Beaverton — It became a three-way race entering the final event: Churchill with 46 points, Crescent Valley had 45 points, and Redmond with 44 points. With the slimmest of margins separating the trio, it would come down to the 400 Free Relay event, the final race of the 2022 5A Swimming State Championships. Churchill entered the event favorite by about two seconds over Crescent Valley, while Redmond sat in the bottom of the Top 10 times entering state, ultimately making it a race between the Lancers and Raiders.

Just as it was expected, Churchill would out swim Crescent Valley in the most important event in program history, finding themselves crowned state swimming champions for the first time in school history. For the Lancers, a journey to the summit of Oregon swimming has been completed! Churchill kicked off the meet with a trio of wins in the 200 Yard Medley Relay, Lauren Larsen winning the 200 Yard Freestyle, and Kylie Taylor taking the 200 Yard IM. Redmond and Crescent Valley took second and third in the relays, Vivi Criscione took runner-up at the 200 Yard Freestyle for CV, and Redmond’s Molly Konop took third in the 200 Yard IM. After three events, Churchill led the pack with 28 points, CV was second with 16, and Redmond in third with 14 points.

Wilsonville’s Helena Jones would make the 5A record book in the 50 Yard Freestyle, setting a 5A record with a 22.96 run, topping the previous record of 23.26 by Willamette’s Kaila Lee in 2010. CV’s Viola Teglassy and Redmond’s Willow Messner came in behind Jones in the 50 Yard event. The Panthers would pick up their first event win in the 100 Yard Butterfly courtesy of Messner, who won the state title to cap off her freshman season at Redmond. Churchill would sneak in Lauren Larsen at third place to keep their lead steady with 32 points, but Redmond had closed it to a seven point spread with 25 points up to that point. It was Jones again in the 100 Yard Freestyle event, setting another 5A record with a 49.83 time to break Kaila Lee’s 2010 record. For Helena Jones, it was the cap to a perfect state meet with a senior season still to come at Wilsonville in 2023.

In what was a massive momentum shifter, Crescent Valley returned from a break in the action to put up a huge 1-2-3 finish in the 500 Yard Freestyle, blowing past Churchill to take a 39-32 lead with Redmond in third at 26 points. Next up was the 200 Yard Free Relay, where Redmond seized the lead in the 5A race with a dub in the event to make it a 40-39 lead over CV, while Churchill had fallen to third with 32 points still. The Lancers would return to victory in the 100 Yard Backstroke, as Kylie Taylor took the dub to get Churchill to a tie with CV at 39 points and sitting a lone point behind Redmond with two events left. The 100 Yard Breaststroke featured the trio again, as Churchill won with Kelsey Wasikowski leading the way to a 5A state record 1:02.73 in the race. CV’s Viola Teglassy and Redmond’s Molly Konop rounded out the Top 3, putting the score at Churchill 46, CV 45, and Redmond 44 entering the final event of the state championships.

The decisive race would come down to Crescent Valley and Churchill: Would the Raiders dynasty keep chugging or was it time for a new champion to emerge? Lauren Larsen would get the Lancers a 1.8 second lead at the first change, Emily Ashton put up a near four second gap in her 100 yard split, Kylie Taylor and Kelsey Wasikowski finished the job to clinch the 5A state championship. The Lancers would beat Crescent Valley in the 400 Yard Free Relay, securing their place in Churchill history with their first state title in program history. Crescent Valley took home second, Redmond would finish third, all in the course of about 4 and a half hours’ worth of swimming that came down to the last race. It was a hard fought, gritty battle of contenders and ultimately a first-time champion would emerge with the trophy from the battle, toppling a dynasty and setting their own history in the process.

Records are there to be broken, and that's just what Churchill's senior Charley Page-Jones and junior Kelsey Wasikowski did at the OSAA 5A swimming state championships on Friday at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center.

Page-Jones took down the Oregon 5A state record and the overall OSAA record in the boys 100-yard butterfly with a final All-American time of 47.63.

