Wasilla swimmers win pair on Peninsula

Frontiersman

SOLDOTNA - All the hard work during two-a-day swim practice is beginning to pay off for the Wasilla High School boys' swimming and diving team. The Warriors are seeing results, winning the team title at Friday's SoHi Pentathlon and a five-team meet at Soldotna High School on Saturday.

The extra work turned in by the Warriors - swimming before school and running, swimming and lifting weights after school - gave them the strength needed to win two meets over the weekend, on being the grueling five-race pentathlon.

Friday, the Wasilla boys scored 38 points to defeat runner-up Seward by 10 points for the team crown. At the annual pentathlon, each swimmer competes in the 100-yard individual medley, the 50 butterfly, the 50 backstroke, the 50 breaststroke and the 50 freestyle. The times in all five of those events are added up to determine the swimmer's placement.

The Homer girls edged Kodiak 52-50 for the girl's team title.

Wasilla senior Wil Fernandez paced the Warriors to the team title, finishing second behind Christopher Hall, of Kenai.

Hall made vast improvements over last year when he finished ninth. But so did Fernandez, who had an 11th-place finish last year.

Hall won the 100 individual medley, the 50 fly and the 50 free to total 2 minutes, 45.64 seconds. Fernandez won the 50 back and finished second at 2:50.80.

&#8220He's crazy fast,” Fernandez said of Hall. &#8220He's improved so much since last year.”

Naomi Franquelin, a Kodiak junior who had finished fifth as a sophomore, won the girls' title.

Franquelin battled with Colony freshman Katelyn Payne for the girls' title. Franquelin won the 100 individual medley and the 50 breaststroke, while Payne took the 50 backstroke and 50 freestyle.

The two were within a second of each other in every race except for the 50 backstroke and 50 breaststroke. Payne defeated Franquelin in the 50 backstroke by about three seconds, while Franquelin defeated Payne in the 50 breaststroke by 3.40 seconds.

Franquelin won with a total time of 3:05.93, 0.44 seconds better than Payne.

Payne, a backstroke and distance swimmer, said she enjoyed her first Pentathlon, but might make one change.

&#8220I probably wish it was a lot of 100s and 200s, instead of 50s,” she said.

Warriors win meet

The Wasilla boys completed a successful road trip winning a five-team meet hosted by Soldotna Saturday. The meet featured Kodiak, Colony, Palmer and the Warriors.

Warrior swimmers won eight of the 12 races to collect 120 points, 32 better than runner-up Kodiak. Fernandez and Tommy Hightower each won two races. Erin Hogan, Christian Long and Charles Frey also scored individual wins.

The Warriors opened the meet winning the 200 medley relay (1:48.45) and never looked back.

Fernandez, a backstroke specialist, won the 200 freestyle (1:57.24) and the 100 butterfly (58.22). Hightower placed first in the 200 individual medley (2:14.71) and the 100 freestyle (53.77). Long won the 500 freestyle (5:27.87) and Frey dominated the backstroke (1:01.58).

Diver Erin Hogan, lead a Valley sweep of the top four places, scoring 338.4 points. His brother Ryan was second, followed by Colony divers Cody Vetter and Tim Schachle.

Kodiak edged Soldotna for first place in the girls competition. Colony finished third.

Payne was the only two-race winner among the girls. She won the 200 freestyle (2:03.06) and the 100 butterfly (1:04.24).

Contact Darrell L. Breese at 352-2267 or at darrell.breese@

frontiersman.com.