The Homer boys won eight of 12 events and scored 160 points to finish ahead of Kenai’s 110.5, Skyview’s 17.5 and Seward’s 12. On the girls side, the Mariners won 10 of 12 events to score 182 points and top Kenai’s 73, Seward’s 24 and Skyview’s 10.
Homer’s Brian Ritchie and Lars Matkin were the only two swimmers to win a pair of individual events. Matkin, a sophomore, won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. Ritchie, a junior, won the 100 butterfly and 500 free.
Matkin was coming off a disqualification in the breaststroke that cost him a top place at the Soldotna Pentathlon on Sept. 22. He learned his lesson and kept his breaststroke clean in both of his winning events.
“It was a questionable pull-out,” Matkin said of his disqualification. “It wasn’t just a bad call. It was a good meet to have that happen so I could learn from it.”
Matkin is chasing the school record in the 100 breast of 1:02.09 and swam a 1:04.45 on Friday.
“We’ve been training super hard and it showed,” Matkin said. “In a lot of the races, we didn’t finish as well as we would have liked because we were exhausted. It will be good for later on, though.”
Matkin said Homer has had two meets canceled this year, so the Mariners are still getting used to racing. Matkin and Ritchie agreed that Homer’s underclassmen stepped up on Friday and showed they can contribute on the relays.
Ritchie was not happy with the way he finished his 100 butterfly. He said the first 75 yards was faster than it had ever been, but the last 25 were ugly. Then, he had a break of just one race before facing Pentathlon champion Christopher Hall of Kenai in the 500 freestyle. Ritchie managed to outlast Hall, finishing at 5:21.12 to defeat Hall by over two seconds.
“I felt really, really good,” Ritchie said. “I thought I would be more tired.”
Ritchie also gave Patrick Lane credit for a strong meet. Lane won the 50 freestyle and took three seconds off his 100 free time in finishing runner-up to Seward’s Kenny Audette. Homer’s other individual champion was diver Andy Bullock.
Hall got a measure of revenge in the 400 freestyle relay at the end of the meet. Both Ritchie and Hall were swimming the anchor leg, and Ritchie entered the water just ahead of Hall. Kenai ended up winning the relay by over two seconds.
“He hauled on that one — definitely,” Ritchie said.
Kenai coach Lee Moore said Hall, who holds Kenai’s 100 butterfly record, also has his eye on the 200 free, 500 free and 200 IM records. Hall missed the 200 free record by .72 seconds, and Moore said the letdown from that probably affected Hall’s 500 free.
Hall was then able to take out his frustration in the 200 freestyle relay by swimming his 100 free two seconds faster than he ever has.
The Homer girls showed off their impressive depth in winning the girls team crown. In addition to winning all three relays, the Mariners had six different swimmers win individual events. Saanti Steyer won the 200 free, Nyssa Baechler won the 50 free, Amy Fell won the diving, Lauren Bell won the 100 butterfly, Grace Harrison won the 100 freestyle, Jaclyn Arndt won the 500 freestyle and Jennifer Bitterman won the 100 breaststroke.
Moore said there were plenty of highlights for his boys and girls.
Amy Jahrig won the 100 backstroke in 1:06.08 and Moore said she is looking to get down to 1:03 after taking the last two years off due to shoulder injuries. Taylor Moore broke into the 28s in the 50 free, Rebecca Gilman took 42 seconds off her 500 free, and LeeAnn Magiera came back to beat Skyview’s Miranda Pollard in her first 200 IM in the B heat and also took five seconds off her 100 free. Seward’s Meghan O’Leary won the 200 IM.
For the Kenai boys, Dylan Wannamaker won the 100 backstroke, Billy Ritchie broke into the 59s in the 100 freestyle during the 400 free relay and took a second off his 50 free time, Anders Nyquist took almost three seconds off his 100 fly and Freddie John took a second off his 50 free.
Jeff Helminiak is a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion.
For complete results visit www.homernews.com.
Kenai Invitational
Friday
at Kenai Central High School
GIRLS
Team scores: 1. Homer, 182; 2. Kenai Central, 73; 3. Seward, 24; 4. Skyview, 10.
200-YARD MEDLEY RELAY — 1. Homer (Burgess, Bitterman, Arndt, Bell), 2 minutes, 6.08 seconds; 2. Kenai Central, 2:16.05; 3. Homer, 2:16.81.
200 FREESTYLE — 1. Saanti Steyer, Hom, 2:12.21; 2. Grace Harrison, Hom, 2:15.02; 3. Hailey Strickon, Ken, 2:48.51; 4. Kaitlin Cashman, Hom, 3:16.53.
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Meghan O’Leary, Sew, 2:25.55; 2. Jaclyn Arndt, Hom, 2:29.29; 3. Jennifer Bitterman, Hom, 2:32.07; 4. Molly Warburton, Hom, 2:40.86; 5. LeeAnn Magiera, Ken, 3:02.78; 6. Miranda Pollard, Sky, 3:06.15.
50 FREESTYLE — 1. Nyssa Baechler, Hom, 28.47; 2. Taylor Moore, Ken, 28.97; 3. Katherine Miller, Hom, 29.00; 4. Sara Bitterman, Hom, 30.86; 5. Rebecca Gilman, Ken, 36.07; 6. Serena Melville, Sew, 38.52.
DIVING — 1. Amy Fell, Hom, 129.75; 2. Emmy Olsen, Hom, 113.70; 3. Sonja Beck, Hom, 97.30.
