Colony girls win Homer Invite; Knights top perennial Region III swimming power in team standings

WASILLA — It might be tough to find a Region III team, in any sport, that’s been more dominant than the Kodiak swimming and diving program over the last decade. The Kodiak girls have won eight straight region swimming and diving titles. The boys have claimed six consecutive crowns.

But this year there may be another squad ready to contend for the region championship on the girls’ side Oct. 30-31 in Valdez.

The Colony Knights.

Colony handed Kodiak a rare loss in the team standings, using 83 total points to win the girls team title of the Homer Invitational Sept. 12 in Homer. The runner-up Bears finished with 69 points, a point ahead of third-place Soldotna. Palmer was fourth with 61 points.

“Our girls being able to do that is a huge accomplishment,” Colony head coach Heather Milstead said by cellphone Monday. “It’s a huge (confidence) boost. That’s definitely not something Colony’s done in a long time.”

Colony’s Camille Dayton won a pair of events for the Knights. Dayton, a sophomore, finished first in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 butterfly. Colony freshman Alex Mattson was first in the 500 freestyle.

Dayton also helped the Knights earn relay gold. Dayton teamed with Yanne Toussaint, Samantha Belliston and Sarah Crosley to win the 400 freestyle relay.

“Her determination,” Milstead said of what stands out about Dayton.

Dayton and Mattson, underclassmen in the program, are examples of the younger swimmers contributing right away for the Knights.

“It’s a huge deal. We have a very large senior class. We’ll lose close to a quarter of the team. To have underclassmen this strong will make a huge difference overall,” Milstead said.

Belliston, Dayton, Toussaint and Micah Maffe also combined for a runner-up finish in the 200 medley relay. Toussaint and Belliston were second and third, respectively, in the 100 breaststroke.

Milstead said the Knights were not exactly sure where they would fit into the Region III-heavy Homer Invite heading into the meet.

“We wanted to go in with a positive attitude and do our best,” Milstead said.

With a win over mighty Kodiak, Colony’s overall confidence may grow, but Milstead said the goal has always been the same.

“The overall goal is to take regions as a team,” Milstead said.

Overall, Milstead said the Knights are feeling really good about what they have.

“We have a really strong team, a lot of talent across the board, boys and girls,” Milstead said.

The Colony boys finished third in the team standings. Jake Simmons continued to shatter records, breaking the school mark in the 100 backstroke. Simmons used a time of 56.61 seconds to beat the previous school record of 57.30, that Simmons held. Simmons, who also won the 200 individual medley at the Homer Invite, is undefeated in individual races this year.

The Knights also won the 200 medley relay. Simmons, Ryan Chastain, Joseph Anderson and Elliott Amato combined to win the event.

Millie Snelders led fourth-place Palmer with a pair of runner-up finishes in individual events. Snelders was second in both the 200 IM and the 100 freestyle. McKenzie Musgrave (100 backstroke), Sydney Howe (diving) and Savannah Geffken (200 freestyle) also picked up second-place finishes.

Gabe Waldhaus led the fourth-place Palmer boys with a first-place finish in the diving event. Max Snelders was second in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke.

The Colony divers and the Wasilla Warriors competed in Valdez over the weekend. Results from the Valdez meet were not available prior to press time.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Homer Invitational

Friday, Saturday at Homer High School

GIRLS

Team scores: 1. Colony, 83; 2. Kodiak, 69; 3. Soldotna, 68; 4. Palmer, 61; 5. Kenai Central, 27; 6. Homer, 18; 7. Unalaska, 4.

200-yard medley relay — 1. Soldotna (Davidson, McElroy, Padilla, Juliussen), 1 minute, 56.65 seconds; 2. Colony, 2:04.64; 3. Palmer, 2:04.98; 4. Kenai, 2:12.16; 5. Colony, 2:12:31; 6. Kodiak, 2:12.82.

