The Kachemak Kings helped Mother Nature this weekend by heating up the waters at Kate Kuhns Aquatic Center and smoking the competition at the 2018 Southcentral Area Championship.
The Kings combined score of 827 outdistanced the second place Soldotna Silver Salmon by 374 points. Other teams competing in the meet were Kenai, Kodiak and Seward.
Friday’s competition included the longer events and saw a dynamic trio of Nelsons racking up personal records in one of the most challenging events in swimming, the 200 butterfly.
Carly Nelson finished first for 11-12-year-old girls at 2:47.06, Luke Nelson finished second for 11-12-year-old boys at 2:53.00 and Jake Nelson finished first for 15-19-year-old boys at 2:07.63. Carly Nelson also went on to finish first in all her events, scoring 42 points for her team, and making Alaska Junior Olympic times across the board.
Other high point winners were Gunnar Pinsky (10 and under boys), finishing second or first in all his events and scoring 26 points. Madison Story (13-14 girls) accrued six Alaska Junior Olympic cuts and contributed 40 points to her team.
The team also saw Izzy Clarke (19 points) and Faith Overson (12 points) on the podium for 8 and under girls with a second and third finish overall. Fletcher Darr rounded out the 8 and under high point swimmers, finishing the meet third overall with 20 points. McKenna Carlin finished second overall for 9-10 girls with 20 points.
Lucas Story (36 points) and Luke Nelson (27 points) were second and third for 11-12 boys and both dropped significant time in nearly every event with ten Alaska Junior Olympic times between the two of them. Clayton Arndt and Jake Nelson were second and third overall for the 15-19 year old boys and made Alaska Junior Olympics cuts in all their events. Claira Booz, Daisy Walker, Alia Bales, Skyler Rodriguez, Willem Hakala rounded out their age groups by finishing solid fourth places.
This meet is scored by combining all individual points for a team score. Relays counted as double points. With 72 Kachemak Swim Club swimmers competing this weekend, every swimmer scored points for a stellar finish over teams from much larger towns. Points, however couldn’t be achieved without each swimmer putting in many practice hours each week and focusing on dropping time in each event.
The team saw the following swimmers achieve 100 percent personal record swims in every event: Briar Boyd, Micheala Browning, Etta Bynagle, Brenna Cox, Fletcher Darr, Aiden Eldridge, Emma Fisher, Zayda Gagnon, Raquel Goldman, Zion Iida-Becerrill, Colt Krueger, Natalia and Evelyn Sherwood, Emily Stafford, Elsa Milne and Ila Sylce.
Homer has a swim program to be proud of here on the Kachemak Bay. Please continue to watch for great results as the club sends a Homer contingent to Alaska Junior Olympics on April 27 in Anchorage.
Ian Eldridge prepares to take off from a starting block during an invitational held by the Kachemak Swim Club on Friday and Saturday, April 6-7, 2018 at the Kate Kuhns Aquatic Center in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Lisa Linegar)
Photo by Monica Anderson Members of the Kachemak Swim Club pose with their first place trophy after an invitational meet they hosted Friday and Saturday, April 6-7 at the Kate Kuhns Aquatic Center in Homer.
