Palmer hosts Valley Invitational swim meet

Swimmers, spectators, and fans from 10 schools around the state jammed into the Palmer High School pool Friday and Saturday to take part in the Valley Invitational swim and dive meet.

Soldotna won both the boys' and girls' overall team meet.

Colony finished third, Palmer finished seventh, and Wasilla rounded out the Valley schools with an eighth-place finish for the girls' teams.

Palmer finished sixth, with Colony and Wasilla tying for ninth in the boys' team overall.

"The Valley Invitational is used by schools as a preview to the region meet," said Palmer swim coach Tim Lundt.

Palmer's Eric Hansen completely dominated the 1-meter diving event by scoring 326.15 points -- far outpacing Tyler Randolph of Kodiak, who finished with 179.45 points.

Wasilla's Cara Hesselbach took third in the girls' 1-meter diving competition, with Colony's Sarah Gillette placing fifth and Palmer's Lesli Hobbs taking sixth.

Colony's Sarah Brettrager won the girls' 100-yard freestyle in 54.68 and the 200-yard freestyle in 2:02.28.

Brettrager also started the 200-yard freestyle relay team to a second-place finish and anchored the 400-yard relay team to a fourth-place finish.

Colony's Elise Long took third in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:06.30.

Palmer's Katlyn Griese finished sixth with a time of 1:22.81. Long also swam a 5:37.58 time to a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle. Wasilla's Atali Smith followed in third with time of 5:45.30.

Palmer's Logan Bean placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.37 and added a fourth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:24.78.

Bean also led off the Palmer 400-yard relay team to a fifth place finish.

"We have a lot of inexperience this year," said Lundt. "Our goal this year is to continually improve."