Colony swimmer wins Soldotna Pentathlon

SOLDOTNA — Every year the Soldotna Pentathlon gives local prep swimmers a break from the grind of the weekly standard swimming meet, and the chance to do something a little different.

Heading into the meet, Colony head coach Matt Hanley knew he had a handful of talented swimmers, but didn’t really think about the possibility of one of his Knights winning.

As it turned out, one of Hanley’s athletes ending up winning the whole thing.

Colony’s Alex Kessler used a combined total time of 2 minutes and 43.77 seconds to win the boys’ class of the Soldotna Pentathlon at Soldotna High School on Saturday.

“He did a great job. He raced hard,” Hanley said about Kessler. “This (meet) always throws a different flavor (into the season). I was definitely surprised how the boys did and how the girls raced.”

The Pentathlon includes five individual races for each swimming — the 100-yard individual medley, 50 freestyle, 50 butterfly, 50 breaststroke and 50 backstroke.”

Hanley said the meet is nice because it comes at about the midway point of the season, and gives swimmers the chance to do some different things.

Kessler was one of two Knights to finish in the top 7 and four in the top 12th. Zane Mileur (seventh), Gaven Nelson (11th) and Zach Bloom (12th) were also strong for the Knights. Conner Minder finished 19th to lead Wasilla.

Colony finished third in the team standings.

Palmer also finished third in the girls team standings. The Moose were led by a pair of top-10 finishes. Katie Stark was sixth and Noelle Graham finished ninth. Eliza Zugg was 17th to lead the Colony girls.

Kodiak swept the team titles Friday at the 31st annual SoHi Pentathlon.

Jori Lindquist from Kodiak won all five races on the girls side to take the

easy victory in a total time of 2 minutes, 56.72 seconds, while her teammate Ila Hughes finished second individually, nine seconds behind.

Soldotna’s Alex Weeks finished third overall with a combined time of 3:05.88, and teammate Kaitlyn Groleske finished fourth in 3:08.97.

Kessler won the meet’s first event, the 100 individual medley, and stayed consistent the rest of the way to claim the top spot.

Soldotna’s Sawyer Rickman finished second with a time of 2:45.37, and teammate Daniel McElroy was third in 2:47.29.

“I’m really happy with my races, and Alex swam an outstanding meet, and I did my best and he did his best and he came out ahead,” Rickman said. “That’s so cool, I’m so happy for him.”

Rickman finished second in the 100 IM, but fell behind in the 50 butterfly with a sixth-place finish. He came back with a third in the 50 backstroke, a fourth in the 50 breaststroke, and dominated in the 50 freestyle, clocking 22.88 to Kessler’s 23.42.

Rickman wasn’t the only Soldotna swimmer to win a race, as Daniel McElroy won the 50 breast and Dustin Hunter won the 50 fly. McElroy and Hunter placed third and sixth overall, respectively.

Kenai’s fastest swimmer was Cole Gross with an overall time of 3:05.92.

Kodiak head coach John Lindquist was pleased with the performance of the Bears.

“I was really happy with Jori, because she’s a senior so she went out great winning the pentathlon,” Lindquist said. “The team swam pretty well for what we’ve been practicing back home, and they stepped up and swam really strong.

“On the boys side, we have a lot of depth, and while we’re not spectacular, they held their own and we had a lot of fun.”

Kodiak won the girls team title with a score of 53 points, 10 more than runner-up Soldotna. The boys team race was closer as Kodiak won with 58 points, only five better than Soldotna.

Soldotna produced fast races on the girls side, led by Alex Weeks (third overall) and Kaitlyn Groleske (fourth overall).

Weeks didn’t win a race, but relied on consistency, nabbing podium finishes in every event but one; a fourth-place in the 50 breaststroke.

“My best race was my 100 IM. I usually don’t do well in it, but it went well today,” Weeks said. “I usually hope for my personal best at state, but at this meet, it’s all about placing high.”