The returning state champion broke the four-year-old records set by Lebanon's Casey McEuen at 49.19 (5A record) and Beaverton's Van Mathias at 47.90 (OSAA record).

"I was so excited that I had so much adrenaline," Page-Jones said. "At the end of the day I knew my strategy, and it worked. I went faster than I have ever gone by over a second."

Page-Jones also took home first in the 50 freestyle with an All-American time of 20.39.

Wasikowski dominated in the 100 breaststroke she broke the 5A record with a time of 1:02.73. The time also earned her All-American consideration.

"That was unexpected," Churchill coach Megan Murphy said.

Wasikowski's time was more than four seconds ahead of Crescent Valley's Viola Teglassy, who finished in second.

"The 100 breaststroke is really new to me," Wasikowski said. "I haven't really done it ever which is really exciting to do what I just did. It was really overwhelming, and I didn't expect to see that time on the board. I didn't expect to win. I didn't expect any of these things, but it was just a really great feeling."

Churchill senior Kylie Taylor, a returning state champion, dominated in four events.

Taylor took home first-place finishes in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:09.29 and in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.67.

"It's exciting to walk away with that," Taylor said after competing. "Makes me happy."

Churchill's girls' 200 medley relay won its first state title with a time of 1:49.83. The team, comprising of Taylor, Wasikowski, Emily Ashton and Lauren Larsen finished the night the same way they started it — taking first in the 400 freestyle relay time with a time of 3:36.65.

Larson was also the champion in the 200 freestyle in 1:54.59.

Those six event wins helped propel the Lancer girls to their first state team title as they finished with 60 points.

In 2020 — the last year the meet was held — Churchill had its previous-best finish when it was runnerup to Crescent Valley. The Raiders finished second Friday with 55 points.

"It's so exciting that we could win state for Taylor's senior year," Wasikowski said.

Willamette scored 20 points to finish in a tie for fifth with Central, and Springfield placed eighth with 13 points.

The Churchill boys, the reigning 2020 champions, finished eighth with 14 points. Willamette was sixth with 17 and North Bend seventh with 16.

Edith Noriega is a sports reporter. You may reach her at ENoriega@salem.gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Noriega_Edith.

UNLV-bound Charley Page-Jones looks to add to haul of 5A titles; Pepperdine-bound Kylie Taylor is a two-time backstroke champion

December 16, 2021 by Jerry Ulmer, OSAAtoday

Churchill seniors Charley Page-Jones and Kylie Taylor have raised the bar for the Lancers. (Photo courtesy Churchill HS)

It's been an historic run for Churchill swimming in recent seasons.

A crop of outstanding swimmers has racked up individual 5A titles and rewritten the school record book. In 2020, the boys team won the 5A meet – the Lancers' first-ever team state championship – and the girls team finished second to Crescent Valley.

This season promises more of the same. Seniors Charley Page-Jones and Kylie Taylor, who have signed with UNLV and Pepperdine, respectively, lead a talented crew that will be pushing school and state marks.

“I'm hoping they can take down a few more records,” Churchill coach Megan Murphy said. “It's been a big four or five years just for really improving those records.”

The season also represents a golden opportunity for the girls team, which appears primed to go after its first state title behind Taylor and juniors Kelsey Wasikowski and Lauren Larsen.

“They would really like to have the first girls title,” Murphy said. “They're excited about it. The girls are motivated, but it's not a given. It's still something that has to be worked for.”

Page-Jones has four individual state titles, winning the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly as a freshman and sophomore. He finished off a shortened junior season by finishing first in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle in the Lane County culminating week meet.

Page-Jones holds school records in the 50 freestyle (20.98), 100 freestyle (48.23) and 100 butterfly (49.36). He swam the 100 butterfly in 48.87 in a club meet this year, faster than the 5A record of 49.19, set by Lebanon's Casey McEuen. His club-best of 20.67 in the 50 freestyle is inching closer to McEuen's OSAA all-time record of 20.18.

Page-Jones will follow in the footsteps of McEuen, now a senior on the team at UNLV.

