Swimming: Astoria boys, Seaside girls win Nygaard meet titles
Dec. 6—Local swimmers jumped in the pool competitively for the first time this season last Saturday, as Astoria hosted the 24th edition of the Andrew Nygaard Invitational at the Astoria Aquatic Center.
And the results were good for the North Coast teams, with the Astoria boys and Seaside girls both winning team titles. Nine schools and 154 swimmers took part.
The Astoria boys racked up 71 points to finish ahead of the Valiants (61), while the Lady Gulls had 72 points, ahead of Astoria's 66.
"For the boys, our 200 medley relay took first (1 minute, 58.86 seconds) with Cody Crisp, Trevor Newman, Jacob Peeler and Finn Bizzell," said Astoria coach Aly O'Connor, with Bizzell, a sophomore, also taking first in the 100-yard butterfly and two relays.
Elsewhere, Newman was first in the 200-yard freestyle, and swam with Peeler, Christian Womack and Bizzell to win the 200-yard freestyle relay.
"For the girls, we had a strong showing from Hannah Daniels and Hazel Towsy French," she said. "Hannah taking first in the 200 IM and 500 free; Hazel taking first in the 100 back and second in the 200 IM. Seniors Kelsey Loyola and Brooke O'Connor had strong swims in the 200 relay, 400 relay and 100 back."
The Seaside girls won the first event of the day, with Annie Rehnert, McKenzie Philbrick, Gabriela Tapia and Sofia Shipley taking the 200 medley relay in 2:23.20.
Tapia also won the butterfly, and the Gulls placed first in the 400-yard freestyle relay, with the foursome of Fernanda Lopez-Bercera, Rehnert, Avery Rogien and Philbrick.
"It was great to see the new swimmers work through those first race jitters and get more comfortable as the day went on," said Seaside coach Shane Spell. "Mackenzie Phillips had a nice race in the 100 breaststroke and Gabriela Tapia had a nice 100 fly for the first one of the season."
Also, "Logan Dennis had some strong relay swims as well," he said. "We've got a lot of work to do, but the team is really locked in on what they need to do."
