JDHS boys fifth at state meet

Juneau-Douglas High School put four of its boys in the finals of the state swim meet Saturday at the Bartlett Pool in Anchorage, tying Kenai Central with 32 points for fifth place overall. Service won its first state crown in over 20 years and finished with 114 points, Dimond had 99 points, Kodiak had 61.5 points and Eagle River had 60.5 points.

It was the highest Crimson Bears boys finish at the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska swim championships in eight years, making for a happy send-off for seniors Tyler Weldon, Tate Goering and Reed Gardinier.

“It’s nice to finally pay off at the state level for them,” JDHS coach Seth Cayce said.

It’s the team’s third top-five showing at the meet in the last 10 years, but first in the last eight. Last year the team finished 19th.

Weldon made it on the podium twice Saturday, the first time for his efforts in the 50-yard freestyle, and the second time alongside Goering and underclassmen Caleb Peimann and Adrell Mulgrew-Truitt for the 400 freestyle relay.

“It was a pretty big accomplishment for the team,” Weldon said. “I think everyone swam pretty well and dropped time so I think everyone was pretty happy that we placed fifth.”

The senior captain swam in a tightly-contested 50 freestyle in which the second and eighth-place finishers were separated by just five-tenths of a second. Second-place Ezra Billings of West Valley touched the wall in 22.11 seconds, a split second in front of Weldon (22.25) and five other swimmers. Weldon said his late start in the race might’ve actually helped him out.

“I find it a little easier to chase someone than to lead,” he said.

The Thunder Mountain senior captain, Raymie Matiashowski, also went out with a bang, powering the reigning state champion Thunder Mountain boys to an eighth-place finish. The Falcons were also awarded the team sportsmanship award for the second year in a row.

“It was a really good meet,” Matiashowski said. “I can’t think of a better way to end my high school swimming career.”

Matiashowski was second in the 500-yard freestyle, touching out two swimmers at the wall, before almost medaling a second time in the 100 breaststroke. Matiashowski knew he would be competitive in the 500 freestyle, but had no idea he was capable of coming in fifth place in the breaststroke.

“I used to swim breaststroke a lot and then I just kind of stopped about three years ago and I hadn’t really thought about it much,” he said. “I swam it again at regions just to have a second event … and I wound of winning it. Which was kind of crazy, and I still don’t know how that happened.”

Junior Micah Grigg and freshman Nancy Liddle also appeared in two finals. Grigg was fifth in the 200 freestyle and sixth in the 500 freestyle; Liddle came in sixth in the 500 freestyle and eighth in the 100 butterfly. Liddle also helped Falcons’ 400 freestyle relay team set a new school record at 3:51.20, and was the talk of teammate Emily Heaton.

“I love that relay,” Heaton said. “We have two freshman girls, Nancy Liddle and Riley Traxler, who are so amazing and they’re super fast. So it’s really cool to have them on the relay because it’s so energetic and just a lot of fun to be around. And then my little sister was also on the relay, and so she was really excited about that.”

The school-record time was good for an eighth-place finish in the event. It was the second time in as many weeks they dropped their time in the race. The record stood at 3:54 before the four swam a 3:53 at the Region V Swim and Dive Championships last week.

The Thunder Mountain girls tied West Anchorage for 17th place, and the JDHS girls tied Colony for 21st place.

Other Juneau finalists included Goering in the 100 freestyle, Peimann in the 100 backstroke, Cameron Howard in the 200 freestyle, Cian Hart in the diving competition, and Stella Tallmon in the 100 backstroke. 

ASAA/First National Bank State Swimming and Diving Championships

Girls team scores — 1) Dimond 96; 2) Sitka 72; 3) Eagle River 57; 4) Palmer 52; 5) Kodiak 44; 6) South 36; 7) West Valley 35; 8) Chugiak 27; 9) Homer 23; 10) Seward 18; 11) Wasilla 15; 12) Lathrop 13; 13) Soldotna 12; 14) Petersburg 11; 15) Monroe 9; 16) Hutchison 7; 17) tie, Thunder Mountain and West 6; 19) tie, Colony and Ketchikan 5; 21) tie; Juneau Douglas and Colony 2.