“If he takes those records down, when he gets to UNLV, it's not going to be a bragging thing,” Murphy said. “To be able to take down somebody's records who's that fast, and then be able to train with them, I think Charley sees that as an opportunity.”

Taylor is a two-time 5A champion in the 100 backstroke. In the Lane County meet last season, she won the 100 backstroke and was third in the 200 individual medley behind two 6A swimmers.

Taylor holds the school record in the 100 backstroke (57.11) and could threaten the 5A record (54.91), set by Bend's Ellyanna Ferrin in 2017. She already has clocked 55.02 in a club meet this year.

“I think that's within her reach if she wants it,” Murphy said. “She knows what the record is and I think she's training to be able to get it.”

Wasikowski won the 5A title in the 50 freestyle as a freshman and showed her versatility in the Lane County meet last season when she won the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle, cruising to a 14-second victory in the latter. She also is very strong in the 200 individual medley.

Wasikowski and Taylor swam legs on three school-record relay teams in 2020. The relays could be bolstered this year with the addition of Larsen, who set the school record in the 200 individual medley (2:12.07) in the Lane County meet.

“All three of them are versatile,” Murphy said.

Churchill's boys team has lost much of its firepower from its 5A title team (Page-Jones is only state scorer remaining), but the girls believe they have what it takes to claim their own swimming banner.

“They're excited, especially because it would be the first time in Churchill history,” Murphy said. “And Kylie graduates this year, so for them to be able to do that together, before she heads off to college, would be a really great opportunity.”

It's shaping up to be another outstanding season for Churchill swimming.

The boys team won the school's first-ever state championship at the Class 5A meet in 2020 and followed that with a title at last year's makeshift season-ending meet, a combined 6A/5A event that featured mostly teams from Lane County.

This season, it could be the girls team that breaks through with the program's first state championship.

"The girls have a really good chance this year to bring home a first-place finish at state," Churchill swimming coach Megan Murphy said. "We're a little thin on the boys side, but the girls team is bigger than it has been and we kind of have the perfect storm."

Central to that perfect storm is senior Kylie Taylor, a two-time state champion who signed a letter of intent to swim for Pepperdine next year. Taylor has twice won the 100-yard backstroke at the 5A state meet and she won that event again at last year's countywide meet. She owns the Churchill school record in the 100 back (57.11 seconds) and is closing in on the 5A record of 54.91, set in 2017.

Taylor, like a lot of elite swimmers, pulls double duty in the winter while swimming for both her high school and club teams. She recently returned from junior nationals in Austin, Texas, where she soaked up the big-meet experience while preparing for a big senior season.

"I wasn't really expected to go but I qualified like the weekend before," Taylor said of junior nationals. "It was sudden for me so I just wanted to go for the experience.

"I definitely want to drop more time. For high school, winning the state team title and individual events is a big goal for me. For club, since I'm already committed (to Pepperdine) it's just about dropping times."

College swimming recruiting is already vastly different than other sports, but last year was complicated with COVID-19 and the cancellation of many events. Taylor kept her options open as long as possible, then met with Pepperdine coaches during a club meet earlier this year in Santa Clarita, Calif.

"The Pepperdine coaches were there and I really clicked with them, then I went to visit campus the next day," she said. "It's really hard to visit campus and not want to go there. I just knew that's where I wanted to go.

"Pepperdine has always been near the top of their conference, so just contributing points to the team at the conference meet is a goal and leading off relays is also important. Really I just want to work with the goal of getting faster."

In addition to Taylor, the Lancers have some additional firepower in juniors Kelsey Wasikowski and Lauren Larsen. Wasikowski won a 5A state title in the 50 freestyle as a freshman and took first in both the 200 and 500 free at last year's Lane County meet. Larsen set a school record in the 200 individual medley last year (2:12.07) and Wasikowski also swims multiple events, giving Churchill lots of scoring opportunities at the state meet.

On the boys side, Churchill lost all of its scorers from the 2020 state meet except senior Charley Page-Jones, but the senior will still make a big splash in the pool this winter.

