Four swimmers jostled for the lead.
Near the end of the race, one emerged: Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaat.at Kalé junior Caleb Peimann.
It was the “probably best race at the whole meet,” his coach Seth Cayce raved.
“It felt really good,” Peimann said in an interview afterward. “There was a lot of boys who were really close there and I went a best time so that was really exciting. It was a really fun race.”
Peimann captured the 500-yard freestyle state title Saturday at the Barlett Pool in Anchorage. He won in 4 minutes, 46.88 seconds. Tytan Frawley of Sitka placed second in 4:48.06 and Logan Fox of West Valley placed third in 4:48.25.
“I’ve never been in a distance race like that that was that close,” Peimann, who also placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, said. “It was very rare for that many boys to be under 4:50 and it was really a special year I think.”
A week earlier at the Region V Swim & Dive Championships in Sitka, Peimann came in second place in the event, two seconds behind Frawley. But that loss didn’t deter his belief in himself, he said.
“I thought my chances were pretty good,” Peimann said. “I tapered for state, not regions, so I knew it was likely that I was not going to win regions but I still had a good chance to win that (race) at state.”
The state title highlighted the Crimson Bear boys’ second consecutive fifth-place showing at the ASAA state championships. JDHS had 36 points behind Service (102 points), Dimond (99 points), West Valley (49 points) and Eagle River (40 points). The Thunder Mountain High School boys tied Petersburg for 16th place with eight points.
The last time a JDHS boys swimmer won an event at state was 2012, according to Cayce.
Six other Juneau swimmers placed in the top-eight in Friday’s preliminaries to advance to the finals, three from JDHS and three from Thunder Mountain.
Representing the Crimson Bears in the finals were Chaz VanSlyke (seventh, 200-yard IM; fifth, 100-yard butterfly), Mesa Moran (sixth, 200-yard freestyle) and Tahlia Gerger (sixth, 100-yard backstroke). The Falcons finalists were Allie Morgan (fifth, 100-yard freestyle; fifth, 200-yard freestyle), Nancy Liddle (eighth, 100-yard butterfly; seventh, 500-yard freestyle) and Noah Loseby (seventh, 100-yard backstroke).
Liddle was on the team that finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay, the highest placing of Juneau’s relay teams. The Falcons, who placed eighth in team standings, set a new school record with their 3:43 mark. TMHS sophomore Riley Traxler said the future is bright for Falcon relays.
“I have a very, very strong belief in our relay teams that we are just going to keep getting faster,” Traxler said. “All of our relays are set and stacked with young athletes and I think especially with all of us being freshmen and sophomores we’re just going to keep improving.”
ASAA/First National Bank state swimming and diving
Friday and Saturday, Bartlett Pool
Boys Results
Team scores — 1, Service, 102; 2, Dimond, 99; 3, West Valley, 49; 4, Eagle River, 40; 5, Juneau-Douglas, 36; 6, Colony, 34; 7, Kodiak, 32; 8, Chugiak, 28; 9, Kenai Central, 24; 10, Seward, 18; 11, Wasilla, 16; 12, (tie) Soldotna and West, 13; 14, Sitka, 11; 15, South, 10; 16, (tie) Petersburg and Thunder Mountain, 8; 18, Cordova, North Pole and Ketchikan, 4; 21, Valdez, 2.
200 yard medley relay — 1, Dimond (Jacob Mitchell, Andrew Billings, Noah Hoefer, Fischer Kass), 1:37.86. 2, Eagle River, 1:40.82. 3, Kodiak, 1:41.18. 4, Kenai, 1:41.78.
200 yard freestyle — 1, Tavner Wisdom, Service, 1:44.65. 2, Jesse Tatakis, Dimond, 1:44.76. 3, Kenneth Octuk, Dimond, 1:45.22. 4, Caleb Peimann, JDHS, 1:45.25.
200 yard individual medley — 1, Nicholas Price, Service, 1:55.93. 2, Ian Rochelaau, Kodiak, 1:57.73. 3, Matthew Heaphy, Eagle River, 1:59.45. 4, Julien Wiese, West, 2:00.35.
50 yard freestyle — 1, Brian Jarupakorn, Service, 20.53. 2, Ezra Billings, West Valley, 21.03. 3, Ethan Evans, Soldotna, 21.26. 4, Connor Spanos, Seward, 21.89.
Diving — 1, Andrew Layman, Wasilla, 464.65. 2, Eli Krozel, Colony, 461.65. 3, Gabe Dobson, Chugiak, 440.65. 4, Kade Reynolds, Wasilla, 439.50.
100 yard butterfly — 1, Brian Jarupakorn, Service, 49.90. 2, Jimmy Blackstone, Chugiak, 53.00. 3, Connor Spanos, Seward, 53.15. 4, Jacob Mitchell, Dimond, 53.22.
100 yard freestyle — 1, Ezra Billings, West Valley, 47.84. 2, Jesse Tatakis, Dimond, 47.91. 3, Scott Babbitt, Dimond, 48.16. 4, Konnor Kolberg, Colony, 48.79.
