Document text
Ashland High qualifies 17 swimmers for district finals By Larry Berteau Ashland Daily Tidings In a flurry of foam the Ashland High boys and girls swim teams turned loose their young guns and are poised for their district final showdowns today. The preliminary round of the district meet on Friday saw the Grizz boys qualilfy seven boys in 11 places for today's finals, with the winner in each event heading to state. The class breakdown for the boys: two juniors, two sophomores and three freshmen. The girls slipped through the tank at Southern Oregon University's McNeal Pavilion on Friday, putting six girls into today's finals in nine events. Their class breakdown: one senior, one junior, two sophomores, two freshmen. The top six in each event in the preliminary round qualify to compete in today's finals. Out of the 11 qualifying places, the boys boasted nine personal bests. Junior Arron Nelson paced the Grizz attack with a pair of second-place qualifiers. Nelson splashed to a PR 22.72 in the 50 free, then followed up with a 50.97 effort in the 100 free. Freshman Ben Dawson knocked 11 seconds off his personal best with a second-place showing of 5:30.73 in the 500 free. This came after a third-place time of 2:00.36 in the 200 free, seven seconds better than his previous best. Sophomore Travis Bishop had a PR of 58.89 in the 100 fly, good enough for second place. Bishop added another PR of 1:09.13 in a fifth-place effort in the 100 breast. Sophomore Geoff Berteau rounded out the double qualifiers for the Grizz, nabbing a third in the 200 individual medley in a PR of 2:17.54, before tacking on another personal record of 1:02.47, backing up Bishop in the 100 fly in sixth position. Junior Nick Benedetti advanced with a PR of 2:36.04 in the 200 IM, and will swim sixth in today's finals. Freshmen John Harris and Scott Sell joined their upperclassmen with sixth place finishes in the 100 free and 100 backstroke, respectively. Sell's time of 1:15.22 knocked four seconds off his best-ever. Junior Michelle Smith paced the Grizz girls, but she got plenty of help. Smith defended her district title in the 100 free, earning the No. 1 seed in the finals with a time of 58.29. Smith added a third in the 50 free in 26.66. Freshman Ashley Roda pulled off a pair of shockers, nabbing the No. 3 slot in the 100 free and adding a fifth-place qualifier in the 200 free. Roda set personal records of two seconds (59.49) in the 100 and four seconds (2:11.43) in the 200. Sophomore Angie Scarminach was not to be outdone, nabbing fourth in the 200 IM (2:37.64) and sixth in the 100 fly (1:12.76). Staying with the theme of the day, both were personal bests. Sophomore Faye Walker picked up a fourth in the 500 free, trimming nine seconds off her best-ever, finishing in 6:05.96. Freshman Chantelle Little added a fifth in the same event in 6:29.49, an eight-second PR. Senior Haley Scoles had a PR in the 50 free, finishing in 27.80 and qualifying sixth for today's finals. Roseburg appears poised to defend its district title by qualifying 16 boys positions and 21 girls. The three relay finals will be contested today as well. 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 -