The Homer swimming and diving team swam their way to a hard-earned first place in the Seward Quad on Saturday in Seward.

"It was a good meet," said Head Coach Anna Borland. "There were lots and lots of best times, some really fabulous times. Everybody that won first place did a good job to get there."

The Homer girls and boys combined to score 269.5 points, while Kenai Central was second at 203.5, Seward was third at 66 and Skyview was fourth at 59.

Borland's surprise at the individual and team finishes isn't because she thinks Homer swimmers are slow. It's because she's been pushing them in preparation for regions later this month.

"Some of them are really tired, but it's by design," she said. "I'm working the kids hard on technique, so even though they're tired they can have best times. That's exactly what some of these kids have done."

Reading through team names, Borland repeatedly pointed out swimmers' best times.

"Nathaniel (Hardy) not only took first place in the 100 freestyle, he dropped four seconds. That's fabulous for the 100. To get a best time by four seconds is a good, good swim," Borland said.

In addition to trimming time off their swims, Homer swimmer Andre Lovett overcame another obstacle. Besides shaving three seconds off his 200 freestyle time and a second off his 100 freestyle time, he was swimming with one hand in a brace.

"He has a broken bone in his hand," Borland said.

This weekend, Homer swimmers head to Palmer. The following weekend they stay home, with other swimmers heading this direction for a borough-wide meet. The region meet is at Bartlett High School in Anchorage, Oct. 30-31.

"And then the lucky ones will go on to state the next weekend in Anchorage," Borland said.

Between now and then, Borland will continue pushing.

"I'm working them to the point where they're exhausted," she said.

The Peninsula Clarion contributed to this story.

ONLINE> Read Swimming statistics @ HomerNews.com

Seward Quad

Combined team scores: 1. Homer, 269.5; 2. Kenai Central, 203.5; 3. Seward, 66; 4. Skyview, 59.

GIRLS

Team scores: 1. Homer, 144; 2. Kenai Central, 119; 3. Skyview, 24; 4. Seward, 17.

200-yard medley relay: 1. Homer (Schmidt, McNulty, Olesch, Spence), 2 minutes, 4.67 seconds; 2. Homer, 2:16.97; 3. Kenai Central, 2:22.30; 4. Kenai Central, 2:27.27.

200 freestyle:1. Olivia Pfeifer, Ken, 2:07.96; 2. Dana Olesch, Hom, 2:14.78; 3. Sara Bitterman, Hom, 2:18.17; 4. Kaitlyn Louthan, Ken, 2:23.05.

200 IM: 1. Marie Schmidt, Hom, 2:24.92; 2. Eileen Audette, Sew, 2:28.07; 3. Kathryn Schmidt, Hom, 2:44.68; 4. Kendra Ashwell, Ken, 2:45.14.

50 freestyle: 1. Katherine Spence, Hom, 27.86; 2. Paris Cooper, Sky, 28.39; 3. Katie Kirsis, Hom, 29.07; 4. Lilla Hedrick, Sew, 30.12.

Diving: 1. Lindsey Seneff, Hom, 140.25; 2. Katie Clonan, Sky, 66.75.

100 butterfly: 1. Sara Bitterman, Hom, 1:13.61; 2. Emily Schmidt, Hom, 1:16.61; 3. Kaitlyn Louthan, Ken, 1:17.74; 4. Natalie Kurzendoerfer, Ken, 1:25.01.

100 freestyle: 1. Dana Olesch, Hom, 1:00.55; 2. Mary Pat Mills, Ken, 1:03.83; 3. Katie Kirsis, Hom, 1:04.38; 4. Austin Daly, Ken, 1:08.70.

500 freestyle: 1. Olivia Pfeifer, Ken, 5:37.10; 2. Donna McNulty, Hom, 5:45.66; 3. Kendra Ashwell, Ken, 6:37.58; 4. Natalie Kurzendoerfer, Ken, 7:26.23.

200 freestyle relay: 1. Kenai Central (Ashwell, Pfeifer, Mills, Louthan), 1:53.30; 2. Homer, 1:58.32; 3. Kenai Central, 2:05.03; 4. Kenai Central, 2:27.65.

100 backstroke: 1. Katherine Spence, Hom, 1:09.85; 2. Kathryn Schmidt, Hom, 1:15.64; 3. Lilla Hedrick, Sew, 1:17.15; 4. Lydia Arndt, Hom, 1:19.12.

100 breaststroke: 1. Donna McNulty, Hom, 1:12.23; 2. Eileen Audette, Sew, 1:14.41; 3. Marie Schmidt, Hom, 1:19.14; 4. Nina Buhlmann, Sky, 1:29.50.

400 freestyle relay: 1. Homer (McNulty, Bitterman, M. Schmidt, Olesch), 4:10.38; 2. Kenai Central, 4:15.24; 3. Kenai Central, 4:55.70.

BOYS

Team scores: 1. Homer, 125.5; 2. Kenai Central, 84.5; 3. Seward, 49; 4. Skyview, 35.

200 medley relay: 1. Seward (Sa. Werner, Eavis, O'Leary, St. Werner), 1:56.78; 2. Homer, 1:56.87; 3. Kenai Central, 2:00.44; 4. Homer, 2:08.73.

200 freestyle: 1. Dylan Wannamaker, Ken, 2:07.87; 2. Andre Lovett, Hom, 2:20.97; 3. James Reid, Hom, 2:34.52; 4. Daniel McIntosh, Sky, 2:43.41.

200 IM: 1. Tyler Wentz, Hom, 2:45.29; 2. Miron Martishev, Hom, 2:48.51; 3. Isaac Cryer, Ken, 2:59.94.

50 freestyle: 1. Ryan O'Leary, Sew, 22.21; 2. Ryan McMaster, Sky, 23.79; 3. Alder Fletcher, Hom, 24.85; 4. Nathanael Hardy, Hom, 25.52.

Diving: 1. Davey Baird, Hom, 161.90; 2. Garrett Hall, Hom, 149.35; 3. Mark Libertus, Sky, 50.60.

100 butterfly: 1. Ryan O'Leary, Sew, 53.56; 2. Richard Ginter, Hom, 1:00.53; 3. Kyle Wentz, Hom, 1:08.18; 4. Gradey Iverson, Ken, 1:10.66.

100 freestyle: 1. Nathanael Hardy, Hom, 56.46; 2. Samuel Werner, Sew, 58.58; 3. Andre Lovett, Hom, 1:00.45; 4 (tie). Jake Iverson, Ken, Zachery Waddell, Hom, 1:01.30.

500 freestyle: 1. Anders Nyquist, Ken, 5:33.66; 2. Miron Martishev, Hom, 6:57.19; 3. Leif Thul, Sky, 7:50.75.

200 freestyle relay: 1. Kenai Central (Wannamaker, Nyquist, G. Iverson, Landry), 1:38.85; 2. Skyview, 1:43.70; 3. Homer, 1:46.80; 4. Seward, 2:01.19.

100 backstroke: 1. Dylan Wannamaker, Ken, 1:00.65; 2. Richard Ginter, Hom, 1:05.02; 3. Samuel Werner, Sew, 1:08.56; 4. Tyler Wentz, Hom, 1:09.22.

100 breaststroke: 1. Andres Nyquist, Ken, 1:10.39; 2. Kyle Wentz, Hom, 1:12.09; 3. Alder Fletcher, Hom, 1:14.42; 4. Ryan McMaster, Sky, 1:15.51.

400 freestyle relay: 1. Homer (K. Wentz, T. Wentz, Fletcher, Ginter), 3:51.96; 2. Kenai Central, 4:05.75; 3. Kenai Central, 5:11.79.