500 yard freestyle — 1, Caleb Peimann, Juneau-Douglas, 4:46.88. 2, Tytan Frawley, Sitka, 4:48.25. 3, Logan Fox, West Valley, 4:48.25. 4, Peter Kowalski, Petersburg, 4:51.59. 5, Trent Fritsch, Cordova, 4:51.75.
200 yard freestyle relay — 1, Service (Nicholas Price, Brian Jarupakorn, Ethan Kwon, Tavner Wisdom), 1:25.99. 2, Dimond, 1:27.64. 3, West Valley, 1:29.73. 4, Eagle River, 1:29.96.
100 yard backstroke — 1, Nicholas Price, Service, 52.29. 2, Jonathan Cowin, Colony, 52.42. 3, Jacob Mitchell, Dimond, 53.74. 4, Jimmy Blackstone, Chugiak, 55.64.
100 yard breaststroke — 1, Tavner Wisdom, Service, 57.14. 2, Ethan Evans, Soldotna, 58.06. 3, Matthew Heaphy, Eagle River, 58.96. 4, Ethan Kwon, Service, 1:00.34.
400 yard freestyle relay — 1, Service (Nicholas Price, Brian Jarupakorn, Ethan Kwon, Tavner Wisdom), 3:11.15. 2, Dimond, 3:13.89. 3, West Valley, 3:17.87. 4, Colony, 3:21.16.
Girls Results
Team scores — 1, Dimond, 100; 2, Eagle River, 74; 3, West Valley, 65; 4, Sitka, 60; 5, Homer, 44; 6, Lathrop, 28; 7, South, 26; 8, Thunder Mountain, 21; 9, Colony, 20; 10, Kodiak, 18; 11, Seward, 15; 12, (tie) Wasilla and Palmer, 14; 14, (tie) Monroe and Hutchinson, 11; 16, Ketchikan, 8; 17, Chugiak, 7; 18, Juneau-Douglas, 6; 19, Soldotna, 4; 20, (tie) Wrangell and West, 3; 22, Valdez, 1.
200 yard medley relay — 1, Eagle River (Ellie Mercer, Hannah Shaw, Kiara Borchardt, McKenzie Fazio), 1 minute, 48.85 seconds. 2, Homer, 1:51.38. 3, Dimond, 1:52.29. 4, West Valley, 1:52.83.
200 yard freestyle — 1, McKenzie Fazio, Eagle River, 1:53.36. 2, Breckynn Willis, Dimond, 1:58.28. 3, Emma Gassman, Sitka, 2:00.27. 4, Leslie Spear, Kodiak, 2:00.40.
200 yard individual medley — 1, Madison Story, Homer, 2:07.07. 2, Dreamer Kowatch, Dimond, 2:08.55. 3, Lydia Jacoby, Seward, 2:09.83. 4, Patty Eppingher, West Valley, 2:12.70.
50 yard freestyle — 1, Katy McCarter, Lathrop, 24.53. 2, Grace Harang, Sitka, 24.57. 3, Ellie Mercer, Eagle River, 24.89. 4, Brooke Dittlinger, Dimond, 25.06.
Diving — 1, Carrie Mayer, Wasilla, 437.05. 2, Jenna Walch, Dimond, 397.75. 3, Tyler Coffman, Palmer, 387.55. 4, Grace Greene, Hutchison, 372.85.
100 yard butterfly — 1, Kiara Borchardt, Eagle River, 57.47. 2, Breckynn Willis, Dimond, 57.71. 3, Summer Cheng, South, 58.85. 4, Sophia Schwantes, Sitka, 1:00.00.
100 yard freestyle — 1, Dreamer Kowatch, Dimond, 52.63. 2, Katy McCarter, Lathrop, 52.88. 3, Shelby Thompson, Chugiak, 54.29. 4, Samantha Bristor, West Valley, 54.43.
500 yard freestyle — 1, McKenzie Fazio, Eagle River, 5:11.73. 2, Grace Harang, Sitka, 5:17.41. 3, Emma Gassman, Sitka, 5:17.71. 4, Cassidy Welsh, Hutchinson, 5:18.65.
200 yard freestyle relay — 1, Dimond (Dreamer Kowatch, Mikayla Terry, Brooke Dittlinger, Breckynn Willis), 1:38.86. 2, Eagle River, 1:39.65. 3, Homer, 1:41.38. 4, West Valley, 1:42.89.
100 yard backstroke — 1, Ellie Mercer, Eagle River, 56.77. 3, Heidi Billings, West Valley, 57.70. 3, Summer Cheng, South, 59.60. 4, Victoria Schachle, Monroe, 1:01.63.
100 yard breaststroke — 1, Lydia Jacoby, Seward, 1:00.61 (new state record). 2, Madison Story, Homer, 1:03.57. 3, Patty Eppingher, West Valley, 1:06.62. 4, Jasmine Biederman, Colony, 1:07.08.
400 yard freestyle relay — 1, Dimond (Breckynn Willis, Mikayla Terry, Hannah Boyce, Dreamer Kowatch), 3:37.40. 2, Sitka, 3:41.07. 3, West Valley, 3:42.55. 4, Thunder Mountain, 3:43.85.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com.
