Crimson Bears return to the pool with high aspirations
- Klas Stolpe
- 1 hour ago
- 8 min read
JDHS team looks to defend and improve on state standings under new head coach Carole Triem
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Last season, the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé swim and dive team worked to a second-place finish for the girls’ team at the state tournament and a seventh-place standing for the boys.
A month into this season, they have the ingredients to muddle up the pool waters around the state even more — and finish higher.
“We are working them hard,” new JDHS head coach Carole Triem said as she put the Crimson Bears through 6:30 a.m. drills in the Augustus Brown Pool. “We have been doing a lot of conditioning. That was a reason why I wasn’t really worried about or looking at our times last weekend, because we have been doing conditioning and heavy training. A lot of swimming. A lot of yards...Everybody breathes too much. Actually, that is something I noticed in Craig. We’re going to work on that. They are taking too many breaths. We have to work on breath control, but it’s OK, we’ll get there. They are not going to like it, but we’ll get there.”
JDHS traveled to Craig last weekend, but an error in the meet timing system resulted in the competition basically becoming a scrimmage. No team results were kept. Friday results were unofficial and Saturday’s were not recorded.
“I was really impressed with everybody’s technique and how well they were managing to hold their technique through their races," Triem said. “We have been in pretty heavy training and it was a long weekend. So I wasn’t really looking at their times as much as how they looked when they swam. And they all looked really good.”
The team garnered some best times even though they were not official. Sophomore Axel Boily dropped four seconds in his 100 breaststroke and junior Josh Edwards led off the 400 free relay heat with a best time.
“So that was really exciting to see at this point in the season,” Triem said. “Impressive for where we are right now.”
This is Triem’s first head coach position. She holds records from her days at Petersburg High School (2006 graduate) and Petersburg’s Viking Swim Club. She won Region V titles and reached the finals at the state championships all four years of high school.
“It is so cool having been a high school swimmer in southeast Alaska to come full circle and now be the coach,” she said. “To be on the other side. It is really fun, but it is a lot of work. The admin side is so much work. But the coaching, the on-deck work, is so fun and rewarding, especially when they listen to me.”
In her career Triem has out-touched many JDHS swimmers in the Augustus Brown Pool she now walks the deck on.
“I do kind of try and judge their practices and wonder, could I do that?” Triem said. “Sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes no. For the freshmen especially I, myself, want to try and stay faster than the freshmen, but they are catching up to me very quickly...I think a lot of high school swimming has stayed the same. I mean, we did a ferry ride to Craig and the Ketchikan team was on the ferry with us, and we are all hanging out together. So much of that is the exact same as 25 years ago. Which is just really cool because it is such a great experience that is so unique to Southeast Alaska, to spend all that time with other teams and do all that travel. It is super impressive how big the team is and they are just really dedicated. They come already motivated.”
The JDHS roster has over a solid year of the combined school rosters from the consolidation of the former Thunder Mountain High School into JDHS at the end of the 2023-24 school year.
With the strong camaraderie of the Juneau swim community through the Glacier Swim Club, most of the athletes had already spent numerous years in the water together. Now 40 swimmers and five divers will represent JDHS.
Girls’ team captains are senior Dannan “Deedee” Mills and junior Kennedy Miller.
“It means a lot to me since I have been running for it since sophomore year and every year a senior has won,” Mills said. “This year I was really hoping I would be that senior and it feels special because I have seen so many team captains so I know what to be and I wanted to be the person that helped transition between the new coaches and new practices. When I was a freshman, the team captains were really welcoming so I wanted to be that and so far it has been going pretty good. So that is pretty exciting for me…Last year at state, we had a lot of people there since the schools had combined and had a lot of relay teams. But we had been swimming together since we were younger through GSC so it wasn’t new, but it was more exciting. And with more people we placed higher, and winning the relay was one of the best feelings in the whole world. As a senior it is going to be weird being the oldest person there. My other three years at state have been exciting so this year I am hoping to keep that excitement with the new people that go.”
Miller noted the trip to Craig was good team bonding: “You know, people are playing cards…just chatting…It’s really good to get to know each other…It’s the first meet so I was mostly focused on doing my best to be captain and I’m not upset about gaining time because we were so tired we weren’t able to swim the day before and I know that at the next meet I’ll be able to turn it around.”
Boys’ team captains are senior Clive Mateo and sophomore Liam Kiessling.
“It means my team trusts me to lead them and make sure their voices are heard,” Kiessling said. “It means a lot to me. I am looking forward to regions, to all the meets with my team, and to state where I am hoping to place well and that our team wins state. State was very nerve-racking as a freshman with all the seniors. I kind of struggled to wrap my mind around it because I always went as a kid with my siblings. Since last year I have been training very hard with my team, going to as many practices as I can, dropping a lot of time and this year I am hoping to place higher. I swam hard for GSC (started at age five) all year and placed high at state a few times. I am pretty prepared for this year.”