Boys team scores — 1) Service 114; 2) Dimond 99; 3) Kodiak 61.5; 4) Eagle River 60.5; 5) tie, Kenai Central and Juneau Douglas 32; 7) West Valley 29; 8) Thunder Mountain 26; 9) Soldotna 24; 10) Hutchison 16; 11) Homer 10; 12) Sitka 8; 13) West 7; 14) North Pole 6; 15) tie, Seward and Chugiak 5; 17) Wasilla 4; 18) Colony 3; 19) tie, West, Unalaska and Wasilla 2; 22) Petersburg 1.

Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay — 1, Sitka, 1:49.80. 2, Eagle River, 1:50.81. 3, Palmer, 1:53.20. 4, Kodiak, 1:53.25. 5, Homer, 153.57. 6, South Anchorage, 1:53.92. 7, Dimond, 1:54.31. 8, Monroe Catholic, 1:57.47.

Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay — 1, Service, 1:34.00. 2, Eagle River, 1:40.33. 3, Dimond, 1:40.81. 4, Kodiak, 1:41.02. 5, Kenai Central, 1:41.02. 6, Juneau-Douglas (Caleb Peimann, Tyler Weldon, Tate Goering, Reed Gardinier), 1:41.99. 7, Thunder Mountain (Noah Loseby, Raymie Matiashowski, Kristofer Ely, August Kiessling), 1:48.34.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle — 1, Breckynn Willis, Dimond, 1:57.28. 2, Ellyse Russell, Palmer, 1:59.25. 3, Leslie Spear, Kodiak, 2:00.19. 4, Allie Morgan, Petersburg, 2:01.94. 5, Emi Soldwedel, Dimond, 2:01.99. 6, Cameron Howard, Juneau-Douglas, 2:02.48. 8, Adeline Berry, Homer, 2:06.38.

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle — 1, Maximus Addington, Dimond, 1:42.31. 2, Jesse Tatakis, Dimond, 1:45.35. 3, Nathan James, Kodiak, 1:47.43. 4, Andrew Walch, Dimond, 1:48.64. 5, Micah Grigg, Thunder Mountain, 1:50.13. 6, Fredric Rygh, Dimond, 1:51.51. 7, Crieghton Beshears, West Valley, 1:51.89.

Girls 200 Yard IM — 1, Lydia Jacoby, Seward, 2:09.31. 2, Dreamer Kowatch, Dimond, 2:09.99. 3, Grace Harang, Sitka, 2:12.25. 4, Summer Cheng, South, 2:12.61. 5, Madison Story, Homer, 2:13.65. 6, Heidi Billings, West Valley, 2:15.36. 7, Laura Sherrill, Ketchikan, 2:15.63. 8, Alexis Mattson, Colony, 2:17.72.

Boys 200 Yard IM — 1, John Heaphy, ER, 1:56.16. 2, Noah Palmer, Hutchison, 1:59.24. 3, Matthew Heaphy, ER, 2:00.7. 4, Christopher Loudon, Dimond, 2:01.07. 5, Tavner Wisdom, Service, 2:01.51. 6, Nevin Lee, Kodiak, 2:03.43. 7, Kenneth Octuk, Dimond, 2:04.71.

Girls 50 Yard Freestyle — 1, Izzy Powers, Chugiak, 23.92. 2, Katherine Horning, ER, 24.69. 3, Katy McCarter, Lathrop, 24.81. 4, Gretchen Snelders, Palmer, 24.88. 5, Aubrey Cheng, South Anchorage, 24.94. 6, Kyleigh McArthur, Sitka, 25.09. 7, Sydney Juliussen, Soldotna, 25.34. 8, Mikayla Terry, Dimond, 25.43.

