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Grizz sweep three-way swim meet By Chris Miller Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland High proved that Grizzlies are more adept at swimming than Cavemen or Eagles at the three-way Southern Oregon Conference meet Thursday at the McNeal Pavilion pool. The girls easily drowned their competition, winning every race but one en route to a final meet score of 128, nearly twice the combined scores of Grants Pass (45) and Eagle Point (36). The boys (95 points) were challenged by the Cavers (77), but still left the pool with enough blue ribbons to finish the all-Grizzly sweep. Eagle Point took home another third place with 46 points. "We had a good day," said a modest-sounding Grizz head coach Neil Foley. "The girls flattened the other teams." Ashland High's Nick Benedetti takes a quick breath while racing in his leg of the boys 200-meter medley relay, which Ashland won by a fraction of a second. Ashland swept the three-way meet. Ashland Daily Tidings/CHRIS MILLER The girls were led by Ashley Roda, Michelle Smith and Keely Zodrow, who combined for six individual wins and teamed up with Haley Scoles to take two relay events. "Four wins apiece, that's not too bad," Foley said of his blue-ribbon performers. Faye Walker was the other individual winner for the Grizz in the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 6:14.87, two seconds in front of Grants Pass' Christina Cobb (6:16.33). The boys side of the pool belonged to Ashland's 400 free relay team. With the team winner already decided, the Grizz boys dived into the pool and finished off the meet with a come-from-behind win over the Cavers. All four swimmers - Arron Nelson, Nick Benedetti, Ben Dawson and Travis Bishop, gave their best-ever performances. "We won by about a finger," Foley said after the meet. Actually they won by .38 hundredths of a second. And they did it without some of their starting swimmers lost to injury or other school related functions. "We were down a couple of swimmers today, but we went in short-handed and still won quite handily," Foley said. Geoff Berteau, unbeaten in the 200 IM on the season and a member of both relays, was forced to sit out the meet with a sprained ankle. The Grizz came off the starting line hot by taking the first event. In the girls 200 medley relay Caitlin Emery, Audrey Copeland, Angie Scarminach and Chani Little combined to hold off second-place Grants Pass in a time of 2:15.38. The boys followed in suit by winning the same event with Caleb Salmond, Nelson, Bishop and Jeremy Johnson, again over the Cavers by a fraction of a second, in 2:03.34 to 2:03.72. Roda won the AHS girls' first individual event, the 200 freestyle (2:17.78), then Cobb spoiled the Grizzlies quest for an all-blue ribbon meet, taking first in the 200 individual medley over Scarminach in 2:38.37. Smith won the next two events - the 50 free in 27.76 and the 100 butterfly in 1:11.23. Zodrow took the 100 free over teammate Haley Scoles in 1:01.88, then Faye Walker took the grueling 500 free in 6:14.87. Roda and Zodrow rounded out the rest of the individual awards in the 100 backstroke, won by Roda in 1:15.74, and the 100 breaststroke, captured by Zodrow in 1:26.05. The Grizz girls saw blue in the 200 free relay in 1:53.39 and the 400 free relay in 4:22.09. Nelson grabbed two individual wins in the 50 free (22.71) and the 100 free (51.03). Bishop also took two wins in the 100 backstroke (1:04.60) and the 100 breaststroke (1:12.83). Dawson won his lone individual blue ribbon in the 500 free with a time of 5:44.60, a whopping six minutes over second-place Adam Zappo of Grants Pass. The Grizz hit the water Saturday at the Rogue Invitational at 10 a.m. The location has yet to be determined. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -