Valley teams sweep Seward Invite

SEWARD — The Colony boys and Palmer girls had something in common Saturday afternoon.

Both squads dominated the relay events and left with the team titles of the Seward Invitational in Seward.

Colony swept the relay events, winning the 200-yard medley relay, 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay, and finished at the top of the boys’ team standings with 106 total points. Palmer finished 2 for 3 in the girls’ relay events, posting victories in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay. The Moose finished first in the girls’ standings with 97 points.

Zach Bloom, Alex Kessler, Joseph Anderson and Larkin Udomporn combined to win the 200 medley relay. Bloom, Udomporn, Elliot Amato and Gavin Nelson won the 200 freestyle relay. Bloom, Nelson, Anderson and Kessler finished first in the 400 freestyle relay.

Naomi Graham, Noelle Graham, Millie Snelders and Katie Stark teamed to finish first in the 200 freestyle relay for the Moose. Sarah Hanson, Naomi Graham, Noelle Graham and Stark won the 400 freestyle relay.

The Colony boys also won four individual events. Bloom won the 500 freestyle. Nelson finished first in the 100 backstroke. Kessler won the 200 freestyle. Anderson finished first in the 100 breaststroke.

Stark (50 freestyle) and Noelle Graham (100 freestyle) won individual events for the Palmer girls.

Daniel Jackson led Palmer to a third-place finish the team standings with a pair of individual victories. Jackson won both the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle.

More than 200 athletes from a dozen schools competed in the meet.

The Valley’s largest prep swimming event of the year, the Valley Invitational, starts Thursday at the Palmer Pool. Nearly 20 teams are slated to participate in the three-day meet, which continues through Saturday.

The girls diving event starts Thursday at 5 p.m., with the boys’ diving preliminaries to follow. The diving semifinals are scheduled for Friday at 8:30 a.m. and the swimming preliminaries start Friday at 12:30 p.m.

The swimming and diving finals are scheduled for Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Seward Invitational

Friday-Saturday, Seward

Girls’ team scores:

1. Palmer 97; 2. Soldotna 68; 3. Valdez 45; 4. Seward 40; 5. Colony 31; 6. Kenai 23; 7. Homer 4; 7. (tie) Wasilla 4.

Girls individual results:

200 medley relay — 1. Seward 2:03.68; 2. Soldotna 2:05.13; 3. Valdez 2:07:03; 4. Palmer 2:09.61; 5. Kenai 2:09.61; 6. Colony 2:17.09.

200 freestlye — 1. A. Weeks, Sol 2:08.22; 2. S. Hanson, Pal 2:09.66; 3. C. Castro, Ken 2:12.56; 4. R. Crosley, Col 2:14.52; 5. M. English, Sol 2:17.60; 6. L. Kuhns, Hom 2:18.13.

200 IM — 1. K. Groleske, Sol 2:26.56; 2. M. Snelders, Pal 2:29.45; 3. R. Henry, Sol 2:33.82; 4. J. McNelly, Val 2:35.09; 5. E. Doyel, Val 2:36.56; 6. R. Norris, Val 2:37.49.

50 freestyle — 1. K. Stark, Pal 25.96; 2. N. Graham, Pal 25.98; 3. E. Barnwell, Sew 26.07; 4. C. Murphy, Val 26.62; 5. N. Graham, Pal 27.41; 6. O. Beckham, Sew 27.47.

100 butterfly — 1. N. Graham, Pal 1:04.36; 2. R. McNelly, Val 1:05.81; 3. C. Castro, Ken 1:09.34; 4. K. Grloeske, Sol 1:12.61; 5. A. Phillips, Was 1:22.13; 6. S. Belliston, Was 1:24.28.

100 freestyle — 1. A. Weeks, Sol 56.10; 2. K. Stark, Pal 56.67; 3. N. Graham, Pal 57.60; 4. M. Snelders, Pal 59.05; 5. C. Murphy, Val 59.22; 6. E. Zugg, Col 1:01.15.

500 freestyle — 1. I. Barnwell, Sew 5:39.30; 2. S. Hanson, Pal 5:55.23; 3. R. Henry, Sol 6:04.94; 4. R. Tougas, Sew 6:21.76; 5. J. McNelly, Val 6:23.99; 6. J. Grob, Col 6:24.23.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Palmer 1:44.29; 2. Seward 1:47.26; 3. Colony 1:55.34; 4. Soldotna 1:56.01; 5. Palmer B 1:56.04; 6. Kenai 1:56.45.