100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Lauren Bell, Hom, 1:06.66; 2. Taylor Moore, Ken, 1:17.34; 3. Sara Bitterman, Hom, 1:17.63; 4. Hannah Grady, Hom, 1:24.33; 5. Hannah Watkins, Ken, 1:33.73.
100 FREESTYLE — 1. Grace Harrison, Hom, 1:00.76; 2. Nyssa Baechler, Hom, 1:02.39; 3. Molly Warburton, Hom, 1:05.76; 4. Molly Watkins, Ken, 1:07.23; 5. LeeAnn Magiera, Ken, 1:14.39; 6. Hailey Strickon, Ken, 1:16.75.
500 FREESTYLE — 1. Jaclyn Arndt, Hom, 5:50.09; 2. Saanti Steyer, Hom, 6:00.60; 3. Amy Jahrig, Ken, 6:05.92; 4. Katherine Miller, Hom, 6:38.01; 5. Rebecca Gilman, Ken, 8:02.84.
200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Homer (Bitterman, Arndt, Steyer, Harrison), 1:53.97; 2. Kenai, 2:16.12; 3. Seward, 2:28.46; 4. Skyview, 2:45.90.
100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Amy Jahrig, Ken, 1:06.08; 2. Meghan O’Leary, Sew, 1:08.86; 3. Lauren Bell, Hom, 1:10.44; 4. Shelby Burgess, Hom, 1:12.70; 5. Miranda Pollard, Sky, 1:22.94; 6. Camiel Eberline, Sky, 1:47.16.
100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Jennifer Bitterman, Hom, 1:15.00; 2. Hannah Grady, Hom, 1:22.45; 3. Molly Watkins, Ken, 1:26.75; 4. Andrea West, Hom, 1:31.28; 5. Su Park, Sew, 1:45.87; 6. Katharina Krischok, Sew, 2:15.20.
400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Homer (Bell, Miller, Baechler, Harrison), 4:08.15; 2. Kenai, 4:27.57; 3. Homer, 5:01.60.
BOYS
Team scores: 1. Homer, 160; 2. Kenai Central, 110.5; 3. Skyview, 17.5; 4. Seward, 12.
200-YARD MEDLEY RELAY — 1. Homer (Wentz, Matkin, B. Ritchie, Lane), 1:52.52; 2. Kenai Central, 2:00.15; 3. Homer, 2:09.26; 4. Skyview, 2:09.37.
200 FREESTYLE — 1. Christopher Hall, Ken, 1:54.82; 2. Anders Nyquist, Ken, 2:06.69; 3. John Roedl, Hom, 2:09.50; 4. Brian Moon, Ken, 2:15.19; 5. Jack Anderson, Hom, 2:33.13; 6. Jared Penning, Sky, 2:41.42.
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Lars Matkin, Hom, 2:13.04; 2. Sterling Gillon, Hom, 2:19.89; 3. Dylan Wannamaker, Ken, 2:24.96; 4. Ben Phillips, Ken, 2:33.13; 5. Michael Mcnulty, Hom, 2:36.10; 6. Kelly Skipwith, Sky, 2:43.43.
50 FREESTYLE — 1. Patrick Lane, Hom, 24.42; 2. Alex Sonnichsen, Ken, 26.24; 3. Brennan Palmer, Hom, 26.71; 4 (tie). Billy Ritchie, Ken, Cameron Foister, Sky, 26.88; 6. Freddie John, Ken, 26.93.
DIVING — 1. Andy Bullock, Hom, 165.15; 2. Connor McCarthy, Hom, 118.75; 3. Ethan Martin, Hom, 113.95.
100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Brian Ritchie, Hom, 57.55; 2. Anders Nyquist, Ken, 1:05.01; 3. Tyler Langham, Hom, 1:21.88.
100 FREESTYLE — 1. Kenny Audette, Sew, 55.41; 2. Patrick Lane, Hom, 55.68; 3. Ben Phillips, Ken, 58.36; 4. Alex Sonnichsen, Ken, 59.16; 5. Colin Murray, Sky, 1:00.78; 6. Jack Anderson, Hom, 1:07.42.
500 FREESTYLE — 1. Brian Ritchie, Hom, 5:21.12; 2. Christopher Hall, Ken, 5:23.56; 3. John Roedl, Hom, 5:39.61; 4. Sterling Gillon, Hom, 5:47.29; 5. Brian Moon, Ken, 6:47.69.
200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Homer (Matkin, Gillon, Roedl, Lane), 1:38.69; 2. Kenai, 1:43.70; 3. Kenai, 1:51.84; 4. Homer, 1:52.12; 5. Skyview, 1:52.50.
100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Dylan Wannamaker, Ken, 1:01.40; 2. Tyler Wentz, Hom, 1:13.25; 3. Brennan Palmer, Hom, 1:14.51; 4. Grady Iverson, Ken, 1:35.09.
100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Lars Matkin, Hom, 1:04.45; 2. Kenny Audette, Sew, 1:06.93; 3. Will Anderson, Hom, 1:15.54; 4. Freddie John, Ken, 1:15.73; 5. Michael Mcnulty, Hom, 1:17.79; 6. Cameron Foister, Sky, 1:19.29.
400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Kenai Central (Nyquist, Sonnichsen, Wannamaker, Hall), 3:46.47; 2. Homer, 3:48.71; 3. Homer, 4:29.00; 4. Kenai Central, 4:41.38.
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