Knights sweep team titles at Senior Send-Off swimming meet

The Valley swim and dive teams enjoyed a great day of racing in Palmer on Saturday.

The Colony Knights swept the team titles during the Senior Send-Off at the Palmer Pool.

“What a great meet. We had over 30 best times. Good job everyone. You all absolutely crushed today,” Colony coach Kaitlin Dault said after the meet.

The Knights’ girls started off the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay. Hannah Cooper led them with a 30.37 backstroke. Jasmine Anderson was able to increase the lead with a 29.47 breaststroke leg. Aubrey Bunch swam 31.84 in the butterfly leg, and Maraya Dunford was able to bring them into the final wall on the freestyle leg with a 28.83.

The Moose boys won the 200 medley relay. London Lee swam the backstroke leg at 28.90. Aidan Houser pulled a 31.99 breaststroke. Jackson Charton increased the led with a 26.35 butterfly, and Jackson Neumann brought the Moose into the final wall with a 26.34 freestyle.

Colony’s Hannah Cooper has been training hard, and the hard work is paying off. She is consistently dropping time in her events. She won the 200 freestyle with a 2:06.41 coming in over five seconds before the second place competitor. She also won her second event of the day, the 100 freestyle, with a best time of 57.80.

Jackson Charton won the 200 freestyle for Palmer with a 1:59.95. Charton is a consistent points earner for the Palmer Moose. He came in second in the boys 100 freestyle 52.85.

Aubrey Bunch from Colony also won a pair of events. She was able to drop over five seconds in the 200 IM coming in at 2:37.64. She swam the 500 freestyle later on that day, and she again dropped time coming in at 6:06.40.

Reven Settle of the Colony Knights won the 200 IM for the boys with a time of 2:18.48. Settle was able to earn third in the 100 freestyle later on in the day with a time drop and a time of 53.77.

Colony senior Jasmine Anderson won the 50 freestyle for the girls with her best time for high school at 26.15. Anderson who is known for her breaststroke won the 100 breaststroke with a season best time of 1:04.46. She has been putting in hours of training to perfect her skills.

Palmer senior Aidan Houser won the 50 freestyle for the boys also with a best time of 23.05. Houser has been making improvement all season. He won his second event of the day in the 100 freestyle with another time drop of 51.85.

Colony Girl divers again came in as shining Knights. Charlize McManus took second, and Samantha Grisham came in third.

Travis Thornton of Wasilla won the boys 1 meter diving event. Calvin Musgrave took second.

The Knights’ senior Makenzie Edgar won the girls 100 fly with a time of 1:17.19.

Kellan DenBleyker of Colony won the boys 100 fly with a time of 1:00.14.

Wasilla Warrior Michael Branham won the boys 500 freestyle with a time drop of over 35 seconds coming in at 6:08.07.

The girls 200 freestyle relay was won by the Knights with a time of 1:55.23. The team consisted of: Chloe Blackburn (28.33), Makenzie Edgar (29.42), Kendyl Ligman (29.05) and Maraya Dunford (28.43).

The boys freestyle relay was also won by the Knights. The came in at 1:36.67. The team consisted of: Grady Dhondt( 24.21), Kellan DenBleyker(23.81), Hudson Duguid (24.76) and Thomas Smith (23.89).

Palmer’s senior Addie Charton was able to win the girls 100 backstroke with at time of 1:07.36. She had taken second in the girls 200 freestyle earlier that day with a time of 2:12.29.

Colony’s Landeyn Halstead won the boys 100 backstroke with a time of 1:02.44. Halstead was able drop just about three seconds in his event.

The Knights Thomas Smith dropped just about seven seconds to win the boys 100 breaststroke. He came in at 1:11.24. Smith making a drop in his 100 freestyle earning 4th place earlier that day.

The Colony girls won their third relay with a win in the 400 freestyle with a time of 4:04.01. The team consisted of: Chloe Blackburn (1:04.53), Kendyl Ligman (1:05.51), Hannah Cooper (57.68) and Jasmine Anderson (56.29).

The Colony boys won their second relay of the day with a win in the 400 freestyle with a time of 4:06.90. The team consisted of: Thomas Smith(58.45), Gunnar Allen (1:04.59), Reven Settle (1:00.51) and Parker Lysdahl (1:03.35).

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