The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé swim and dive team has seemingly weathered the storm of school consolidations, welcoming the athletes from the now defunct Thunder Mountain High School and molding their own identity in the water.
“The consolidation is definitely different because we are both coming from schools with different cultures and traditions and backgrounds and stuff,” JDHS senior co-captain Pacific Ricke said. “I definitely think we are all doing our best to unify that and bring some of both, and get a good combination of everything. I have swam with them for years, both out of high school season and when we were younger. So far we have been in a big training block, we went to Petersburg last weekend and we’re heading to Ketchikan next weekend so we are getting into the competition side of the season.”
Ricke, a state competitor the past three seasons, started swimming at age six on the Glacier Swim Club as do most of Juneau’s youth swimmers. Her signature swim this season will be the 100 back and 500 free.
Last season’s JDHS individual state champion Samantha Schwarting (200 free) graduated. Senior Emma Fellman (200 Ind Medley, 100 breast state champ) and junior Valerie Peimann (500 free state champ) are training on their own. Fellman is expected to be signing with the University of Minnesota. Those three also teamed with now senior Lucia Chapell to win the 200 Medley Relay and 400 Free Relay.
TMHS graduated six-time state champ Patrick Foy who is now swimming for the University of North Carolina.
Other seniors from both schools also built their respective teams’ foundations and now that TMHS has been closed and students welcomed into the fold at JDHS the Crimson Bears have 37 athletes who swim and 10 that dive — 22 are former TMHS student-athletes, 14 are former JDHS, and 10 are new (five being freshmen) to the high school swim team.
The team chose captains Ricke and classmate Matthew Plang, of JDHS, while senior captains Nova Hines and Matthew Godkin swam at TMHS.
Hines also started swimming at age six and will be targeting the 200 and 500 free.
“It has been interesting, definitely was a little rocky at first because of our very different cultures and finding a mix of that has been a challenge,” Hines said. “But overall we all want it to work and we have been finding our own ways to make it work and it has been going well.”
Aiding that joint restoration is a new swim uniform the captains designed which is worn at meets.
Plang has been swimming since age nine and will target the 50 free and 100 breaststroke.
“The consolidation has added more fun to the team,” Plang said. “More bodies, but it has worked out.”
Plang also has state experience and said he sets an example by “trying my best at every single practice and hope the new swimmers do as well. I hope the way I swim inspires them to try their best as well.”
Godkin also took to the pool at age six and will focus on the 50 free and 100 fly.
“I have actually enjoyed the transition,” Godkin said. “I think there are some issues, especially I haven’t enjoyed that we have to have two separate practices. But I would have been the only boy swimmer this year at TMHS, and now I get to hang out with some really cool guys and it has been an enjoyable experience for me.”
Due to the team size and space availability in the pool shared by the public and GSC the team splits into two groups to run safe and effective practices, alternating at Augustus Brown Pool and Dimond Park Aquatic Center.
The combination of teams has been effortless for head coach Josiah Loseby, a 2014 TMHS grad, who also transitions over from the Falcons to the Crimson Bears. This is Loseby’s ninth year as a head coach.
“I’m excited,” Loseby said. “My favorite three months of the year are high school season for swimming and diving. I always look forward to it and I’m really grateful that I have a continued opportunity to keep working with the kids in the high school season.”
Loseby noted that a lot of the team are familiar with each other just due to the nature of the Juneau swim community.
“Change for anyone is difficult,” he said. “There have been some bumps along the way with the transition for everyone in the district for sure, but we have smoothed things out here and found our footing. Everybody that is here is really passionate about what we’re doing, not just about the sport of swimming or diving, but about who the team is and what our team is now. They all have a unique opportunity to lay the groundwork and foundation for what the JDHS swim/dive team will be moving forward for years to come after this consolidation.”
Loseby said the team talked about their past traditions and how to forge a new path.
“My goal is to take things that worked well with the previous JDHS swim/dive team, what worked well with the previous TMHS swim/dive team and figure out how we can combine those things together to make them work and what we can do to make it better than what TM and JD were able to experience on their own and make something better than we ever could have as a standalone school,” he said.
Loseby noted that even when the two schools had competed, a camaraderie between opposing athletes existed outside the lanes and on the pool deck.
“That has carried over into the season,” he said. “And our first meet in Petersburg I was just really impressed and really proud and I hope the kids feel that same sense of pride too. Just in the sportsmanship that was demonstrated in our team, other teams and folks in the community. It was excellent to see.”
The JDHS girls topped the recent Petersburg meet (Sept. 6-7) with 755 points (PSG 189, Ketchikan 163, Wrangell 146, Craig 108, Sitka 102) while the JDHS boys scored 491 points, placing second behind KTN’s 547 (SIT 358, CRG 146, PSG 104, WRG 21). JDHS won 11 of 24 events in PSG on Sept. 6 and nine of 24 on Sept. 7.
“I think with the consolidation and everything we have done so far it has really been a collaborative effort on both the girls’ and boys’ sides,” Loseby said. “Just pulling together to make this the best experience we possibly can. We’ve set team goals for ourselves, we’ve set individual goals for ourselves and my job is to be here to get them to believe in themselves and believe in each other and fan the flames of that fire they have and do whatever I can to make it a reality for them.”
JDHS Swim/Dive Roster:
Senior Girls: Parker Boman, Lucia Chapell, Brooklyn Kanouse, Pacific Ricke, Nova Hines, Caitlin Sanders (Swim/Dive), Gabby Ely (Dive).
Senior Boys: Oliver Lamkin, Nolan Noel, Matthew Plang, Cole Reel, Owen Rumsey, Kellen Arvidson, Matthew Godkin, Paul Smith (Dive).
Junior Girls: Kate Stickel, Sariela Galeana, Deedee Mills, Lena Reynolds, Taylor Mesdag (Dive).
Junior Boys: Elyas Taylor, Clive Mateo, Vincent Hayes, Brayden Capizzi, Rise Fraley (Dive).
Sophomore Girls: Kennedy Miller, Maddox Rasmussen, Amy Liddle, Riley Soboleff, Landia Hass, Bailey Fisher, Kaelyn Szefler, Moira Bahn (Dive), Stella Asplund (Dive), Adeline Williams (Dive).
Sophomore Boys: Joshua Edwards, Chedi Giron, Gus Skidmore, Nolan Bas, Easton Berger (Dive), Angus Andrews (Dive).
Freshman Girls: Mae Crocker, Delphine Hochstoeger.
Freshman Boys: William Kiessling, Ethan Ward, Axel Boily.
Coaches: HC Josiah Loseby. Assistants Noah Loseby, Raymie Matiashowski, Amber Kelly, Cian Hart, Savona Kiessling, Sam Kiessling.
