Swimming: Astoria, Seaside athletes qualify for state

Gary Henley, The Daily Astorian, Ore.
·2 min read

Jun. 21—Astoria was the lucky school to serve as the host team for the District 1 swim championships, held last Thursday at the Astoria Aquatic Center.

And the home water advantage definitely served its purpose for the Fish, who qualified a host of athletes for this week's season-ending showcase meet, which will serve as the unofficial state championships.

Seaside won the boys team championship, while Astoria qualified multiple swimmers for the state meet, set one school record and sent seniors out on a winning note.

The unofficial state meet is a one-day meet set for Saturday at the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center in Cottage Grove.

The Seaside boys qualified all three of their relays for state and stacked up points with numerous second-place showings to compile 295 points, ahead of Taft (259) and Astoria (173).

Seaside's only win came from the 200-yard freestyle relay squad of Masyn McCulloch, Leif Rehnert, Logan Dennis and Henry Garvin, the only senior.

Their winning time of 1 minute, 42.01 seconds beat second-place Astoria (Phelan Dopp, Trevor Newman, Christian Womack, Steven Ero) which will head to state with a 1:50.03.

Garvin also qualified for state in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle; Dennis in the 100-yard butterfly and McCulloch in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle.

On the girls side, Newport cruised to the team title with 334 points, ahead of Astoria (216) and Seaside (144). Taft, Tillamook, Toledo and Valley Catholic were the other schools competing.

Astoria's 200 medley relay (Tori Smith, Grace Peeler, Hannah Daniels, Brooke O'Connor) took second in 2:10.57, as did the 200 freestyle relay (Constance Rouda, Smith, Daniels and Peeler).

In her final meet in Astoria, Peeler highlighted the meet with a school record 1:15.47 to win the 100-yard breaststroke, well ahead of teammate Marlee Both (1:30.62), who will join Peeler at state.

Rachel Gascoigne's previous school record of 1:15.48 had stood for 15 years.

Astoria's 400 freestyle relay (Rouda, Lily Reed, Both and Peeler) also qualified for state, finishing second out of three teams.

Also a senior, Smith took second in the 200-yard individual medley.