Page-Jones is a four-time state champion, winning the 50 and 100 free as both a freshman and sophomore, then taking home both titles at last year's Lane County meet. Page-Jones, who signed his letter of intent to swim for UNLV next season, owns school records in the 50 free (20.98), 100 free (48.23) and 100 butterfly (49.36), and he is closing in on Casey McEuen's 5A state records in the 50 free (20.18) and 100 butterfly (49.19).

"I'm hoping to get the 100 fly record," Page-Jones said. "I was under that time at Juniors (48.87), so that would be really cool to break that record."

The Churchill senior started his recruiting process last fall not knowing what to expect due to COVID restrictions and protocols.

"I didn't know what I was doing, but I talked to some people and started sending emails and making some phone calls," he said. "Near the end UNLV reached out to me and asked if I wanted to come out to Vegas and see the campus.

"I had some pretty in-depth conversations with the coaches. I really liked the philosophies of all the coaches. They're all really knowledgeable and they have very set values in their program."

Page-Jones has set some goals for his time at UNLV.

"My hope is to be able to make a relay team (next year). I think I could be a pretty good butterflyer," he said. "The four-year plan for me? I want to be able to go to the NCAA meet and compete. I'm not sure how far I can go. My main goal is to get all my academic stuff taken care of."

The main goal this year is to see how many school and state records come toppling down.

Follow Zack Palmer on Twitter @zpalmer_11 or email at zpalmer@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com.

Churchill Lancers win 5A boys state swimming title

By The Register-Guard

metadata

Posted Feb 22, 2020 at 1:34 PM

Updated Feb 22, 2020 at 9:56 PM

BEAVERTON — For the second straight season, Charley Page-Jones swam himself to the top of the podium at the state championship meet.

This time around, he was joined by the rest of his teammates.

Page-Jones repeated as state champion in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly to lead the Lancers to their first boys state swimming title on Saturday at the Class 5A championship meet at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center.

Churchill scored 53 team points, finishing comfortably ahead of second-place West Albany, which scored 39.5.

The Lancers also finished second in the girls meet, as individual wins from Kylie Taylor (100 backstroke) and Kelsey Wasikowski (50 freestyle) led them to a 50-point day and their best finish in program history. Crescent Valley, with its six event champions, won the girls title with 75 points.

CLICK HERE for complete results from the Class 5A meet.

Page-Jones made history as a freshman last season when he won the Lancers’ first two individual boys titles.

On Saturday, he reset his own school record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 49.36 seconds, good enough for all-American consideration, and won the 50 freestyle in 21.18.

The sophomore then anchored the Lancers’ first-place 400 freestyle relay team, joining teammates Davis Wingard, Finn Conaway and Brennan Whip for the win in 3:18.97.

Conaway and Wingard also had impressive days individually for Churchill, as Conaway was the runner-up in the 500 freestyle and took third in the 200 individual medley, and Wingard was fourth in 100 breaststroke and 200 freestyle.

The Lancers 200 medley relay team also finished second.

Churchill’s win marked the second straight season a team from the Midwestern League won the boys title. Last year it was Springfield, which wasn’t a factor in the team race this season, though Diego Reyes had another championship-level performance.

The junior won his second consecutive state title in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 56.92, and was the runner-up in the 100 butterfly in 51.18. Nathaniel Gordy also was fourth in the 500 freestyle for the Millers.

North Bend placed fourth as a team with 28.5 points. The Bulldogs got a win from their 200 medley relay team with a time of 1:40.33 from Mavrick Macalino, Craig Hoefs, Tucker Hood and Adam Wood.

Macalino was also third in the 100 butterfly and fourth in the 500 freestyle, Hoefs was sixth in the 200 IM, Zachary Holt was sixth in the 100 breaststroke and the 400-freestyle relay team was fourth.

Also in the boys meet, North Eugene’s Gabe Dawson was fifth in the 500 freestyle.

The Churchill girls started the meet on a roll with a win in the 200 medley relay as the team of Taylor, Wasikowski, Meg Justice and Alanah Erickson recorded a time of 1:51.13.