Boys 50 Yard Freestyle — 1, Caleb Law, Service, 20.60. 2, Ezra Billings, West Valley, 22.11. 3, Tyler Weldon, Juneau-Douglas, 22.25. 4, Ethan Evans, Soldotna, 22.33. 5, Camren Hancock, Wasilla, 22.36. 6, Ethan Christiansen, Eagle River, 22.55. 6, Gavin Speth, Kodiak, 22.55. 8, Austin Carpenter, Service, 22.62.

Girls 1-meter Diving — 1, Jayde Chan, Wasilla, 419.20. 2, Jenna Walch, Dimond, 403.25. 3, Carrie Mayer, Wasilla, 374.00. 4, Chloe Hartman, Palmer, 363.35. 5, Tyler Coffman, Palmer, 307.10. 6, Sayuri Seto, Kodiak, 304.80. 7, Ansley Thornton, Colony, 303.60. 8, Elianah Micael, Kodika, 286.55.

Boys 1-meter Diving — 1, Kylin Welch, Soldotna, 433.15. 2, Houlton Dannenberg, West, 410.15. 3, Sam Skolnick, Soldotna, 407.60. 4, Gabe Dobson, Chugiak, 391.20. 5, Marty Rygh, Dimond, 388.55. 6, Eli Krozel, Colony, 382.50. 7, Kade Reynolds, Wasilla, 372.55. 8, Cian Hart, Juneau-Douglas, 343.00.

Girls 100 Yard Butterfly — 1, Breckynn Willis, Dimond, 58.03. 2, Kiara Borchardt, ER, 58.23. 3, Devon Cummiskey, Kodiak, 58.58. 4, Jessica Davis, Sitka, 59.40. 5, Heidi Billings, West Valley, 59.53. 6, Laura Sherrill, Ketchikan, 1:00.47. 7, Maria Pfundt, Petersburg, 1:02.76. 8, Nancy Liddle, Thunder Mountain, 1:03.13.

Boys 100 Yard Butterfly — 1, Brian Jarupakorn, Service, 50.47. 2, Maximus Addington, Dimond, 50.65. 3, Ian Sands, Service, 53.49. 4, Connor Spanos, Seward, 53.97. 5, Ethan Evans, Soldotna, 54.74. 6, Connor Walch, Dimond, 55.75. 7, Noah Hoeer, Dimond, 55.86.

Girls 100 Yard Freestyle — 1, Izzy Powers, Chugiak, 52.53. 2, Katy McCarter, Lathrop, 53.84. 3, Ellie Mercer, ER, 53.86. 4, Aubrey Cheng, South, 54.13. 5, Gretchen Snelders, Palmer, 54.28. 6, Ellyse Russell, Palmer, 54.49. 7, Sydeney Juliussen, Soldotna, 55.60. 8, Mikayla Terry, Dimond, 55.90.

Boys 100 Yard Freestyle — 1, Caleb Law, Service, 46.08. 2, Jesse Tatakis, Dimond, 47.79. 3, Christopher Loudon, Dimond, 48.30. 4, Savaii Heaven, Chugiak, 48.41. 5, Clayton Arndt, Homer, 48.98. 6, Ethan Christiansen, Eagle River, 49.02. 7, Nathan Jones, Kodiak, 49.05. 8, Tate Goering, Juneau-Douglas, 49.09.

Girls 500 Yard Freestyle — 1, Dreamer Kowatch, Dimond, 5:14.82. 2, Grace Harang, Sitka, 5:17.13, 3, Ryann Dorris, West, 5:24.05, 4, Cassidey Welsh, Hutchison, 5:26.18. 5, Emi Soldwedel, Dimond, 5:30.90. 6, Nancy Liddle, Thunder Mountain, 5:33.85. 7, Shannon McCallum, Hutchinson, 5:39.18. 8, Naomi Burgan, Dimond, 5:42.06.