200 freestyle — 1. Marina Cummiskey, Kod, 2:03.92; 2. Savannah Geffken, Pal, 2:17.55; 3. Elinore Millstein, Kod, 2:17.95; 4. Molly Blackmon, Kod, 2:18.35; 5. Rachel Davidson, Sol, 2:18.81; 6. Julia Beck, Pal, 2:19.61.

200 IM — 1. Camille Dayton, Col, 2:22.38; 2. Millie Snelders, Pal, 2:25.06; 3. Lauren Kuhns, Hom, 2:25.90; 4. Samantha Belliston, Col, 2:33.62; 5. Sarah Crosley, Col, 2:34.65; 6. Sydney Juliussen, Sol, 2:34.72.

50 freestyle — 1. Portia Padilla, Sol, 27.12; 2. Hannah Glover, Kod, 27.43; 3. Cameron Bolen, Kod, 28.46; 4. Kendyl Laughlin, Col, 28.49; 5. Emily Boone, Sol, 28.51; 6. McKenzie Musgrave, Pal, 28.62.

Diving — 1. Mikaela Pitsch, Ken, 202.70; 2. Sydney Howe, Pal, 150.00; 3. Annali Metz, Hom, 145.05; 4. Rhythm BeckettCook, Hom, 140.35; 5. Laci King, Hom, 118.30; 6. Amanda Eby, Sol, 111.60.

100 butterfly — 1. Camille Dayton, Col, 1:02.98; 2. Lauren Kuhns, Hom, 1:08.37; 3. Devon Cummiskey, Kod, 1:09.83; 4. Kamcela Fletcher, Pal, 1:13.76; 5. Sydney Juliussen, Sol, 1:14.47; 6. Delanney McConnell, Un, 1:17.72.

100 freestyle — 1. Marina Cummiskey, Kod, 56.48; 2. Millie Snelders, Pal, 57.45; 3. Yanne Toussaint, Col, 57.81; 4. Sarah Crosley, Col, 59.99; 5. Rachel Davidson, Sol, 1:00.95; 6. Hannah Glover, Kod, 1:01.04.

500 freestyle — 1. Alexis Mattson, Col, 6:03.04; 2. Portia Padilla, Sol, 6:07.62; 3. Cheyanne Sundberg, Kod, 6:15.38; 4. Julia Beck, Pal, 6:15.68; 5. Lindsay Musgrave, Pal, 6:17.66; 6. Elinore Millstein, Kod, 6:19.45.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Soldotna (McMillan, Juliussen, Boone, McElroy), 1:50.39; 2. Palmer, 1:52.38; 3. Kodiak, 1:52.45; 4. Kenai, 1:57.75; 5. Colony, 2:06.50; 6. Palmer, 2:08.58.

100 backstroke — 1. Molly Blackmon, Kod, 1:10.51; 2. McKenzie Musgrave, Pal, 1:10.87; 3. Mikaela Pitsch, Ken, 1:11.60; 4. Kiara Villamor, Un, 1:14.28; 5. Micah Maffe, Col, 1:14.96; 6. Isabell Henry, Sol, 1:15.21.

100 backstroke — 1. Claire McElroy, Sol, 1:15.12; 2. Yanne Toussaint, Col, 1:18.15; 3. Samantha Belliston, Col, 1:19.71; 4. Faith Ivy, Ken, 1:23.35; 5. Emily Boone, Sol, 1:24.55; 6. Madeleine Michaud, Ken, 1:25.20.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Colony (Toussaint, Belliston, Dayton, Crosley), 3:59.78; 2. Kodiak, 4:03.18; 3. Soldotna, 4:08.56; 4. Palmer, 4:19.40; 5. Colony, 4:23.26; 6. Kodiak, 4:25.87.

BOYS

Team scores: 1. Kodiak, 123; 2. Soldotna, 75; 3. Colony, 51; 4. Palmer, 36; 5. Homer, 25; 6. Kenai Central, 20.