Wasikowski soon followed with a victory in the 50 freestyle in 24.68. The freshman also was second in the 100 freestyle in 53.89, as Crescent Valley’s Paula Lomonco edged her out for the title in 53.29.

Taylor, a sophomore, repeated as champion in the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.11 and was also third in the 100 butterfly in 1:00.17. Justice placed fifth in the 100 backstroke, Erickson was sixth in the 100 butterfly and the 400-freestyle relay team finished second.

Springfield’s 200 freestyle relay team of Sydney Simmons, Mckenzie Galloway, Sarah Karr and Veronika Perry won the title to led the Millers to a fourth-place finish in the team standings.

Simmons was also third in the 100 freestyle and fifth in the 100 breaststroke, Galloway was fourth in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM, and Kassandra Mclennan was sixth in the 100 backstroke as Springfield finished with 29 points.

North Bend scored 28 points for a fifth-place finish, as Bella Jones placed second in the 200 freestyle and fourth in the 100 butterfly, Natalie Cheal took fifth in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly, Makenna Roberts was fifth in the 500 freestyle, the 400 freestyle relay team was third and the 200 medley relay team was fourth.

Also in the girls meet, Willamette’s 200-freestyle relay team placed third, Hannah Phillips was fifth in the 50 freestyle and Grace Oster was sixth in the 100 breaststroke. North Eugene’s Helen Keeney was sixth in the 200 freestyle.

By Chris Hansen

Posted Feb 19, 2020 at 4:33 PM

Updated Feb 19, 2020 at 8:30 PM

With three individual champions and a fourth-place finish by both its boys and girls teams, Churchill had an impressive and memorable state meet in 2019.

Turns out, the Lancers were just getting started.

Churchill will bring two teams to the OSAA Class 5A championship swimming meet this weekend at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton loaded with scoring potential and state title contenders.

The girls team has the top seeds in two individual events and two top-seeded relay teams. The boys team has sophomore Charley Page-Jones, the reigning champion in the 100-yard butterfly and 50 freestyle.

The meet begins Friday with the preliminary rounds from 9-11:15 a.m. The finals are Saturday from 8:15-11:15 a.m. The 6A and 4A/3A/2A/1A meets are also staggered throughout those two days at the same venue.

“We’re just hoping that come Saturday they’re going to swim and leave nothing in the pool,” said Churchill coach Megan Murphy, who is in her 12th season. “I bet they swim their best and if it’s enough to take first, then awesome.”

The girls also return a state champion in sophomore Kylie Taylor, who won the 100 backstroke last season to become the Lancers’ first individual girls winner since 1970. She was also third in the 100 butterfly.

Taylor is the top seed in the 100 backstroke and is seeded second in the 100 butterfly.

“She’s been working hard training with club and high school, focusing on technique and endurance and sprinting,” Murphy said. “I’m excited for her.”

Freshman Kelsey Wasikowski is the top seed in the 100 freestyle and the second seed in the 50 freestyle.

“I think she can go faster on Saturday with the excitement of it being the state meet,” Murphy said. “So much of it is the adrenaline of being in a big meet. And anything can happen in any of those meets.”

Just as it did for Churchill’s 400 freestyle relay, which took 21 seconds off its season-best at last weekend’s Midwestern League district meet to get the top seed at the state meet. The Lancers’ 200 medley relay is also seeded first.

Junior Meg Justice is seeded fourth in the 100 backstroke and 11th in the 50 freestyle, and sophomore Alanah Erickson is seeded ninth in the 100 butterfly.

Only the top six finishers out of Friday’s prelims make the final.

“I’m excited to have all four of those girls travel up there,” Murphy said. “The state meet is exciting and I think they’re going to swim really well.”

Defending champion Crescent Valley is the prohibitive favorite, with four No. 1 individual seeded swimmers and all three relays seeded third.

Springfield should also contend for a high finish, with 10 individual qualifiers and all three relay teams.

