Scots swim teams are MHC champs

Posted Feb. 17, 2022

By Tristan Hansen and Graciela Del Rosario

Staff Editors

Both the boys’ and girls’ swim teams won the Mount Hood Conference title last weekend at the District Championship swim meet.

Freshman Isaac Campbell, junior Andy Tan, and seniors Zach Franzke and Tam Nguyen won the men’s 200 yard medley relay, qualifying them for the state championship this upcoming weekend in this event. They finished with a time of 1:45.26, nearly 15 seconds faster than their closest competitor. Tan also placed second in the 200 yard IM and first in the 100 yard breaststroke with times of 2:08.27 and 1:02.19, respectively, while Franzke finished third in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:02.45, qualifying them in these events as well.

The men’s 400 yard freestyle relay team, consisting of Isaac Campbell, junior Kian Pease, senior Jordan Eastman, and sophomore Bao Voung, and 200 yard freestyle relay team, consisting of Tam Nguyen, Kian Pease, Andy Tan, and Bao Voung, both placed second and qualified in their respective events, with times of 3:36.23 and 1:34.78.

The girls started out strong as senior Julie Schwam, junior Holly Lippert, and freshmen Kim Nguyen and Elliot Swanson placed the fastest time of 1:53.63 at the Women 200 Yard Medley Relay event. In addition, Schwam, Lippert, Nguyen and freshman Alyssa Siripatrapa once again were the fastest at the Women 400 Yard Freestyle Relay event with 3:47.87. Later down the line, Schwam would claim the top spots at Women 500 Yard Freestyle and Women 100 Yard Backstroke, at 5:13.75 and 56.56 respectively. The 100 Yard Backstroke event was of most significance to Schwam’s performance as she broke the record for fastest time, previously held by former DDHS student Jamie Trapp at 57.85.

Coach James Bowe recalls in Schwam’s freshman year that she was the district champion for the same event, she was then beaten by swimmer Hannah Sharp sophomore year, and reclaimed victory this year by overtaking Sharp by three seconds. Schwam would see herself recognized at the end as Female Swimmer of the Meet. The girls’ 200 yard medley and 400 yard freestyle relay groups both qualified for state and will compete for state titles.

Those who qualified for state will compete later this weekend at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center.

“Both squads swam very well,” coach Bowe said. “As a group every kid put in great effort and raced to the best of their ability. We will compete this weekend at state. I am hoping we can have a top 10 performance for both teams. Most of these kids that have qualified for state are kids who have made tremendous commitment to be the best they can be. They have put a lot of time and energy into what they do.”