Swim club athletes slice through Alaska Swimming Senior Championships’ water
- Klas Stolpe
- Jan 24
- 8 min read
Day one of meet at Juneau’s Dimond Park Aquatic Center crowns multiple champions
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Day one of the Alaska Swimming Senior Championships on Friday featured numerous finalists crowned as the best in the state and flooded the Dimond Park Aquatic Center pool with athletes also aiming for titles on Saturday and Sunday.
Juneau’s Glacier Swim Club member Amy Liddle, 16, won the women’s 100 yard Individual Medley in 1:01.34, touching out Anchorage’s Aurora Swim Team member Maizy Kass, 17, who touched in 1:01.50. GSC’s Lily Francis, 17, placed sixth in 1:03.45.
“This is by all means a championship meet and so we are in an interesting spot,” Juneau’s Glacier Swim Club coach Daemon Vargas said. “We haven’t had a full training cycle going into the meet. So really I just told everyone, ‘Temper your expectations and when you get up on the block, you are doing your best every time. You may surprise yourself but hey, as long as we are in the neighborhood of where we were before this long winter then I am thinking we are doing really good.’ And so far that is exactly what I am seeing. A couple of best times, not a ton of them, but all the swims look good. The technique is there and I just think getting that aerobic base back and building up some energy for the next training cycle is going to be the plan going forward.”
Getting through three days of grueling swims can take a toll on athletes and coaches alike.
“From the athlete’s standpoint it is just kind of pacing yourself,” Vargas said. “You know what events you are swimming ahead of time. A lot of time the number of events in a day are stretched out a little bit so you have more time between swims so it is just really learning to relax effectively, stay fueled, but not eat too much at the same time and mentally prepare for each race as they come up. We didn’t have too many swims today and we don’t have a huge base of athletes at this meet compared to some of the other teams, but everyone is performing well, their strokes and technique look really good.”
GSC’s Valerie Peimann, 17, won the women’s 50 back in 27.76 and the 200 breast in 2:25.31; Liam Kiessling, 15, won the men’s 50 back in 24.44 and Kiessling, Josh Edwards, 16, Levi Phelps, 15, and Kaden Aldrich, 14, won the men’s 200 medley relay with 1:40.81.
Sitka’s Baranof Barracudas Swim Club member Zach Martens, 16, won the men’s 200 breast with 2:14.57. GSC’s Edwards was third with 2:18.38 and BBSC’s Ben Lihou, 14, sixth with 2:26.52. BBSC’s Taryn Fleming, 17, placed fourth in the women’s 50 back.
Southeast also had swimmers from Petersburg and Ketchikan in the pool.
“In a meet like this, I have been trying to tell them it is really important to race prelims,” Viking Swim Club coach Derek Gibb said. “Prelims are the hardest to get into finals in a meet like this because there are so many good swimmers from around the state. It is pretty cool and good exposure for our kids. And they raced well this morning. We had a couple people in the B final, Cyrus is in the A final. So I am excited for the evening.”
For Gibb, a 1999 Petersburg High School graduate and 18-time NCAA All-American while competing for Auburn University, the return to the pool is sweet.
Gibb had taken a break from the competitive waters after reaching highs of an NCAA team title with Auburn, competing for the United States at the 2003 World University Games and in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Trials (50 free and 100 back). He returned to Alaska and spent time commercial fishing, married a fisherman’s daughter and became a part of the community he grew up and swam in since age seven. He won four state championships while at PHS and his 100 free time of 46.27 is fifth on the state list. Gibb has also won a state basketball title with the Vikings and nearly defeated a Carlos Boozer-led JDHS team in the Region V crossover game.
Club coaches can impact more youth swimmers from a younger age, thus instilling a love of the sport. Lack of athletes in small towns, however, can see the talent pool thinned out to other sports. This season PHS had just six swimmers.
Gibb jumped at the chance to bring his philosophy of inclusion and science-based training to the pool and his VSC charges to DPAC this weekend.
“It is pretty cool,” Gibb said. “Definitely brings back a lot of good memories. It is kind of funny how I got back into it. I started out just doing some technique work for a buddy of mine, Jason Miller, daughters. Turns out I really liked it and missed it. I had stepped away from swimming for quite a long time. And I do have a couple boys coming up in the program and it is fun to see them and watch them and any kid’s progress. So that’s how it started. Jason asked me for a swim lesson and I was like, sure. And it ended up being a two-year process and then this coaching job came up, and I applied and here we are.”