Freshman Sydney Simmons is seeded third in both the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, sophomore Mckenzie Galloway is seeded fourth in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the 200 individual medley, and junior Sarah Karr and freshman Saryah Judish are seeded sixth in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke respectively. The Millers also have the No. 2 200 freestyle relay and No. 4 200 medley relay.

North Bend, which placed third last year, is led by junior Natalie Cheal (third in the 200 IM and fourth in the 100 butterfly), junior Bella Jones (fourth in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 100 butterfly), junior Makenna Roberts (fifth in the 500 freestyle and seventh in the 200 freestyle) and the No. 2 400 freestyle relay.

For Willamette, sophomore Grace Oster is seeded sixth in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 freestyle relay team is seeded fourth.

Page-Jones will have some work to do to defend his two titles in the boys meet. Last year he won the Lancers’ first individual trophy in school history and the first overall since a 1968 win in the 400 freestyle relay.

He enters the meet seeded third in the 50 freestyle and second in the 100 butterfly after losing to Springfield junior Diego Reyes during the district meet. Last season he edged Reyes in the state 100 butterfly final. Reyes has the top seed in that event as well the 100 breaststroke.

“Charley likes to race,” Murphy said. “And boy, those two, it’ll be really exciting. They push each other, which is awesome.”

The Lancers also have senior Finn Conway seeded third in the 500 freestyle and fifth in the 200 IM, junior Davis Wingard seeded fifth in the 100 breaststroke and the second-seeded 200-medley relay team and the fifth-seeded 400-freestyle relay team.

The Millers, who won their first state swimming title last season, are led by Reyes, but also have senior Nathaniel Gordy seeded third in the 200 freestyle and fourth in the 500 freestyle. The 400-freestyle relay team is seeded sixth.

North Bend will bring the top seeded 200-medley relay team and the second-seeded 400 freestyle relay team. Senior Craig Hoefs, who is seeded second in both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, and sophomore Mavrick Macalino is seeded third in the 100 butterfly. North Eugene’s Gabe Dawson is seeded sixth in the 500 freestyle.

Churchill sweeps North Eugene in MWL swimming dual

Posted December 20, 2018

Buoyed by the largest swim team turnout in recent history and dominating wins in five of six relays, the Churchill boys and girls swim teams swept host North Eugene on Thursday in a Midwestern League dual meet at River Road Pool.

The Lancer boys, first-time district meet champions last season, scored 99 points to North’s 71, while the girls team won 98-72. The North boys were second at the district meet last year.

“Winning is fun, and we’ve got a lot of momentum coming into this year,” said 12th-year Churchill coach Megan Murphy, who has 55 swimmers on the roster. “But as a no-cut sport, swimming is also a place where everyone gets a chance to better themselves every time they jump in the pool. That’s a unique experience in high school sports today.”

One of several athletes making the most of that chance was Churchill freshman phenom Charley Page Jones. After breaking the school’s 14-year-old 100-yard butterfly record earlier this season with a time of 53.71 seconds, Page Jones swam a speedy 53.32 on Thursday to further lower the mark. He has also set a school record in the 100 freestyle this season (49.39), won the 200 individual medley (2:05.91) on Thursday, and anchored the Lancers’ winning 400 freestyle relay (3:38.73).

“I’ve been swimming since I was 6 but when I was about 11, I decided I wanted to try to get faster,” he said. “My drops have been more than most people because my old times were so slow. That’s what I love about swimming — a coach can help you fix one thing, then another thing, and then you get to practice and see the work pay off in a very quantifiable amount. It’s really satisfying to come out of the pool and say, ‘I did my best today.’”

Other Churchill individual winners included Davis Wingard (200 free, 1:59.96); Braden Reilly (100 backstroke, 1:03.01); and Finn Conaway (500 free, 5:18.82; 100 breaststroke, 1:11.21).

North sophomore Ahmed Elmanhara, an exchange student from Egypt, won the 50 and 100 free races in 24.85 and 54.73, respectively.

“I’ve swam with El Ahly (a highly competitive club team in Africa) for 10 years, so I’m grateful I can still swim with a team while I’m here,” he said.