100 backstroke — 1. O. Beckham, Sew 1:06.72; 2. M. English, Sol 1:07.87; 3. Z. Hanson, Ken 1:11.05; 4. M. Musgrave, Pal 1:12.36; 5. R. Norris, Val 1:12.31; 6. E. Zugg, Col 1:12.45.

100 breaststroke — 1. R. McNelly, Val 1:15.34; 2. A. Sullivan, Col 1:19.21; 3. S. Hamner, Sew 1:20.32; 4. L. Kuhns, Hom 1:21.38; 5. I. Henry, Sol 1:25.92; 6. E. Munro, Pal 1:26.32.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Palmer 4:00.97; 2. Valdez 4:09.57; 3. Soldotna 4:15.84; 4. Kenai 4:22.26; 5. Colony 4:24.91; 6. Wasilla 4:31.27.

Boys’ team scores:

1. Colony 106; 2. Soldotna 71; 3. Palmer 43; 4. Homer 32; 4. (tie) Kenai 32; 6. Wasilla 11; 7. Valdez 10.

Boys individual results:

200 medley relay — 1. Colony 1:46.83; 2. Soldotna 1:50.66; 3. Homer 1:55.83; 4. Colony 2:03.54; 5. Valdez 2:06.73; 6. Wasilla 2:17.76.

200 freestyle — 1. A. Kessler, Col 1:53.03; 2. M. Nagle, Hom 1:58.20; 3. J. Dye, Ken 2:04.94; 4. C. Watkins, Sol 2:05.81; 5. L. Castellani, Hom 2:12.83; 6. T. Davlia, Pal 2:14.94.

200 IM — 1. D. McElroy, Sol 212.48; 2. J. Creglow, Sol 2:167.69; 3. J. Peck, Ken 2:21.41; 4. J. Balowski, Val 2:28.04; 5. T. Denny, Col 2:32.61; 6. J. Mendez, Col 3:01.30.

50 freestyle — 1. D. Jackson, Pal 23.53; 2. L. Udomporn, Col 24.19; 3. C. Corona-Cain, Sol 24.33; 4. J. Snelders, Pal 24.42; 5. T. Sworts, Pal 25.09; 6. J. Nagle, Hom 25.20.

100 butterfly — 1. D. Hunter, Sol 56.71; 2. J. Nagle, Hom 56.89; 3. J. Anderson, Col 59.97; 4. J. Peck, Ken 1:01.75; 5. G. Nelson, Col 1:02.02; 6. C. Watkins, Sol 1:05.18.

100 freestyle — 1. D. Jackson, Pal 51.16; 2. D. McElroy, Sol 51.34; 3. J. Snelders, Pal 55.10; 4. T. Sworts, Pal 56.31; 5. G. Smith, Hom 56.76; 6. C. Gross, Ken 56.91.

500 freestyle — 1. Z. Bloom, Col 5:09.30; 2. A. Kessler, Col 5:14.09; 3. M. Nagle, Hom 5:27.16; 4. D. Hunter, Sol 5:27.65; 5. J. Dye, Ken 5:37.61; 6. D. Ticknor, Ken 6:03.09.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Colony 1:37.13; 2. Palmer 1:37.92; 3. Kenai 1:41.30; 4. Soldotna 1:45.50; 5. Wasilla 1:48.97; 6. Colony 1:49.16.

100 backstroke — 1. G. Nelson, Col 1:03.40; 2. C. Corona-Cain, Sol 1:04.90; 3. C. Gross, Ken 1:06.53; 4. C. Cummins, Val 1:07.39; 5. P. Boston, Was 1:08.44; 6. T. Gilson, Was 1:10.52.

100 breaststroke — 1. J. Anderson, Col 1:05.70; 2. J. Creglow, Sol 1:09.97; 3. B. Ashwell, Ken 1:12.63; 4. P. Boston, Was 1:12.79; 5. T. Denny, Col 1:13.12; 6. G. Smith, Hom 1:13.35.

400 freestyle — 1. Colony 3:28.36; 2. Soldotna 3:34.74; 3. Colony 3:34.82; 4. Palmer 3:43.61; 5. Homer 3:48.05; 6. Kenai 3:50.40.