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Grizz sweep Black Tornado; wrestling wrapup By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Nothing like a little in-team competition to spark a win. The Ashland High swim team proved that Thursday, in a dual-meet sweep over North Medford at the Southern Oregon University pool. The Grizz girls avenged one of their three Southern Oregon Conference swim losses with a regular season-ending victory over North Medford, 116-102, while the AHS boys blasted North for the second time this season, 136-73. Both Grizzly squads had swimmers fighting for spots on the district relay teams, said AHS coach Neil Foley, which helped keep the intensity up. "We swam really well today, so I'm just happy with today's results," Foley said. "We had a lot of improved times today and we had a lot of kids competing for spots on the district relay team. We know who a couple of the swimmers are who are going to be on relays, but these last couple meets - we had two last weekend and then today - will determine the other swimmers." Districts will be held Feb. 7-8 at SOU. In the closest race of the meet, Ashland's girls defeated North in the 200-meter medley relay by one-one hundredth of a second, 2:11.69 to 2:11.70. The Black Tornado captured six of eight individual girls races, but the Grizzlies took all three relays, including a four-second win in the 400 freestyle relay and a five-second romp in the 200 free relay. "All our girls on our winning relays swam speedy," Foley said. "All our girls had their lifetime bests except one." In the boys meet, Ashland captured all but three races for their second rout of the season over North. Junior Arron Nelson had a big day for the Grizzlies with two individual victories and a leg on two winning relays. Nelson won the 50 free in 24.16, the 100 free in 52.16 and helped the boys 200 medley relay team and 200 free relay team pull out easy wins. "Aaron is our strongest gun," Foley said. "He is the district favorite to win the 50 and 100 freestyle." Also for the AHS boys, sophomore Geoff Berteau won the 200 IM in 2:18.76, freshman Ben Dawson won the 200 free in 2:10.20 and sophomore Travis Bishop pulled out the 500 free in 5:38.40. North Medford freshman Tolga Tokman posted wins in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, while defending district champion Nick Stevenson was victorious in the 100 breaststroke. Foley said his team is ready for districts. "Yeah, we're in good shape," he said. "We lost a swimmer for disciplinary reasons on the boys side and that'll hurt us to match up against Roseburg. I'm not sure if we can pull it off, but we're going to try. On the girls side, Roseburg's got the strongest team in the state, so we're going to work real hard to get second, which I think we can." AHS Wrestling Roseburg recorded five pins, two technical falls and seven forfeits in an 82-0 Southern Oregon Conference dual win over Ashland, Thursday at Mountain Avenue gym. The meet was Ashland's last of the regular season. The SOC district meet will be held Feb. 7-8 at Eagle Point High School. 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 -