On the girls side, Churchill freshman Kylie Taylor (200 free, 2:08.33; 100 breast, 1:15.8); and North sophomore Helen Keeney (200 IM, 2:18.36; 100 fly, 1:04.70) were double winners, and North’s Oriah Hoshi set a personal best in the 50 free to narrowly beat Churchill’s Samantha Webster-Bernal by .06 of a second, 28.88 to 28.94, in the closest race of the day.

“I took a couple of days off leading up to this meet to regroup and get back in the game,” she said. “I guess it was just what I needed.”

Churchill’s Meg Justice (100 back, 1:07.2) and Alanah Erickson (100 free, 59.70) rounded out the individual events. North senior Alexis Matthiesen-Johnson, who won the 500 free at districts as a junior and was runner-up as a sophomore, also won that event Thursday but due to incorrect lap counting, the race completed one lap short and times were not recorded.

Lancers Get First District Title

By Jarrid Denney

Posted Feb 11, 2018 at 12:01 AM

SPRINGFIELD -- When a swim team wins a big meet, their coach gets ceremoniously thrown into the pool to celebrate.

So when Churchill coaches Megan Murphy and Elise Salmond left for the Willamalane Swim Center on Saturday, they packed a change of clothes, hoping they would need them for the drive home.

Some five hours later, the Churchill boys captured their first Midwestern League title, and their coaches found themselves running away from swimmers to no avail before being dragged into the water.

“We are so excited,” Murphy said while wiping water away from her face. “The boys worked really hard for this, and it took all of them to win the meet. It wasn’t just a couple of fast kids who won it for us. It was all of them working together.”

Churchill won with 376 points, 45 ahead of runner-up North Eugene and 54 better than third-place Springfield. The Lancers didn’t win an individual event but used their depth to increase their lead bit-by-bit throughout the day.

Peter Thompson was the top scorer for Churchill, taking second in both the 200-yard freestyle and 100 breaststroke. He was one of the top scorers for last year’s team that finished 130 points out of first place before coming together this year to make school history.

“I still don’t comprehend it,” Thompson said. “I know we’ve won -- I’ve seen the trophy. But, like, how did we win? We’ve just been so far behind every other year, but everybody has just come so far this year.”

Churchill got points from 14 swimmers, and 10 Lancers scored at least 15 points. Sophomore Finn Conaway took third in the 200 individual medley and fifth in the 500 freestyle.

North Eugene and Springfield hung with the Lancers most of the way, and with 10 events left, all three teams were within 40 points of each other.

Springfield got a pair of wins from Chaz Stafford in the 200 and 500 freestyles. Jason Seiner won the 200 IM and was second in the 100 freestyle for North Eugene.

But ultimately, depth prevailed for the Lancers.

“Our team just works really well together,” Murphy said. “They push each other, and it helped that we had more coaching staff this year. We had three assistants this year, and it was great.”

In the girls team race, Springfield won with 407 points. The Millers were neck-and-neck with Marist for much of the meet, but delivered huge performances in the final two individual races of the day to win by 76 points.

The Millers entered the 100 backstroke trailing the Spartans by eight points. Marist sophomore Aubrie Ellison won that race, but Springfield garnered 60 points thanks to a 2-3-4 finish by Lydia Dapkus, Madison Bender and Lillian Greene.

“That was kind of crazy,” Dapkus said. ”(Ellison) is one of my best friends and swims club with us. It’s a competition and you want to win, of course, but no matter what, we knew it was just going to be fun, and we’re all really close.”

Definitely a dirty job Community groups earn money for postgame cleanup at Mac Court

By Mark Baker

The Register-Guard

Published: Jan 5, 2009 08:41AM

Amanda Smith/The Register-Guard

Churchill swimmer Andrea Douglass, 17, looks under the seats at McArthur Court for trash Sunday. Groups can earn money for cleaning up the stadium.

McArthur Court, the University of Oregon’s historic and not-long-for-this-world basketball arena, is known as “the Pit” because of its creakiness, its steam-bath-like environment and its inhospitality to opposing teams.

The old arena, which opened in 1927, lives up to its name even after a game, because then, too, it really is a pit.

