Crimson Bears swim to win at Petersburg
- Klas Stolpe
- Sep 20, 2025
- 7 min read
JDHS tops the results again on Saturday
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
For the second day in a row the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé swim and dive team dominated the pool at the Petersburg Invitational, winning both the girls and boys team titles and the majority of the event swims.
Once again the Crimson Bears relays opened and closed the meet with wins.
“I am happy with our relays, both boys and girls,” JDHS swim coach Carole Triem said. “Even when they were tired at the end of the meet, they all stepped up on their relay performances.”
The JDHS girls medley relay of senior Deedee Mills, senior Valerie Peimann, freshman Annabelle Woodruff and junior Avery Smith won in 1:56.81; The girls 200 freestyle relay of junior Amy Liddle, sophomore Mae Crocker, freshman Maddie Manlulu and junior Lily Francis won in 1:49.25 and the girls 400 free relay of junior Kennedy Miller, Peimann, junior Kaelyn Szefler and junior Riley Soboleff won in 3:53.98.
“The girls 200 medley performed well on both days,” Triem said. “We played around with the order a bit from Friday to Saturday and we’ve got lots of options for the order, which has us feeling good for the end of the season.”
In the boys lanes JDHS’ 200 free relay of junior Sam Pallenberg, sophomore Liam Kiessling, junior Kaden Aldrich and junior Josh Edwards won in 1:34.74; the 200 medley relay of senior Clive Mateo, freshman Levi Phelps, Edwards and freshman Keagen Andrews placed second in 1:54.72; and the 400 free relay of Kiessling, K. Aldrich, Andrews and Mateo second in 3:36.93.
“The meet was good because I saw unexpected progress,” freshman Brook Taintor said. “Because I thought I was going to get better, but I didn’t think I was going to get a ton better, because of going to consistent practices.”
While most of the improvement continued from the usual top swimmers there were new fast times from the young core of the team as well.
“Brook was one of the standouts of the weekend,” Triem said. “She got best times in the 200 IM and 200 free and she’s really improved even in just the last couple of months. Sam Pallenberg surprised everybody with a jaw-dropping swim in the 50 free. He was entered with no time and went a 24.47, which was the third fastest JDHS time, and earned him a place on the 200 free A relay. Kaden Aldrich improved his 500 free time from Craig by over 30 seconds and put on a really brave showing in that meet, trying to keep up with boys 2-3 years older than he is.”
Senior diver Taylor Mesdag and junior Moira Bahn placed first and second, respectively, on the girls' 1-meter board and junior Easton Berger second on the boys.
“We had three divers diving at the two meets we had this weekend in Petersburg,” dive coach Savona Kiessling said. “All three divers chose to mix things up a bit. Each of the meets are six dive meets so Easton Berger, Moira Fawn and Taylor Mesdag all tried to change up their sheets a bit to help prepare them all for regions which is just around the corner. Some of the more impressive dives that I saw today and yesterday would be Easton Berger’s forward double, it was the best I have seen him do that dive, same with his inboard one-and-a-half, kudos to him for putting some pretty hard dives on his sheet today…I would say with Taylor he inward somersault was absolutely fantastic, it did scare the judges both days because it was close (to the board), but it is supposed to be close and we were really impressed, and her body form looked great. The same with Moira she always has this beautiful form and she did not let us down.”
Peimann (200 free 100 back), Liddle (200 IM, 100 fly), Francis (100 free), Rasmussen (500 free) and Kiessling (50 free) all had first-place events.
“Overall, we’ve been dealing with some illness and injury the past couple of weeks and I’m really impressed with how well the team performed this weekend and I think it bodes well for the rest of the season,” Triem said.
