Palmer coach impressed with her team’s finish

PALMER — During the Kenai Invitational swimming and diving meet over the weekend, Palmer head coach Shanna Omer wasn’t really sure where her boys team would fit into the final standings.

The Moose were missing a few athletes from an already small squad and a few others were nursing injuries. But when Omer learned Palmer had finished first in the boys standings, the coach couldn’t help but feel pleasantly surprised.

“I was really surprised. We do have a smaller boys team,” Omer said. “When I found out we were first, with the number of points we got, I was really excited about that.”

Four Palmer swimmers won events to help the Moose finish with a meet-high 70 points, 14 more than second-place West Anchorage.

Senior Spencer Bloom finished first in both the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Evan McHenry was first in the 200 freestyle and Josh Hanson finished first in the 500 freestyle.

Omer was particularly impressed with Hanson, who has battled a shoulder injury.

“The next closest (swimmer) was nine seconds back,” Omer said. “He was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t quite sure going into it what he’d be going up against. It was great to see him take the lead.”

Omer said Zachary Bloom also had a key second-place finish in the 200 freestyle.

The eight-team meet did not include Region III power Kodiak, but Omer said she feels the finish gives her a good indication where the Moose may sit in the region this year.

“It was missing Kodiak. Kodiak’s always a force to be reckoned with,” Omer said.

Colony and Wasilla finished fourth and sixth respectively in the boys standings.

Mike Foy was second for Wasilla in the 500 freestyle. Alex Kessler scored a win for the Knights in the 100 breaststroke.

Palmer also led Valley teams in the girls standings with a fourth-place finish. Colony and Wasilla finished sixth and seventh.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Kenai Invitational

Saturday, Kenai Central

Boys team scores:

1. Palmer, 70; 2. West, 56; 3. Kenai, 45; 4. Colony, 43; 5.

East, 27; 6. Wasilla, 23; 7. Skyview, 16; 8. Seward, 10.

Boys individual results:

200-yard medley relay — 1. Colony (Kessler, Denny, T. Udomporn, L.

Udomporn), 1:59.03; 2. West, 2:01.90; 3. Kenai, 2:08.77; 4. Wasilla,

2:13.17; 5. Skyview, 2:27.74.

200 freestyle — 1. Evan McHenry, Pal, 2:09.38; 2. Zachary Bloom, Pal,

2:10.75; 3. Garrett Todd, Wes, 2:16.37; 4. Connor Minder, Was, 2:19.57; 5.

Jacob Gilman, Ken, 2:23.92; 6. Dezmond Ticknor, Ken, 2:30.16.

200 IM — 1. Kris Roylance, Wes, 2:23.46; 2. Zach Milbrant, Pal, 2:37.62; 3.

Sam Haney, Pal, 2:44.16; 4. Douglas Krukoff, Un, 2:45.62.

50 freestyle — 1. Spencer Bloom, Pal, 23.43; 2. Stephen Warner, Sew, 23.90;

3. Alex Kessler, Col, 23.95; 4. Noah Emerson, Eas, 25.56; 5. Tully

McConnell, Un, 26.45; 6. Danny McIntosh, Sky, 26.89.

Diving — 1. Joshua Oldham, Eas, 210.30; 2. Cole Gross, Ken, 156.70; 3. Brad

Bible, Ken, 127.30; 4. Bill Ashwell, Ken, 119.60; 5. Cody Haxby, Wes,

115.40; 6. Naephe Van Dyke, Pal, 111.30.

100 butterfly — 1. Cody Haxby, Wes, 1:05.55; 2. Josh Hanson, Pal, 1:06.21;

3. Zachary Bloom, Pal, 1:10.13; 4. Jacob Gilman, Ken, 1:13.79; 5. Ben Chang,

Eas, 1:19.64; 6. Tanner Hughes, Was, 1:26.92.

100 freestyle — 1. Ezra Hoque-Corwin, Eas, 56.06; 2. Stephan Werner, Sew,

56.81; 3. Brian Wise, Wes, 1:04.53; 4. Justin Reekie, Sky, 1:05.20; 5. Tully

McConnell, Un, 1:05.93; 6. Trace Braxling, Sky, 1:06.37.

500 freestyle — 1. Josh Hanson, Pal, 5:50.85; 2. Mike Foy, Was, 5:59.79; 3.

Bill Ashwell, Ken, 6:14.29; 4. Garrett Todd, Wes, 6:27.50; 5. Kei Kawanda,

Un, 6:34.39; 6. Jacob Dye, Ken, 6:51.40.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Palmer (S. Bloom, Z. Bloom, Hanson, McHenry),

1:44.09; 2. Colony, 1:46.31; 3. Un, 1:51.35; 4. Kenai, 1:53.05; 5. East,

1:53.16; 6. Skyview, 1:54.79.

100 backstroke — 1. Spencer Bloom, Pal, 1:01.84; 2. Kris Roylance, Wes,

1:04.02; 3. Noah Emerson, Eas, 1:08.52; 4. Evan McHenry, Pal, 1:09.26; 5.

