquist, Kod 5:12.66; 2. E. Millstein, Kod 6:08.64; 3. R. Tougas, Sol 6:28.80; 4. C. Steinbeck, Ken 6:43.93; 5. A. Huber, 6:40.92; 6. B. Sterner, Col 7:10.23.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Kodiak 1:43.65; 2. Palmer 1:47.58; 3. Kenai 1:52.47; 4. Soldotna 1:57.47; 5. Kodiak B 1:58.53; 6. Colony 2:02.83.

100 backstroke — 1. J. Lindquist, Kod 1:01.24; 2. K. Stark, Pal 1:06.92; 3. O. Beckham, Sol 1:08.11; 4. B. Horne, Kod 1:08.46; 5. I. Macinko, Kod 1:09.16; 6. E. Zugg, Col 1:12.28.

100 breaststroke — 1. S. Jones, Kod 1:13.16; 2. I. Barnwell, Sol 1:18.95; 3. H. Walker, Kod 1:21.81; 4. C. Chess, Ken 1:22.01; 5. C. Smith, Hom 1:22.06; 6. C. Castro, Ken 1:22.75.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Kodiak 3:54.63; 2. Palmer 3:55.22; 3. Kodiak B 4:21.45; 4. Kenai 4:32.74; 5. Kenai B 4:42.65; 6. Colony 4:49.50.