Petersburg Invitational
Saturday Team Scores
Girls
1) Juneau-Douglas Yadda.at Kale 816; 2) Sitka 228; 3) Petersburg 191; 4) Kayhi 143; 5) Wrangell 50
Boys
1) Juneau-Douglas Yadaa.at Kale 544; 2) Sitka 403; 3) Kayhi 398; 4) Petersburg 40; 5) Wrangell 27
Event Results
Girls
200 Medley Relay – 1) JD (Deedee Mills, Valerie Peimann, Annabelle Woodruff, Avery Smith) 1:56.81; 2) Sitka 2:12.46; 3) JD B (Brook Taintor, Eliza Albrecht, Maddox Rasmussen, Maddie Manlulu) 2:13.58
200 Free — 1) Valerie Peimann (JD) 1:57.17; 2) Lily Francis (JD) 2:03.81; 3) Taryn Fleming (Sitka) 2:07.06; 4) Mia Turner (Sitka) 2:13.33; 5) Deedee Mills (JD) 2:13.39; 6) Olivia Hinde (Petersburg) 2:23.18; 7) Hannah Plang (JD) 2:25.45; 8) Ella Bullock (Kayhi) 2:32.16; 9) Maddie Manlulu (JD) 2:37.79; 10) Ila Manino (JD) 3:11.66
200 IM — 1) Amy Liddle (JD) 2:11.55; 2) Annabelle Woodruff (JD) 2:29.28; 3) Kaelyn Szefler (JD) 2:31.30; 4) Maddox Rasmussen (JD) 2:34.16; 5) Brook Taintor (JD) 2:37.50; 6) Riley Soboleff (JD) 2:40.29; 7) Ellie Higgins (JD) 2:48.64; 8) Eliza Albrecht (JD) 2:50.32
50 Free — 1) Lexie Tow (Petersburg) 25.74; 2) Kennedy Miller (JD) 26.50; 3) Avery Smith (JD) 28.33; 4) Ruby Dunn (Sitka) 29.16; 5) Evi Rice (Sitka) 29.20; 6) Johanna Sanford (Wrangell) 30.57; 7) Mia Calvin (Kayhi) 30.76; 8) Natalie Mackinnon (JD) 31.41; 9) Arabella Nore (Wrangell) 32.92; 10) Augustine Kvasnikoff (JD) 33.61; 11) Macie Bullock (Kayhi) 34.54; 12) Lina Merrill (Kayhi) 34.64
1-Meter Diving — 1) Taylor Mesdag (JD) 168.25; 2) Moira Bahn (JD) 163.75; 3) Mia Calvin (Kayhi) 108.50; 4) Lina Merrill (Kayhi) 64.05
100 Butterfly — 1) Amy Liddle (JD) 58.86; 2) Josephine Jackson (Kayhi) 1:14.08; 3) Maddie Manlulu (JD) 1:16.26; 4) Arabella Nore (Wrangell) 1:33.17
100 Free — 1) Lily Francis (JD) 56.74; 2) Deedee Mills (JD) 58.64; 3) Kennedy Miller (JD) 58.91; 4) Aela McCarthy (Sitka) 58.93; 5) Kaelyn Szefler (JD) 58.97; 6) Katya Foy (JD) 59.11; 7) Brooklyn Whitethorn (Petersburg) 59.37; 8) Bella Miller (Petersburg) 59.63; 9) Annabelle Woodruff (JD) 1:00.82; 10) Avery Smith (JD) 1:01.06; 11) Brook Taintor (JD) 1:01.99; 12) Sarah Anderson (JD) 1:05.95; 13) Piper Bonzo (Kayhi) 1:06.02; 14) Ellie Higgins (JD) 1:07.18; 15) Mae Crocker (JD) 1:07.54; 16) Evi Rice (Sitka) 1:08.25; 17) Clara Van Kirk (JD) 1:08.46; 18) Natalie Mackinnon (JD) 1:09.99; 19) Saana Amundson (JD) 1:14.92; 20) Macie Bullock (Kayhi) 1:16.42
500 Free — 1) Maddox Rasmussen (JD) 5:53.32; 2) Mia Turner (Sitka) 6:02.14; 3) Olivia Hinde (Petersburg) 6:26.82; 4) Eliza Albrecht (JD) 6:53.53; 5) Marian Morrison (JD) 6:58.43
200 Free Relay — 1) JD (Amy Liddle, Mae Crocker, Maddie Manlulu, Lily Francis) 1:49.25; 2) Sitka 1:50.22; 3) Petersburg 1:51.02; 4) Kayhi 2:02.93; 5) JD B (Ila Marino, Saana Amundson, Augustine Kvasnikov, Clara Van Kirk) 2:16.91
100 Backstroke — 1) Valerie Peimann (JD) 1:00.30; 2) Bella Miller (Petersburg) 1:07.14; 3) Brooklyn Whitethorn (Petersburg) 1:09.97; 4) Riley Soboleff (JD) 1:16.10; 5) Hannah Plang (JD) 1:18.38; 6) Johanna Sanford (Wrangell) 1:18.57; 7) Mae Crocker (JD) 1:18.86; 8) Ella Bullock (Kayhi) 1:21.83; 9) Clara Van Kirk (JD) 1:24.32; 10) Delilah Clark 9Sitka) 1:24.75; 11) Saana Amundson (JD) 1:27.81; 12) Augustine Kvasnikoff (JD) 1:34.78
