Alaska News

Showdown in the pool

Sam Wicks broke her own state record in the preliminary round of the girls 100-yard backstroke Friday at the state swimming and diving championships at Bartlett High, but the East swimmer won't necessarily have an easy time winning her third straight title in the event today.

Wicks' time of 56.27 seconds bested her record of 56.61 from last season's state meet, but her time wasn't that much faster than the one posted by Ketchikan's Janelle Stacey (56.64).

Wicks and Stacey swam in separate heats Friday but the seniors will swim side by side in today's final, making for what should be one of the more thrilling events at the state swimming and diving championships at the Bartlett High pool.

"I think people are going to see something really special," East coach Cliff Murray said.

Wicks, who will swim in lane four, and Stacey, who will be in lane five, have been rivals for several years. Most of the time they monitor each other's times from afar and try to one-up each other.

"It's been back and forth between us since we were about 12," Stacey said.

Coming into the preliminaries, Stacey owned the season's fastest time. Her 56.33 was just .01 seconds ahead of Wicks' best time of the season before Friday.

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This is the third straight year Wicks has set a state high school record in the backstroke, but she knows she's capable of going even faster. She said her personal best is a 55.1 posted in a club event last winter.

"I love the 100 backstroke," Wicks said. "If they had a 200 backstroke in high school, I'd swim that too."

Wicks raced in the first of two heats Friday, providing Stacey with a target time to shoot for.

"My coach told me not to look at the time, but I did on accident," Stacey said. "It's kind of intimidating. She's such a fast swimmer."

Though today will provide a rare opportunity for the two girls to swim head to head, there won't be much competitive banter exchanged around the starting blocks.

"We are always really positive and I'm really happy we have that kind of relationship," Stacey said. "Honestly, I think we are both kinda scared about what will happen, but we will be happy for each other no matter what the result."

Wicks, who usually presents a stoic demeanor prior to a race, said she gets as nervous as anyone. Most of the time, however, she doesn't have as tough an opponent as Stacey in the lane next to her.

"I almost like it better knowing I have somebody right there," Wicks said. "It makes me go faster."

CIC DIVERS TAKE LEAD

Fresh off victories in last week's Cook Inlet Conference diving championships, Chugiak's Kaitlin Friedli and Dimond's Cade Bennett continued to impress in the preliminary round of the state championships.

Friedli scored 168.40 to lead by more than 20 points over Kodiak's Sophie Hogen and Bennett's 219.45 put him more than 40 points ahead of South's Scott Hodgson.

The preliminary round consisted of five dives for each participant. The top 12 moving on to a three-dive semifinal round this morning, with the top eight divers advancing to this afternoon's final round.

Bennett said he thinks it's important to stick with his most comfortable dives in the early rounds.

"It was pretty much the same as regions with those first five dives," he said.

Freidli maintained her focus by retreating to a separate room and listening to music between dives. She doesn't like to pay attention to the score during competition, because her emotions get too involved. Like Bennett, she tries to stick to comfortable dives in the early going, her favorite being the inward pike dive.

"It's a really simple dive," she said. "You can really rip the entry."

Email Jeremy Peters at jpeters@adn.com or call him at 257-4335.

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ASAA/First National Bank

Swimming and diving championships

Bartlett High

Friday's preliminary results (Top 8)

(all distances in yards)

Boys

200 freestyle

1, Ursin, Jackson, Dimond, 1:46.73. 2, Summers, Michael, Dimond, 1:47.58. 3, Smith, Michael, Kodiak, 1:48.44. 4, Rankin, Brandon, West Valley, 1:48.93. 5, Marquez, Luis, West Valley, 1:49.71. 6, Stocker, Micah, East, 1:49.75. 7, Kramer, JD, North Pole, 1:49.93. 8, Corporon, Merek, Ketchikan, 1:51.16.

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200 individual medley

1, Marsh, Preston, Petersburg, 1:58.00. 2, Belley, Louis, Sitka, 1:59.18. 3, Wilcox, Erik, Dimond, 2:00.18. 4, Sandstrom, Joseph, Dimond, 2:01.34. 5, Burnside, Carlton, Kodiak, 2:02.23. 6, Kuikhoven, Case, Ketchikan, 2:03.17. 7, Emili, Alexander, South, 2:06.97. 8, James, Blake, Kodiak, 2:08.10.

