Valley athletes compete at Bartlett/Chugiak swimming and diving meet

The Valley swimming and diving teams participated in the Bartlett/Chugiak Invite Saturday. The meet consisted of 19 teams from around the state, and provided local athletes to compete with faster swimmers and top divers in the state.

The divers were at Chugiak High School competing on Saturday. The Wasilla boys swept the top two spots at the meet. Travis Thornton earned gold and Calvin Musgrave was the runner-up.

The Colony girls divers were able to have four of the divers in the top 8. Charlize McManus earned second, Claire Wallstrum finished third, Samantha Grisham was fourth, and Lyza Krozel placed eighth.

“My divers have been working hard this year on technique. I am very pleased with the progress that they are making. We are excited for state,” coach Tanner Belliston said.

Colony’s Jasmine Anderson led Valley swimmers. Anderson earned first in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:12.23. She has been working this season to improve her front half of the race by improving her butterfly and backstroke. Later in the day Anderson was also able to win the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:05.12. She currently has the fastest time this season in Alaska for high school swimming in both races.

Anderson’s Colony teammate, Hannah Cooper, earned fourth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:21.19, and was third in the 500 freestyle later on in the day with a time of 5:30.78.

The Colony girls 200 medley relay team earned fifth place with Chloe Blackburn swimming backstroke (35.69), Jasmine Anderson swimming breaststroke (30.16), Hannah Cooper swimming butterfly (29.00) and Maraya Dunford swimming freestyle(28.40). The combined team time was 2:03.25.

The Colony girls 400 freestyle relay team placed third with Hannah Cooper (59.92), Kendyl Ligman (1:05.69), Chloe Blackburn (1:06.36) and Jasmine Anderson (59.95) with a combined time of 4.11.92.

Kellan DenBleyker led the Colony boys with a third-place finish in the boys 500 freestyle with, a time of 5:14.88.

Colony’s Grady Dhondt was sixth in the boys 50 freestyle race with a time of 23.93. Thomas Smith from Colony was sixth place in the 100 butterfly with a time of 58.82.

The Colony Knights 200 freestyle boys relay team earned fourth with Kellan DenBleyker (24.85), Grady Dhondt (24.32), Thomas Smith (24.19) and Isaiah Hulien (23.68) with a combined time of 1:37.04.

The Colony boys 200 medley relay team was seventh with Landeyn Halstead swimming backstroke (28.24), Hudson Duguid (33.31), Thomas Smith swimming butterfly (25.44) and Grady Dhondt swimming freestyle (24.04). The combined team time was 1:51.03.

The Colony boys 400 freestyle relay time earned eighth with Finn Nordstrom (1:07.88), Mason Wallstrum (1:00.59), Parker Lysdahl (1:01.80) and Gunnar Allen (1:02.75) with a combined time of 4:13.02.

Aidan Houser led the Palmer boys, finishing fourth in the boys 100 freestyle with a time of 50.62.

Jackson Charton of Palmer was seventh in the 200 IM for the boys with a time of 2:17.80, and seventh in the butterfly with a time of 59.23.

Nina Adams was seventh in the 50 freestyle with a time of 27.41 for the Palmer girls, and eighth in the 100 breaststroke later in the day with a time of 1:15.08.

The Palmer Moose 200 freestyle girls relay team earned seventh with Nina Adams (28.31), Aubrey Stocker (29.35), Jade Bamford (29.15) and Addie Charton( 27.16) was able to earn seventh with a combined time of 1:53.97.

The Palmer boys 400 freestyle relay team earned fourth place with Aidan Houser (58.84), London Lee (55.30), Jackson Neumann (55.35) and Jackson Charton (56.93) with a combined time of 3:46.42.

The Palmer Moose 200 freestyle boys relay team earned fifth with Aidan Houser (23.58), London Lee (23.49), Jackson Neumann (26.45) and Jackson Charton (23.79) with a combined time of 1:37.31.

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