A pit full of hot dog wrappers, soda cups, popcorn buckets, bingo cards, pretzel cheese and … chewing tobacco spit?

That’s what Churchill High School sophomore Blair Ramsing proudly held up Sunday, swishing it around in the bottom of an empty water bottle, as his best find “so far” near some courtside seats.

Ramsing and about 30 other members of the Churchill swim team were busy cleaning up Mac Court after the UO men’s basketball team’s game against UCLA.

Community groups, mostly high school students, clean Mac Court and the UO’s other athletic facilities — Autzen Stadium, Hayward Field, Howe Field — as a way to raise funds for their groups. UO student groups — fraternities, club sports teams, etc. — also do it, mainly after weeknight games, said Steve Green, the Athletic Department’s maintenance and laborer coordinator.

Groups get $600 to clean up after a UO men’s basketball game, and $375 for a women’s game, Green said. The lesser fee for women’s games reflects smaller crowds and the fact that Mac Court’s second and third balconies are closed for women’s games.

A typical men’s game, which can often be a sellout with 9,087 fans, or come close, as when 8,595 fans showed up Sunday for the UCLA game, can result in all four trash bins behind the arena being filled to their brims, said Joe Motta, an events maintenance worker for the athletic department who organizes cleanups.

It’s about a three-hour job to clean Mac Court after a game, Motta said.

The Churchill swim team will use the $600 it earned Sunday to buy new fins and lap counters, and start a fund for team members who can’t afford equipment, head coach Megan Murphy said.

The team has held a “lapathon” to raise money, but had never before cleaned the Pit, Murphy said.

And their reaction when told they’d get the chance?

“Some of them were like, ‘We have to clean?’ ” assistant coach Liz Hendrickson said. “And some of them were excited to be at Mac Court.”

As for Murphy and Hendrickson, they volunteered to clean the arena’s bathrooms Sunday, seemingly sparing the students.

Why?

“The bathrooms are the quickest and the easiest,” said a grinning Hendrickson, who had helped cleaned Mac Court when she was a member of the UO water polo team.

If some of the Churchill students didn’t exactly find Sunday’s job a thrill — “I really don’t like picking up other people’s stuff, but since I’m on a team, I do it,” sophomore Mariah Godinez said — others were fine with it.

“I was excited because we get to help our fellow university, and I was excited to get to hang out with friends (during winter break),” said sophomore Chloe Marquardt.

She was less excited, however, when she found a “chewed-up hot dog” in a bag. “It was really not right,” she said. “It was gross.”

Cleaning up Mac Court pales in comparison with cleaning Autzen after a football game. That takes about 350 people, mostly the day after a game, Green said.

He hires groups for the entire season to do specific jobs. One group does bathrooms, another does the parking lot, etc.

About 15 groups are working on any given Sunday after a home game, and fees paid range from $110 for cleaning up garbage immediately after a game to $1,800 paid to the group that takes blowers to the entire stadium the next day.

At least at the Pit, there’s less chance of finding sneaked-in alcohol or its aftermath. “Personally, I like it for that reason,” Motta said of supervising Mac Court cleanups over Autzen.

Cleanup crews start on the third and second balconies at Mac Court and work their way down to the main floor.

Larger cleanup crews most likely will be needed when the UO opens the nation’s most expensive college basketball arena, the $227 million Matthew Knight Arena, in 2011, said athletic department operations manager Ryan Stock, who hopes to improve the level of recycling during cleanups at the new arena.

Will the new arena be easier to clean than the Pit?

“I would hope so,” Green said. “Because Mac Court is a chore. It’s just got so many nooks and crannies.”

Sometimes, though, things are just lying right out in front of you, such as the barely dented bucket of Big Duck Popcorn that junior Morgan Phillips found.

“That’s good stuff,” Phillips said, shoveling a handful into his mouth as fellow teammates cringed. “Life is sweet.”

“I really don’t like picking up other people’s stuff, but since I’m on a team, I do it.”

— Mariah Godinez, churchill high school sophomore