Swamping the two Marysville schools, the Oak Harbor swim and dive team began the 2017 season in stellar style Monday, Sept. 11, at John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool.
The Wildcats beat Marysville Getchell 128-46 and Marysville-Pilchuck 121-46, posting nine firsts and eight seconds in the 12-event meet.
Jillian Pape (50-meter freestyle, 28.67; 100 butterfly, 1:10.1) and Olivia Tungate (100 free, 1:04.25; 100 backstroke, 1:10.69) each won two individual events and two relays.
The pair teamed up with Taliah Black and Ashleigh Merrill to win the 200 medley (2:10.4) and 200 free (2:00.34) relays.
Black (100 breaststroke, 1:23.34) and Merrill (200 free, 2:35.15) also won one individual event.
Grace Chargualaf, Caitlin Dennen, Baelee Whitinger and Naomi Garcia captured Oak Harbor’s other first place, the 400 free relay (5:01.34).
“They did really well,” coach Amy Merkley said of her team. “But I also definitely see some things we can work on in practice.”
Merkley added that the returning stars, Pape, Tungate and Black, had good meets, and freshman “Ashleigh Merrill, in her first high school meet, was really solid.”
“All of the beginning kids swam in multiple events and did great,” she added.
Oak Harbor (2-0) faces Snohomish at 3:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, at the Snohomish Aquatic Center.
Other top placers in each event for Oak Harbor against Marysville:
Second: Chargualaf, 200 free, 2:41.17; Black, 200 individual medley, 2:46.98; Scout Powell, 50 free, 32.44; Garcia, 100 free, 1:12.91; 100 breast, 1:33.87; Merrill, 400 free, 5:00.55; Dennen, 100 back, 1:22.98; 200 medley relay (Dennen, Noelle Ruiz, Chargualaf, Garcia), 2:28.47; 200 free relay (Diandra Dominguez, Lavinia Liatti, Bailie Carroll, Powell), 2:25.37.
Third: Kelly Gruenwald, diving, 138.75; Liatti, 100 free, 1:19.98; Whitinger, 400 free, 6:22.09; Ruiz, 100 breast, 1:42.82.
Fourth: Liatti, 200 free, 2:57.98; Dennen, 200 IM, 3:01.55; Ruiz, 50 free, 34.71; 200 medley relay (Carroll, Powell, Whitinger, Liatti), 2:45.17; 400 free relay (Dominguez, Gabby Harstad, Cali Ledesma, Ruiz), 5:56.6.
Fifth: Harstad, 400 free, 7:50.26; Dominguez, 100 back, 1:33.09; 400 free relay (Tia Fernandez, Nicole Sipes, Sadie Gunter, Maddie Ward), 8:04.99.
Sixth: Izzy Sanchez, 200 IM, 3:42.4.
Oak Harbor’s Taliah Black swims the breaststroke on the winning 200-medley relay team. (Photo by John Fisken)
Italian exchange student Lavinia Liatti places third in the 100 freestyle for the Wildcats. (Photo by John Fisken)
Oak Harbor wins the 200-medley relay with the help of Ashleigh Merrill swimming the butterfly leg. (Photo by John Fisken)
Oak Harbor’s Olivia Tungate zips to an easy win in the 100-meter backstroke. (Photo by John Fisken)
