Daily Sitka Sentinel

Sitka Girls Take 16 Firsts in Swim Opener

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Sitka High School swimmers and divers competed in their first meet of the season over the weekend in Sitka. Both the boys and the girls teams took fourth out of five teams present, though there were many strong individual performances in events.
    Ketchikan’s team won the boys meet and Juneau’s Thunder Mountain was first for the girls.
    Sitka head coach Tabitha Frawley called it “a great first meet.”
    For the girls team, freshman Emma Gassman took first place in every event she swam. In the daunting 500 freestyle race, Gassman finished in 5:26.92. Frawley noted that Gassman was “going for the BBSC record but she missed it by a little bit.” Sitka’s Razie Guillory took second in the 500 at 5:46.13.
    Grace Harang won the girls 100 freestyle with her time of 0:56.23, beating out the second place finisher by just over a second. Jordan Gagner, Emma Gassman, Kai Frawley, and Grace Harang won the girls 400-yard freestyle relay by a handy five seconds at 4:03.51.
    Team captains Sophia Schwantes and Kai Frawley also swam well in the meet. Frawley took third in the girls 100-yard backstroke at 1:11.83 and Schwantes finished first in the girls 100-yard breaststroke race with a time of 1:14.91.
    “Out of 22 events, the girls took 16 first places,” said Frawley. Last year, the Sitka girls team won the regional meet and took second at state.

Sitka High swimmers and divers pose for a shot before the season opener. Shown in front, right to left: Razie Guillory, Kai Frawley, Jordan Gagner. Middle right to left: Grace Harang, Emma Gassman, Sophie Schwantes, Kira Davis, Coach Tabitha Frawley. Back row from right: Matt Rice, Bridger Bird, Tytan Frawley, Ben Turner, Sam Jones, Darren Mitchell. Back: Assistant Coach Malachi Daniels. Not shown: Branden Widdison and Dive Coach Dawn McClung

    On the boys side, the meet ended with a dramatic 400-yard freestyle relay. Sitka swimmers Tytan Frawley, Ben Turner, Sam Jones, and Matt Rice completed the difficult event in 3:40.61, edging out Ketchikan by a meager 0.49 seconds. Coach Frawley said that “it was a very exciting close race to the end, and our freshman Matt Rice anchored the relay.”
    Overall, the boys took three first places out of 22 races. Boys racers often finished within only a few seconds of event winners.  In the challenging 200-yard individual medley, Ben Turner came in third, less than six seconds behind the winner, Bryce Mattson of Ketchikan.
    In diving, Sitka’s Brandon Widdison scored 143.75, winning boys diving by an astounding 40.90 points. Frawley said that Widdison is “hoping to make state this year.”
    Coach Frawley has high hopes this season, especially for her girls team, which she described as “really strong this year.”
    The Wolves will compete again in two weeks in Juneau. The regional tournament this season will take place in Sitka Nov. 1 and 2.  Meets in Sitka are free to attend and open to the public.