VSC’s Cyrus Hulebak, 13, placed fourth in the men’s 50 back with 25.93 and fifth in the 100 with 56.78; Tori Miller, 13, placed 11th in the women’s 100 fly with 1:03.04, 12th in the 100 IM in 1:05.50 and 13th in the 50 back with 30.31; Hakon Eddy, 13, placed 13th in the men’s 100 fly with 59.72; and Miller, Hulebak, Eddy and Kendyl Lachapelle, 13, placed 5th in the mixed 200 medley relay with 1:54.32.
“On day one they have a lot of nervous energy and expectations coming up,” Ketchikan Killer Whales Swim Club coach Brian Calvin said. “So on the first day I think you need to just take a step back and calm your nerves and kind of bring yourself down into a more relaxed energy where you can go but can also be steady on your breathing, your heart rate, all that stuff.”
Anchorage’s Aurora Swim Team member Clint Kopp, 18, won the men’s 100 IM in 52.57 and Kopp, Payton Curtis, 17, Dax O’Brien, 16, and Maizy Kass, 17, won the mixed 200 medley relay with 1:43.70.
Anchorage’s Team YETI were an energetic crew as they placed second in the men’s 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:43.16. Reed Wirschem, 15, Griffin Fencil, 16 and Braeden Schoppert, 16, had the pool jumping as they cheered Beck LaBoucane, 16, to the wall. GSC’s Kiessling, Edwards, Phelps, and K. Aldrich, 14, won the race in 1:40.81.
Team YETI is relatively new to the sport, becoming sanctioned a little over a year ago.
“We are actually the Aquatic Foundation of Alaska,” YETI coach Grant Gamblin said. “And the Yeti is our mascot so we just go by that.”
Gamblin said the team’s goal is “overall to go to a meet, compete and race and show our character. I tell them to go let your character shine, go give your best. Sometimes it gets to be a best swim and sometimes we get to learn. Just going to learn is very important.”
When asked what a YETI looked like in the water, Gamblin laughed and said, “Loud and proud.”
Fairbanks’ Midnight Sun Swim Team member Zen Schaetzle, 18, won the men’s 100 yard butterfly in 50.39, nipping Chugiak Aquatics Club member Blake Fazio, 18, who touched in 50.82.
“Day one of a meet is basically setting up for a hard, tiring weekend,” Midnight Sun Swim Team coach Patrick Burda said. “So yesterday we talked about, we are going to be tired on Sunday so let’s prepare for it now. Getting good rest, good hydration, keeping our bellies full. It is always a long weekend for them, but beyond that it is just having fun and getting behind each other… It is a lot on the body. The kids need rest between races, between one session and another session. They have to eat to help with that recovery. But then it is just the environment we are in. It is hot on the pool deck, it’s humid and that is going to zap that energy too. It’s stressful, it’s loud, there are a lot of people here. All those stressors tire you out as well. It is about trying to mitigate that fatigue as much as we can.”
CAC would have their share of wins Friday. Lelaina Trembath, 16, won the women’s 200 free in 1:55.99; Fazio won the men’s 200 free in 1:44.10; Reese Woodward, 17, won the women’s 100 fly in 56.45; Hannah Cooper, 18, won the women’s 1000 free in 10:58.84; Nate Shockley, 16, won the men’s 1650 free in 17:08.53; and Cooper, L. Trembath, Woodward and Caitlyn Rumph, 16, won the women’s 200 medley relay in 1:50.15, just ahead of GSC’s Peimann, Kennedy Miller, 16, Liddle and Lily Francis, 17, in 1:51.34.
“I try to instill in them that the psych sheet is there to be challenged,” Chugiak Aquatic Club coach Patrick Garrity said. “And to go out there and give their best in every race that they do, accept the results and own it.”
Garrity said, “To get through three days of this it takes a lot of training, a lot of stamina. These kids are swimming six or seven events, which means they are swimming 12 times and another four times in relays. There are probably 16 to 18 quality swims on the weekend. And you do have to be in shape, you have to have stamina and you have got to have strong will power.”
CAC is composed of youth swimmers who also compete at different high schools from South Anchorage through the valley to Wasilla and many in between.
“They love seeing each other during the high school season,” Garrity said. “And then they get to swim together here and they support each other. And this meet is kind of neat because it brings together kids that might not be familiar with each other and they get to see all levels and good sportsmanship.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