Groleske’s best event came in the 50 backstroke, a runner-up finish to Lindquist.

“The backstroke was my strongest,” Groleske said. “I had hoped to do better in the 100 IM, but the backstroke is really where I did it.”

Unfortunately, the backstroke was also Lindquist’s strongest event, as she swam a time of 28.18, while no other competitor broke 30 seconds. Groleske’s time was 30.69.

“I’ve been swimming with those Kodiak girls my whole high school career, so

they’re definitely the big competition, including the whole state,” she said.

Isabel Barnwell came through with a strong eighth-place overall finish for Seward, helped by a top finish of fourth in the backstroke. Teammate Olivia

Beckham finished fifth in that event, and 10th overall.

Kaitlyn Louthan finished seventh overall to lead Kenai Central’s girls team. Louthan fell behind in the standings with a 15th-place finish in the 50 breaststroke, but made up for it with a fourth in the 50 free.

Coach Lindquist also said that while the swimmers compete for the joy of it, winning isn’t bad either.

“When you put the goggles on and get on the blocks, every kid wants to race, so that’s what I tell them,” he said. “It’s a little bit different atmosphere, but they love this meet and get hyped up for it. It’s fun to watch them race all these different events that they might not otherwise get a chance to race.”

The Peninsula Clarion contributed to this report.

Soldotna Pentathlon

Friday, Soldotna

Girls team scores:

1. Kodiak, 53 points; 2. Soldotna, 43; 3. Palmer, 22; 4. Seward, 18; 5. Kenai, 13; 6. Homer, 6.

Girls individual results (top 20):

1. Jori Lindquist, Kod, 2:56.72; 2. Ila Hughes, Kod, 3:05.61; 3. Alex Weeks, Sol, 3:05.88; 4. Kaitlyn Groleske, Sol, 3:08.97; 5. Sammye Jones, 3:09.59; 6. Katie Stark, Pal, 3:12.08; 7. Kaitlyn Louthan, Ken, 3:12.40; 8. Isabel Barnwell, Sew, 3:14.26; 9. Noelle Graham, Pal, 3:16.17; 10. Olivia Beckham, Sew, 3:16.43; 11. Cheyenne Smith, Hom, 3:19.90; 12. Megan English, Sol, 3:20.86; 13. Molly Silta, Sol, 3:21.79; 14. Rachel Henry, Sol, 3:22.69; 15. Illa Macinko, Kod, 3:22.70; 16. Celestina Castro, Ken, 3:22.90; 17. Eliza Zugg, Col, 3:25.41; 18. Emily Boone, Sol, 3:27.11; 19. Chelsea Chess, Ken, 3:28.25; 20. Brittany Horne, Kod, 3:28.40.

Boys team scores:

1. Kodiak, 58 points; 2. Soldotna, 53; 3. Colony, 43; 4. Kenai, 1.

Boys individual results:

1. Alex Kessler, Col, 2:43.77; 2. Sawyer Rickman, Sol, 2:45.37; 3. Daniel McElroy, Sol, 2:47.29; 4. Nicholas Lincoln, Kod, 2:48.22; 5. Dyton Schauff, Kod, 2:48.28; 6. Dustin Hunter, Sol, 2:50.38; 7. Zane Mileur, Col, 2:54.89; 8. Michael Smith, Kod, 2:55.33; 9. Jonas Anderson, Kod, 2:58.89; 10. Chase Corona-Cane, Sol, 2:59.34; 11. Gaven Nelson, Col, 3:00.38; 12. Zach Bloom, 3:04.32; 13. Max Mutch, Kod, 3:04.83; 14. River Hanson, Kod, 3:05.34; 15. Axl Levan, Kod, 3:05.57; 16. Cole Gross, Ken, 3:05.92; 17. Joseph Anderson, Col, 3:05.96; 18. James Nagle, Hom, 3:07.60; 19. Conner Minder, Was, 3:08.02; 20. Mark Nagle, Hom, 3:09.95.