Service’s Beck, Dimond’s Borke make waves at Region IV swimming and diving meet

Jan Beck has some strong descriptors for the swimmers that choose to take on the 500 yard freestyle. The race is the longest and most grueling contested at the high school level.

“Crazy,” he said. “Psycho.”

But Beck wouldn’t have it any other way. The Service sophomore won the 500 finals race at the Region IV Swimming and Diving Meet on Saturday at Bartlett High. He edged out his teammate Conrad Fawcett, who placed second.

“I like it for that,” Beck said of the challenge of the race. “It’s fun seeing people look at me and think I’m delusional for enjoying the 500.”

All joking aside, Beck said he’s grown up with the race. His father Jens Beck, a top Alaska triathlete, was one of his role models for getting into the distance swims.

“Last year I didn’t miss a single 500 all season,” he said. “I just love it. My dad was a distance swimmer. All my idols, like all my teammates, all 500 swimmers.”

Fawcett won the event at state last year, and will be a strong contender again this year, despite the win by Beck on Saturday.

“I don’t want to make him mad, but I don’t think he’s going all out yet,” he said. “I think he’s waiting for state.”

Still Beck, who placed 4th in the 500 as a freshman at state, is happy with being a regional champion.

“That was pretty cool,” he said. “I’m happy with that.”

Beck also finished second in the 100 breaststroke and was part of Service’s winning 400 freestyle relay team.

Service (415 points) won the boys team title, edging Dimond (383.5). Andrew Billings paced Dimond, winning the 50 freestyle and placing second in the 100 free. Chugiak’s Reuben Dobson was a double winner in the 100 butterfly and 200 free. He also helped his team to a 200 freestyle relay win.

Isabelle Borke got a big surprise when she finished her race in the 100 freestyle. The senior Dimond swimmer cruised to a win but also set a personal record of 52.16 seconds.

That was a surprise to Borke, who had been tapering to peak at the state meet next weekend.

“I just wanted to get close to my best times because we didn’t taper that much for this race,” she said. “We’re trying to focus on state so (this meet was) just getting used to how to sprint again and being in a competitive atmosphere.”

[Dimond’s ‘core four’ aim to uphold the program’s gold standard in girls swimming]

Borke said she prefers the 100 to the 50, mostly because there’s a bit more room for error. That didn’t stop her from winning the 50 as well on Saturday.

“The 50 is kind of hard because you have to get everything right since it’s so short,” she said.

The goal for Borke and her Dimond teammates is to be ready for state, where they have been a perennial championship contender.

“It’s like two weeks we like slowly taper,” she said. “And then next week, we’re going to slowly back off the distance. Thursday, we’ll probably only spend 30 minutes or an hour maybe max (in the pool) and then get out and let our bodies rest.”

Borke’s teammate Caroline Waters also had an impressive day. Waters won the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly.

Despite the individual wins for Dimond, it was South High that took the team title with 441 points to Dimond’s runner-up score of 422.

Kaia Reeg had a strong day for South, winning the 500 free and placing second in the 100 breastroke. She also anchored the winning 400 freestyle for South.

Region IV Swimming and Diving Meet

At Bartlett High

Team Scores

Combined

1. Dimond High School 805.5 2. South Anchorage High School 682.5 3. Robert Service High School 584 4. Chugiak High School 557 5. Eagle River High School 531 6. West High Swimming & Diving 474 7. East High School 183 8. Bartlett High School 78

Girls

1. South Anchorage High School 441 2. Dimond High School 422 3. Chugiak High School 299 4. Eagle River High School 243 5. West High Swimming & Diving 229 6. Robert Service High School 169 7. East High School 96 8. Bartlett High School 44

Boys

1. Robert Service High School 415 2. Dimond High School 383.5 3. Eagle River High School 288 4. Chugiak High School 258 5. West High Swimming & Diving 245 6. South Anchorage High School 241.5 7. East High School 87 8. Bartlett High School 34