50 Freestyle

1, Ginter, Richard, Homer, 21.96. 2, Hummel, Austin, Dimond, 22.41. 3, Rockwell, Spencer, South, 22.73. 4, Bloom, Spencer, Palmer, 22.99. 4, O'Connor, Brent, Craig, 22.99. 6, Fox, Kenny, Thunder Mtn, 23.00. 7, Hardy, Nathanael, Homer, 23.03. 8, Aulbach, Abel, Petersburg, 23.08.

100 Butterfly

1, Ginter, Richard, Homer, 53.66. 2, Emili, Alexander, South, 54.17. 3, Chan, Cory, Dimond, 54.38. 4, Corporon, Merek, Ketchikan, 54.77. 5, Marquez, Luis, West Valley, 54.90. 6, Messing, Nathan, Juneau, 55.09. 7, Rankin, Brandon, West Valley, 55.59. 8, Fox, Kenny, Thunder Mtn, 55.63.

100 Freestyle

1, Hummel, Austin, Dimond, 48.21. 2, Rockwell, Spencer, South, 49.23. 3, Reid, Jacob, Sitka, 49.35. 4, Sundstren-Brenner, Carl, Sitka, 50.15. 5, Aulbach, Abel, Petersburg, 50.30. 6, Burnside, Carlton, Kodiak, 50.35. 7, Carrico, Christian, Soldotna, 50.45. 8, Bulkow, Rowan, Service, 50.47.

500 Freestyle

1, Ursin, Jackson, Dimond, 4:48.27. 2, Kuikhoven, Case, Ketchikan, 4:54.84. 3, Summers, Michael, Dimond, 4:54.97. 4, Smith, Michael, Kodiak, 4:58.82. 5, Kramer, JD, North Pole, 5:00.09. 6, Schauff, Brandon, Kodiak, 5:01.17. 7, Miller, Ellis, Ketchikan, 5:07.82. 8, Walsh, Calvin, Thunder Mtn, 5:09.49.

100 Backstroke

1, Belley, Louis, Sitka, 53.91. 2, Rockwell, Zachary, South, 54.95. 3, Messing, Nathan, Juneau, 55.24. 4, Stocker, Micah, East, 55.78. 5, Chan, Cory, Dimond, 56.07. 6, Bloom, Spencer, Palmer, 56.51. 7, Espe, Andrew, Chugiak, 57.21. 8, Owens, Paul, Lathrop, 57.39.

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100 Breast stroke

1, Marsh, Preston, Petersburg, 59.57. 2, Sandstrom, Joseph, Dimond, 1:00.89. 3, Reid, Jacob, Sitka, 1:02.39. 4, Hardy, Nathanael, Homer, 1:03.47. 5, Carrico, Christian, Soldotna, 1:03.56. 6, Krasnican, Thomas, Service, 1:03.71. 7, Vandermeer, Ben, West Valley, 1:03.74. 8, Reid, James, Homer, 1:04.17.

1-meter diving (top 12 advance to semifinals) -- 1, Bennett, Cade, Dimond, 219.45. 2, Hodgson, Scott, South, 177.55. 3, Hall, Garrett, Homer, 176.30. 4, Frazier, Cody, North Pole, 175.40. 5, Oldham, Joshua, East, 146.75. 6, Rowe, Brian, Homer, 142.50. 7, Andrews, Keith, Juneau, 140.10. 8, Hembree, Rafe, West Valley, 139.80. 9, Seagren, Matt, Thunder Mtn, 127.70. 10, Gross, Cole, Kenai, 127.65. 11, Brinster, Kaec, Homer, 126.45. 12, Rohl, Luke, Soldotna, 121.90.

Girls

200 Freestyle

1, Wicks, Sam, East, 1:53.63. 2, Wilcox, Jennifer, Dimond, 1:57.00. 3, Lindquist, Jori, Kodiak, 1:57.05. 4, Stephens, Maddy, Ketchikan, 1:58.67. 5, Dalton, Katy, West, 1:59.33. 6, Pfeifer, Olivia, Kenai, 2:00.68. 7, Clark, Auri, Juneau, 2:01.49. 8, Holt, Hayley, Dimond, 2:01.56.