Boys 500 Yard Freestyle — 1, Noah Palmer, Hutchison, 4:42.58. 2, Raymie Matiashowski, Thunder Mountain, 4:52.83. 3, Tytan Frawley, Sitka, 4:53.56. 4, Kenneth Octuk, Dimond, 4:53.58. 5, Chris Ray, Thunder Mountain, 4:56.50. 6, Micah Grigg, Thunder Mountain, 4:56.97. 7, Logan Fox, West Valley, 4:59.19. 8, Andrew Walch, Dimond, 5:04.43.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Dimond, 1:40.40. 2, Eagle River, 1:40.91. 3, Palmer, 1:40.92. 4, Homer, 1:42.67. 5, Sitka, 1:42.82. 6, Chugiak, 1:43.25. 7, West Valley, 1:43.27. 8, Soldotna, 1:43.27.

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Service, 1:25.47. 2, Kodiak 1:30.28. 3, Eagle River 1:30.49. 4, West Valley 1:31.70. 5, Kenai Central, 1:31.83. 6, Homer, 1:33.11. 7, Juneau-Douglas (Adrell Mulgrew-Truitt, Isaac Gabel, Erik Jim, Reed Gardinier), 1:38.66.

Girls 100 Yard Backstroke — 1, Ellie Mercer, ER, 58.40. 2, Jessica Davis, Sitka, 58.88. 3, Summer Cheng, South, 1:00.07. 4, Victoria Schachle, MHS, 1:02.38. 5, Camryn Williams, Dimond, 1:03.83. 6, Asyia Shank, West Valley, 1:04.60. 7, Molly Blackmon, Sitka, 1:05.26. 8, Stella Tallmon, Juneau-Douglas, 1:06.98.

Boys 100 Yard Backstroke — 1, Brian Jarupakorn, Service, 51.50. 2, Savaii Heaven, Chugiak, 52.77. 3, Austin Carpenter, Service, 52.84, 4, Ian Rocheleau, Kodiak, 54.37. 5, Nicholas Price, Service, 54.78. 6, Jacob Mitchell, Dimond, 55.84. 7, Adam Nguyen, Unalaska, 56.02. 8, Caleb Peimann, Juneau-Douglas, 56.25.

Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke — 1, Lydia Jacoby, Seward, 1:03.11. 2, Patty Eppingher, West Valley, 1:07.43, 3, Leslie Spear, Kodiak, 1:07.88. 4, Anastasia Chen, West Valley, 1:08.69. 5, Alexis Mattson, Colony, 1:08.78. 6, Addison Morgan, Chugiak, 1:10.19. 7, Jean Cook, Monroe Catholic, 1:11.18. 8, Juliette Benson, West Valley, 1:11.71.

Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke — 1, John Heaphy, Eagle River, 56.76, 2, Tavner Wisdom, Service, 59.37. 3, Anders Hocum, Kodiak, 59.42. 4, Matthew Heaphy, Eagle River, 1:00.52. 5, Raymie Matiashowski, Thunder Mountain, 1:01.64. 6, Tyler Weldon, Juneau-Douglas, 1:02.66. 7, Julien Wiese, West Anchorage, 1:02.72. 8, Wesley Dumm, Kodiak, 1:02.85.

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Dimond, 3:38.19. 2, Sitka 3:39.25. 3, Kodiak 3:43.6. 4, South 3:46.68. 5, West Valley, 3:47.68. 6, Soldotna, 3:47.74. 7, Petersburg, 3:50.64. 8, Thunder Mountain (Nancy Liddle, Sarah Heaton, Emily Heaton, Riley Traxler), 3:51.20.

Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Dimond, 3:11.95. 2, Service 3:16.51. 3, Kodiak 3:17.74. 4, Juneau-Douglas (Tate Goering, Caleb Peimann, Adrell Mulgrew-Truitt, Tyler Weldon), 3:20.53. 5, West Valley, 3:27.06. 6, North Pole, 3:29.58. 7. Kenai Central, 3:34.07. 8, Sitka, 3:47.59.

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• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.

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