200 medley relay — 1. Colony (Chastain, Anderson, Simmons, Amato), 1:46.14; 2. Kodiak, 1:53.67; 3. Kenai, 1:54.42; 4. Soldotna, 1:56.57; 5. Kodiak, 2:16.88; 6. Soldotna, 2:17.98.

200 freestyle — 1. Talon Lindquist, Kod, 1:49.12; 2. Cody Watkins, Sol, 1:49.27; 3. Jacob Hall, Sol, 1:51.16; 4. Joseph Anderson, Col, 1:54.19; 5. Dan Lambert, Kod, 1:56.53; 6. Daniel Smith, Kod, 2:00.03.

200 IM — 1. Jake Simmons, Col, 2:06.10; 2. Max Snelders, Pal, 2:11.58; 3. Baxter Anderson, Kod, 2:14.89; 4. Jacob Creglow, Sol, 2:15.26; 5. Surges Hannan, Hom, 2:16.89; 6. Elliott Amato, Col, 2:17.19.

50 freestyle — 1. Luke James, Kod, 23.26; 2. David Hall, Sol, 23.35; 3. Nathan Schauff, Kod, 23.52; 4. Clayton Arndt, Hom, 24.21; 5. Savaii Heaven, Ken, 24.40; 6. Hunter Reese, Ken, 24.81.

Diving — 1. Gabe Waldhaus, Pal, 260.85; 2. Ian Hall, Hom, 209.20; 3. Daniel Wiest, Hom, 179.35; 4. Kylin Welch, Sol, 167.80; 5. Cole Johnson, Pal, 166.35; 6. Spencer Warren, Hom, 148.30.

100 butterfly — 1. Cody Watkins, Sol, 54.39; 2. Clayton Arndt, Hom, 1:00.69; 3. Baxter Andrson, Kod, 1:01.39; 4. Cameron Gossett, Col, 1:06.78; 5. Nick Schwantes, Col, 1:08.65; 6. Anders Hocum, Kod, 1:09.13.

100 freestyle — 1. Talon Lindquist, Kod, 50.27; 2. David Hall, 52.16; 3. Nathan Schauff, Kod, 53.10; 4. Nathaniel Lazaros, Sol, 54.42; 5. Ryan Chastain, Col, 55.26; 6. Zane Wilkinson, Hom, 55.62.

500 freestyle — 1. Dan Lambert, Kod, 5:10.32; 2. Jacob Hall, Sol, 5:10.48; 3. Daniel Smith, Kod, 5:14.76; 4. Nathan James, Kod, 5:40.11; 5. Phoenyx Collier, Pal, 5:56.78; 6. Theodore Castellani, Hom, 6:05.32.

200 freestyle — 1. Kodiak (James, Lambert, Schauff, Lindquist), 1:32.30; 2. Soldotna, 1:32.32; 3. Palmer, 1:41.27; 4. Kenai, 1:43.40; 5. Kodiak, 1:43.53; 6. Homer, 1:51.67.

100 backstroke — 1. Jake Simmons, Col, 56.61; 2. Max Snelders, Pal, 58.84; 3. Joseph Anderson, Col, 58.91; 4. Gus Hanson, Kod, 1:00.35; 5. Savaii Heaven, Ken, 1:02.63; 6. Zane Wilkinson, Hom, 1:06.56.

100 breaststroke — 1. Jacob Creglow, Sol, 1:04.98; 2. Luke James, Kod, 1:05.45; 3. Nevin Lee, Kod, 1:12.08; 4. Charlie Jim, Pal, 1:13.42; 5. Wesley Dumm, Kod, 1:13.95; 6. Eric Kempf, Ken, 1:15.60.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Kodiak (James, Lambert, Schauff, Lindquist), 3:24.41; 2. Soldotna, 3:25.80; 3. Colony, 3:26.32; 4. Kodiak, 3:41.65; 5. Palmer, 3:48.88; 6. Kodiak, 3:54.21.