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200 individual medley

1, Beck-Goodell, Celeste, Kodiak, 2:13.40. 2, Rohde, Arianna, Dimond, 2:13.62. 3, Wray, Kari, Dimond, 2:13.68. 4, Jones, Sammye, Kodiak, 2:14.61. 5, Lindquist, Tahna, Kodiak, 2:15.59. 6, Norris, Hannah, Valdez, 2:16.59. 7, Klose, Kassandra, Ketchikan, 2:16.73. 8, Isaak, Dakota, Juneau, 2:17.74.

50 Freestyle

1, Uselmann, Mary, Service, 24.02. 2, Hughes, Ila, Kodiak, 24.31. 3, Kelly, Ciera, Juneau, 24.85. 4, Weeks, Alex, Soldotna, 25.02. 5, Reid, Megan, Sitka, 25.12. 5, Hood, Martha, IDEA, 25.12. 7, Stephens, Isabel, Ketchikan, 25.30. 8, Audette, Eileen, Seward, 25.46.

100 Butterfly

1, Stacey, Janelle, Ketchikan, 57.16. 2, Wilcox, Jennifer, Dimond, 58.60. 3, Cavanaugh, Jesi, East, 59.36. 4, Clark, Auri, Juneau, 59.53. 5, Kelly, Ciera, Juneau, 59.71. 6, Adams, Victoria, Service, 1:01.04. 7, Olesch, Dana, Homer, 1:01.54. 8, Graham, Noelle, Palmer, 1:01.62.

100 Freestyle

1, Uselmann, Mary, Service, 52.85. 2, Hughes, Ila, Kodiak, 52.96. 3, Burke, Sammy, Chugiak, 54.60. 4, Norris, Hannah, Valdez, 54.90. 5, Weeks, Alex, Soldotna, 55.45. 6, Donnolly, Kaylynn, West Valley, 55.83. 7, Sherrill, Ella, Ketchikan, 55.95. 8, Stephens, Isabel, Ketchikan, 55.96.

500 Freestyle

1, Lindquist, Tahna, Kodiak, 5:20.60. 2, Dalton, Katy, West, 5:22.33. 3, Beck-Goodell, Celeste, Kodiak, 5:22.96. 4, Schmidt, Marie, Homer, 5:23.90. 5, Tuccillo, Marlana, South, 5:24.75. 6, Holt, Hayley, Dimond, 5:25.59. 7, Mondl, Kaitlyn, Eagle River, 5:25.94. 8, Wallace, McKinley, East, 5:26.68.

100 Breast stroke

1, Wray, Kari, Dimond, 1:07.03. 2, O'Donoghue, Kira, West Valley, 1:08.69. 3, Klose, Kassandra, Ketchikan, 1:09.09. 4, Audette, Eileen, Seward, 1:09.52. 5, Jones, Sammye, Kodiak, 1:09.71. 6, Isaak, Dakota, Juneau, 1:10.64. 7, Brockman, Hannah, Thunder Mtn, 1:11.26. 8, Hood, Martha, IDEA, 1:12.00.

100 Backstroke

1, Wicks, Sam, East, 56.27. 2, Stacey, Janelle, Ketchikan, 56.64. 3, Adams, Victoria, Service, 58.66. 4, Lindquist, Jori, Kodiak, 1:00.05. 5, Mertz, Haley, Juneau, 1:01.00. 6, Rohde, Arianna, Dimond, 1:01.04. 7, Stephens, Maddy, Ketchikan, 1:01.17. 8, Burke, Sammy, Chugiak, 1:01.83.

1-meter diving (top 12 advance to semifinals) -- 1, Friedli, Kaitlin, Chugiak, 168.40. 2, Hogen, Sophie, Kodiak, 145.50. 3, Seneff, Lindsey, Homer, 142.30. 4, Lewis, Jasmine, Homer, 131.25. 5, Navales, Kasandra, Ketchikan, 129.70. 6, Burbank, Megan, Lathrop, 119.90. 7, Villa, Anna, North Pole, 118.50. 8, Hess, Abby, North Pole, 117.15. 9, Nicholson, Hunter, Thunder Mtn, 115.15. 10, Wall, Andy, Kodiak, 113.85. 11, Weller, Grace, Petersburg, 107.15. 12, Fortaliza, Jessa, Kodiak, 106.80.

By JEREMY PETERS

Anchorage Daily News

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