Cole Gross, Ken, 1:12.24; 6. Dillion Magnusen, Un, 1:13.39.

100 breaststroke — 1. Alex Kessler, Col, 1:07.88; 2. Douglas Krukoff, Un,

1:15.60; 3. Connor Minder, Was, 1:18.74; 4. Danny McIntosh, Sky, 1:19.18; 5.

Danrick Trinidad, Un, 1:20.99; 6. Sam Haney, Pal, 1:21.92.

400 freestyle relay — 1. West (Todd, Haxby, Wise, Roylance), 3:57.32; 2.

Wasilla, 4:44.17; 3. Colony, 4:52.52; 4. Kenai, 5:47.31.

Girls team scores:

1. Kenai, 94; 2. East, 87; 3. West, 52; 4. Palmer, 41; 5.

Seward, 25; 6. Colony, 22; 7. Wasilla, 3.

Girls individual results:

200-yard medley relay — 1. Kenai (Hanson, Chess, Pfeifer, Louthan), 2

minutes, 5.21 seconds; 2. East, 2:12.09; 3. West, 2:13.15; 4. Kenai,

2:16.41; 5. Colony, 2:20.95; 6. Un, 2:22.28.

200 freestyle — 1. Katy Dalton, Wes, 2:01.35; 2. Olivia Pfeifer, Ken,

2:03.53; 3. Noelle Graham, Pal, 2:14.12; 4. Carrie Sauerbrey, Eas, 2:14.31;

5. Kayla Anderson, Col, 2:19.10; 6. Brittany Shattuck, Was, 2:19.75.

200 individual medley — 1. Lilly Harris, Wes, 2:38.67; 2. Chelsea Chess,

Ken, 2:38.76; 3. Mariah Fox, Eas, 2:41.25; 4. Celestina Castro, Ken,

2:44.64; 5. Joy Wannamaker, Ken, 2:45.85; 6. Jamie Brakora, Eas, 2:46.68.

50 freestyle — 1. Eileen Audette, Sew, 25.63; 2. Kaitlyn Louthan, Ken,

26.50; 3. McKinley Wallace, Eas, 26.54; 4. Katie Stark, Pal, 26.90; 5.

Olivia Beckham, Sew, 27.77; 6. Ena Burr, Eas, 28.12.

Diving — 1. Kirsten Williams, Eas, 133.50; 2. Amalise Decker, Wes, 118.30;

3. Austin Daly, Ken, 113.15; 4. Tiffany Israel, Wes, 107.45; 5. Amanda

Ritchie, Ken, 101.20; 6. Denali Branham, Pal, 78.75.

100 butterfly — 1. Jesi Cavanaugh, Eas, 1:01.30; 2. Noelle Graham, Pal,

1:07.84; 3. Celetina Castro, Ken, 1:13.25; 4. Laura Gordon, Wes, 1:17.82; 5.

Joy Wannamaker, Ken, 1:18.75; 6. Saige Stefanski, Col, 1:21.29.

100 freestyle — 1. Carrie Sauerbrey, Eas, 58.49; 2. Katie Stark, Pal, 59.49;

3. Kaitlyn Louthan, Ken, 59.71; 4. Ena Burr, Eas, 1:01.62; 5. Brittany

Shattuck, Was, 1:03.67; 6. Willow Schlenker, Pal, 1:04.21.

500 freestyle — 1. Katy Dalton, Wes, 5:24.81; 2. Olivia Pfeifer, Ken,

5:34.20; 3. McKinley Wallace, Eas, 5:38.59; 4. Jesi Cavanaugh, Eas, 5:41.88;

5. Rachel Tougas, Sew, 6:19.19; 6. Kayla Anderson, Col, 6:24.78.

200 freestyle relay — 1. East (Wallace, Sauerbrey, Cavanaugh, n/a), 1:48.71;

2. Kenai, 1:52.31; 3. Palmer, 1:52.82; 4. Colony, 2:03.43; 5. Kenai,

2:06.05; 6. West, 2:07.66.

100 backstroke — 1. Olivia Beckham, Sew, 1:09.51; 2. Jessica Rohleder, Eas,

1:10.83; 3. Austin Daly, Ken, 1:12.57; 4. Willow Schlenker, Pal, 1:12.61; 5.

Zoya Hanson, Ken, 1:12.71; 6. Shayla Shaishnikoff, Un, 1:15.02.

100 breaststroke — 1. Eileen Audette, Sew, 1:10.49; 2. Chelsea Chess, Ken,

1:22.12; 3. Molly Sullivan, Col, 1:27.85; 4. Amber Vernon, Un, 1:28.83; 5.

Lauren Higdon, Wes, 1:29.11; 6. Kelsey Cost, Pal, 1:29.89.

400 freestyle relay — 1. East (Wallace, Sauerbrey, n/a, Cavanaugh), 4:01.93;

2. Palmer, 4:19.49; 3. West, 4:19.92; 4. Kenai, 4:21.84; 5. Colony, 4:29.48;

6. Kenai, 4:48.63.