100 Breaststroke — 1) Lexie Tow (Petersburg) 1:12.40; 2) Katya Foy (JD) 1:20.60; 3) Josephine Jackson (Kayhi) 1:21.13; 4) Taryn Fleming (Sitka) 1:23.38; 5) Sarah Anderson (JD) 1:28.29; 6) Ruby Dunn (Sitka) 1:29.16; 7) Ila Manino (JD) 1:46.53
400 Free Relay — 1) JD (Kennedy Miller, Valerie Peimann, Kaelyn Szefler, Riley Soboleff) 3:53.98; 2) Petersburg 4:12.80; 3) Sitka 4:17.89; 4) JD B (Marian Morrison, Ellie Higgins, Natalie MacKinnon, Hannah Plang) 4:32.88
Boys
200 Medley Relay – 1) Kayhi 1:44.92; 2) JD (Clive Mateo, Levi Phelps, Josh Edwards, Keagen Andrews) 1:54.72; 3) JD B (Axel Boily, Ben Pallenberg, Gabe Aldrich, Henry Thatcher) 2:01.01; 4) Kayhi B 2:04.59; 5) Sitka 2:14.66
200 Free — 1) Logan Tow (Petersburg) 1:49.46; 2) Tommy McCarthy (Sitka) 1:53.05; 3) JP Robbins (Kayhi) 1:56.55; 4) Elliott Galanin (Sitka) 2:02.70; 5) Wyatt Kirkness (Sitka) 2:07.32; 6) Sam Pallenberg (JD) 2:09.20; 7) Erik Chevalier (Sitka) 2:09.24; 8) Keagen Andrews (JD) 2:13.52
200 IM — 1) Zach Martens (Sitka) 2:04.69; 2) Josh Edwards (JD) 2:06.35; 3) Kaden Aldrich (JD) 2:10.48; 4) Hunter Eckert (Kayhi) 2:27.03; 5) Ben Pallenberg (JD) 2:32.75; 6) Axel Boily (JD) 2:33.49; 7) Chedi Giron (JD) 2:34.88; 8) Jake Peterson (Sitka) 2:42.23
50 Free — 1) Liam Kiessling (JD) 23.71; 2) James Nellis (Sitka) 25.10; 3) Max Meredith (Kayhi) 25.86; 4) Phin Edwards (Sitka) 26.01; 5) Henry Thatcher (JD) 26.82; 6) Andrei Siekawitch (Wrangell) 27.19; 7) Nathaniel Duran (Kayhi) 27.43; 8) Odin Emley (Sitka) 31.03; 9) Gus Becker (Sitka) 31.80
1-Meter Diving — 1) Liam Woodward (Kayhi) 239.95; 2) Easton Berger (JD) 189.70; 3) Jett Miller (Kayhi) 107.20
100 Butterfly — 1) Evan Dash (Kayhi) 52.94; 2) Tommy McCarthy (Sitka) 56.94; 3) Kaden Aldrich (JD) 58.09; 4) Levi Phelps (JD) 58.72; 5) Hunter Eckert (Kayhi) 1:02.86; 6) Gabe Aldrich (JD) 1:04.56
100 Free — 1) Logan Tow (Petersburg) 49.33; 2) Josh Edwards (JD) 51.33; 3) Gavin Harold (Kayhi) 52.07; 4) Liam Kiessling (JD) 52.14; 5) Clive Mateo (JD) 55.87; 6) Sam Pallenberg (JD) 56.31; 7) James Nellis (Sitka) 56.50; 8) Wyatt Kirkness (Sitka) 57.69; 9) Keagen Andrews (JD) 58.04; 10) Aiden Eldridge (Kayhi) 1:00.55; 11) Jake Peterson (Sitka) 1:02.55
500 Free — 1) JP Robbins (Kayhi) 5:19.46; 2) Phin Edwards (Sitka) 5:20.99; 3) Elliott Galanin (Sitka) 5:37.28; 4) Chedi Giron (JD) 5:52.54; 5) Max Meredith (Kayhi) 6:06.34; 6) Gus Becker (Sitka) 6:53.84
200 Free Relay — 1) JD (Sam Pallenberg, Liam Kiessling, Kaden Aldrich, Josh Edwards) 1:34.74; 2) Sitka 1:34.94; 3) Kayhi 1:44.76; 4) JD (Chedi Giron, Gabe Aldrich, Axel Boily, Levi Phelps) 1:45.19
100 Backstroke — 1) Gavin Harold (Kayhi) 57.77; 2) Gabe Aldrich (JD) 1:08.12; 3) Erik Chevalier (Sitka) 1:09.66; 4) Aiden Eldridge (Kayhi) 1:10.24; 5) Axel Boily (JD) 1:10.44; 6) Ben Pallenberg (JD) 1:10.55; 7) Henry Thatcher (JD) 1:18.60
100 Breaststroke — 1) Evan Dash (Kayhi) 1:01.07; 2) Zach Martens (Sitka) 1:04.59; 3) Clive Mateo (JD) 1:15.03; 4) Nathaniel Duran (Kayhi) 1:21.75; 5) Andrei Siekawitch (Wrangell) 1:22.72; 6) Odin Emley (Sitka) 1:39.05
400 Free Relay — 1) Kayhi 3:36.44; 2) JD (Liam Kiessling, Kaden Aldrich, Keagen Andrews, Clive Mateo) 3:36.93; 3) Sitka 3:42.50; 4) Sitka 3:45.07; 5) JD B (Henry Thatcher, Ben Pallenberg, Chedi Giron, Sam Pallenberg) 4:04.71
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