200 Yard Medley Relay

1 Dimond 1:49.43 40 1) Hannah Boyce 2) Isabelle Borke 3) Caroline Waters 4) Leena Edais

Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay

1 Service 1:37.06 40 1) Benjamin Price 2) Preston Kwon 3) Conrad Fawcett 4) Gavin Kitchen

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle

1 Lola Woodward ERHS 1:59.34

2 Hannah Boyce DHS 2:00.97

3 Paige Antrobus DHS 2:01.90

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle

1 Reuben Dobson CHS 1:43.45

2 Conrad Fawcett SHS 1:46.60

3 Will McKinley DHS 1:49.00

Girls 200 Yard IM

1 Caroline Waters DHS 2:12.60

2 Zoe Fencil SAHS 2:17.55

3 Reese Woodward ERHS 2:20.80

Boys 200 Yard IM

1 Benjamin Price SHS 1:57.22

2 Preston Kwon SHS 1:59.14

3 Karson Kolberg ERHS 2:03.00

Girls 50 Yard Freestyle

1 Isabelle Borke DHS 24.20

2 Charlotte Griffith SAHS 24.66

3 Maizy Kass DHS 26.15

Boys 50 Yard Freestyle

1 Andrew Billings DHS 21.52

2 Ari Kaufman WHS 21.53

3 Wes Mank ERHS 21.97

Girls 1 Meter Diving

1 Faith Colman SHS 367.00

2 Sophia Sidgman ERHS 295.60

3 Marley Hamlett DHS 224.90

Boys 1 Meter Diving

1 Jake Light CHS 381.20

2 Roman Billings DHS 350.45

3 Reubin Williams SHS 325.50

Girls 100 Yard Butterfly

1 Caroline Waters DHS 59.01

2 Maria Girbacea CHS 1:02.41

3 Reese Woodward ERHS 1:02.83

Boys 100 Yard Butterfly

1 Reuben Dobson CHS 51.34

2 Ari Kaufman WHS 51.52

3 Lucas Wisdom SHS 56.43

Girls 100 Yard Freestyle

1 Isabelle Borke DHS 52.16

2 Charlotte Griffith SAHS 53.70

3 Megan Sutton CHS 57.57

Boys 100 Yard Freestyle

1 Benjamin Price SHS 47.37

2 Andrew Billings DHS 47.53

3 Tyson Morgan CHS 49.35

Girls 500 Yard Freestyle

1 Kaia Reeg SAHS 5:28.08

2 Sophia Trembath ERHS 5:36.65

3 Elise Petrie CHS 5:43.35

Boys 500 Yard Freestyle

1 Jan Beck SHS 4:49.60

2 Conrad Fawcett SHS 4:50.23

3 Kole Rhodes SAHS 5:08.14

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay

1 ERHS 1:41.77 40 1) Lola Woodward 2) Bryn Baldwin 3) Sophia Trembath 4) Reese Woodward

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay

1 CHS 1:30.97 40 1) Reuben Dobson 2) Blake Fazio 3) Chris Michael 4) Tyson Morgan

Girls 100 Yard Backstroke

1 Zoe Fencil SAHS 59.48

2 Lola Woodward ERHS 59.62

3 Hannah Boyce DHS 1:01.03

Boys 100 Yard Backstroke

1 Will McKinley DHS 54.28

2 Gavin Kitchen SHS 55.16

3 Wes Mank ERHS 56.38

Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke

1 Jaelin Burrell CHS 1:09.84

2 Kaia Reeg SAHS 1:10.13

3 Stella Baldessari SAHS 1:11.42

Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke

1 Preston Kwon SHS 58.14

2 Jan Beck SHS 1:00.90

3 Karson Kolberg ERHS 1:01.07

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

1 SAHS 3:46.15 40 1) Charlotte Griffith 2) Megan McLaughlin 3) Zoe Fencil 4) Kaia Reeg

Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

1 SHS 3:19.16 40 1) Conrad Fawcett 2) Gavin Kitchen 3) Jan Beck 4) Benjamin Price