Prep swimming: Valley athletes to compete for top spots at state meet

Nov. 3, 2006

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

ANCHORAGE - A collection of Valley athletes will be battling for top honors at the ASAA First National Bank Swim and Dive State Championships this weekend.

The event, which starts today at Bartlett High School, includes 20 swimmers and divers from three Mat-Su programs. Swimming preliminaries start at 2 p.m. today, while the first round of the diving events start at 4.

The finals are slated to start Saturday at 1 p.m.

Wasilla sports the biggest contingent of Valley athletes, with 13 Warriors qualifying for the championships.

Leading the cast is senior Wil Fernandez, the winner of outstanding male swimmer honors at last week's region championships in Homer. Fernandez won a pair of individual events, the 100-yard backstroke and the 200 individual medley, and led the Warriors to a relay win. After the region meet, Wasilla head coach Bobbi Hamilton said Fernandez certainly has the potential to score a top-three finish in the tough state championships.

In the 100 backstroke Fernandez scored the second-best time f the four region champions in the state. With a time of 54.01 seconds, Lathrop's Caleb Severns was the region champ to finish faster than Fernandez' 55.33.

Fernandez finished second in the 100 backstroke in the 2005 state championships.

Fernandez will join junior Tommy Hightower and sophomores Max Merriam and Charles Frey on the 200 medley relay squad. The foursome posted the third-best time among the four region champions in the state.

Erin Hogan enters the 1-meter diving event as the Region III champion. Hogan's brother Ryan also qualified. North Pole's Sam White posted the most points of any diver in a region meet last year. He was the Region VI title with 472 total points.

Sophomore Caity Stigen, the lone Wasilla girl to advance to the final meet, will compete in two events - the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle.

Colony will have a pair of region champions fighting for top spots this weekend. Senior Emily Whitstine won the 1-meter diving event. She is hoping to improve on her third-place finish of last year.

Shereen Whitford finished second to Whitstine in the region diving finals.

Freshman Katelyn Payne won a pair of region titles, finishing first in the 100 backstroke and 500 freestyle.

Divers Tim Schachle and Cody Vetter, and swimmer Jeffrey Frey will represent the Colony boys.

Palmer advanced one swimmer to the state meet. Kyle Johnson finished third last week in the 100 breaststroke, and will represent the Moose at Bartlett High.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.