Triem said the season goal is to improve on the girls’ and boys’ state finishes.
“It will be interesting to see through the season what our competition is looking like,” she said. “I am not sure yet what that will look like, but to try and put them in a position where they can contend for the state title would be awesome.”
Mills and Miller were part of the JDHS state champion 200 medley relay. Amy Liddle won the state title in the 200 free and placed second in the 500.
Miller and juniors Bailey Fisher and Liddle are back to improve on their third-place state 200 free relay finish, and Liddle, Bailey and Mills their second-place 400 free relay placing. Miller placed fourth in the 100 breast, and Mills third in the 100 free and fifth in the 100 back. Fisher swam the 50 free and Miller the 100 fly. Also returning is senior Valerie Peimann and junior Lily Francis, who opted to concentrate on GSC competitions through the 2024-25 high school season with 2025 graduate Emma Fellman and swam well nationally.
Francis swam for the now-defunct Thunder Mountain High School team and qualified for state finals events as a freshman. Fellman (a freshman swimmer at the University of Minnesota) and Peimann are in the top 10 all-time marks for Alaska high school state championship rankings in the girls' 200 medley relay for JDHS. Fellman has the fourth fastest state tournament 200 IM time (won back-to-back titles in 2022 and ’23) and fifth fastest 100 breaststroke (won title in 2023) and had qualified for state since her freshman year. Peimann was the defending state champion in the 500 free in 2023 and together with Fellman, members of that year’s defending state 200 medley and 400 free relay teams.
“Obviously having them back on the team is going to mean a lot of points that we can score at regions and hopefully state,” Triem said of all returning members.
While the boys’ team is smaller, they have solid chances for relay titles. The medley relay has a chance to dominate with Kiessling in backstroke, senior Josh Edwards breaststroke, freshmen Levi Phelps as a sprint butterfly or freestyler, and Ketchikan junior transfer Kaden Aldrich. Aldrich and brother Gabe Aldrich are strong additions to the team.
“I am excited to see how that unfolds,” Triem said.
Kiessling and Edwards were part of the fourth-place state medley relay finish last season. Edwards also swam in the state fifth-place 200 free relay and K. Aldrich in the KTN state 400 relay that placed fourth and the medley relay that placed fifth. G. Aldrich swam in the 200 free relay that placed eighth. Kiessling placed eighth in the 100 back.
“And we have so many freshmen that I am really excited,” Triem said. “Cora Soboleff had a breakout season with GSC last year and won some things at JOs (Junior Olympics). I think she is going to fit right in with that group of fast girls. And along with Annabelle Woodruff, they are both going to be contending for some spots on our ‘A’ relay. I am just excited about all our freshmen swimmers, all our swimmers actually.”
The 2025-26 Crimson Bears are:
Seniors: Clive Mateo, Dannan Mills, Lena Reynolds, Taylor Mesdag, Valerie Peimann and Vincent Hayes.
Juniors: Adeline Williams, Amy Liddle, Avery Smith, Bailey Fisher, Ben Pallenberg, Chedi Giron, Easton Berger, Gabe Aldrich, Joshua Edwards, Kaden Aldrich, Kaelyn Szefler, Kennedy Miller, Lily Francis, Maddox Rasmussen, Moira Bahn, Riley Soboleff, Sam Pallenberg and Stella Asplund.
Sophomores: Axel Boily, Delphine Hochstoeger, Mae Crocker and Liam Kiessling.
Freshmen: Annabelle Woodruff, Augustine Kvasnikov, Brook Taintor, Clara Van Kirk, Cora Soboleff, Eliza Albrecht, Elsinore Higgins, Hannah Plang, Henry Thatcher, Ila Mannino, Katya Foy, Keagan Andrews, Levi Phelps, Maddie Manlulu, Marian Morrison, Natalie MacKinnon, Saana Amundson and Sarah Anderson.
Assisting Triem are Amber Kelly, and volunteers Kristin Jones and Mesa Moran. Dive coach is Savona Kiessling and dive assistant Stig Cunningham.
“They are all very distinguished JDHS alumni,” Triem said. “Amber and Kristin were both All-Americans in their time at JDHS, and Kristin still has the JDHS record in the 500.”
Jones swam at Northern Arizona University and Kelly at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. Moran swam at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Triem swam at Seattle University and has been swimming with the GSC masters for over 10 years and is a GSC assistant coach.
“As for my coaching philosophy I am trying my best to be like my own club coach, Tex Doherty,” Triem said. “Overall, I want swimming to be something that is really fun and enjoyable for every member of the team, even if some practices are really difficult. This team is full of really dedicated swimmers who are already very good at motivating themselves to work hard. I am trying to create an atmosphere that makes it easy for them to keep doing that.”
JDHS will compete at Petersburg on Sept. 19-20.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
