Stayton — The Sweet Home girls swim team entered Saturday’s meet against Stayton, Philomath, Cascade, and the Salem Academy looking to build upon their strong start to the season before tackling the larger meets that wait for them in the second half of the season. The Huskies prevailed largely, torching the rest of the teams along the way to an easy meet win.
Sweet Home kicked off the meet by winning the first four girls events of the day, specifically the 200 Meter Medley Relay, the 200 Meter Freestyle, the 200 Meter IM, and the 50 Meter Freestyle. Megan Hager, Chloe Tyler, and Malia Hewitt all picked up individual wins for the Huskies.
After the Salem Academy’s Raquel Druery beat Jamie Seward in the 100 Meter Butterfly, Tyler took the 100 Meter Freestyle to get the Huskies back in the win column. Hager would win the 400 Meter Freestyle, Sweet Home won the 200 Meter Freestyle Relay, and Hewitt won the 100 Meter Backstroke.
The rest of the day slowed down for Sweet Home, as Philomath’s Melia Morton took the 100 Meter Breaststroke and Stayton won the 400 Meter Freestyle Relay. However, the Huskies won comfortably with a score of 205, Stayton placed second with 128, and Cascade edged out Philomath for third with 65 points.
After a dominant meet victory, Sweet Home Head Coach Doug Peargin discussed his key swimmers for the Huskies and the need to stay mentally strong heading into the second part of the season.
Coach Peargin on Sweet Home’s key swimmers this year, “Megan Hager is probably our best swimmer, she just got a full ride to Colorado so she’s a Division I swimmer. I’ve also got other ones too: Jamie Seward, Chloe Tyler, and Josie Hewitt who are all state quality swimmers.”
Coach Peargin on staying mentally strong, “In these kind of meets, its really hard for the great swimmers to get serious mentally because they know they’re going to come in and do okay. Our four best girls are going to be there at the state championships, and physically they’re going to be in as good of shape as anybody there, but we’ve got to work on the mental part of things and we’ll see going ahead.”
Sweet Home’s next meet is next Saturday at the Lebanon Invitational against Lebanon, Marist Catholic, and South Albany starting at Noon.
