Petersburg High School senior Logan Tow brought home the gold after he took first in the 100 yard freestyle at last weekend’s state swim meet in Anchorage.
The swim team was celebrated with a noise parade. At the end of their parade route, the Viking Swim Club, Petersburg’s youth swimming team, held up handmade signs, cheering and congratulating the high schoolers on their successes at state.
Head coach Andy Carlisle said he was very pleased with the entire team’s performance in Anchorage.
“Everybody got lifetime bests at some point in the proceedings,” Carlisle said.
Logan came into the state competition seeded first for the 100 yard freestyle, which he won with a time 46.54 seconds, 0.56 seconds faster than the second place finisher. He also placed third in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.48.
Carlisle said Logan’s improved a lot since his freshman year.
“When he was a freshman, he didn’t make it to state. When he was a sophomore, he did, but didn’t final,” Carlisle said. “Last year, he stepped up really big and got third in the 200 free. And this year he’s third in the 200 free with the time that would have won last year, and [he] won the 100 free.”
Logan said it took a lot of hard work to make it to the top of the podium.
“All that hard work pays off,” he said. “You know, those early mornings and those hard practices, those moments where you don’t feel like you’re getting better, but you are. Pushing through that is, yeah, it means the world.”
Logan is the only boy on the team, but his events alone gave the Petersburg men’s team a ranking of 11th out of 16 men’s teams.
His sister, sophomore Lexie Tow, had her own wins at state. Last year, she took first at state in the 100-yard breaststroke. While she placed third in the event this year, she swam faster and broke her own personal record with a time of 1:07.33.
“I definitely, like, felt like I was improving more this year,” Lexie said. “I had a feeling that I was going to do better at state than what I felt last year.”
Lexie also placed fifth in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 24.81 seconds.
She was also a member of the four-person girls relay team, which also included sophomore Bella Miller, junior Olivia Hinde, and senior Brooklyn Whitethorn. The team took sixth in the 200 yard medley with a time of 1:57.39.
Brooklyn said the relay team grew a lot throughout the season.
“So we started off, you know, just pretty average. But as we, like, got closer to regions, we started shaving off a bunch of time,” she said. “And at regions, we shaved like five seconds off, so that was pretty good. And then we got about the same time at state.”
Since it’s Brooklyn’s last year of high school, the end of the season has been bittersweet for her.
“I’ve been swimming since I was six years old. So it’s just like, kind of the end of an era for me,” she said. “It was emotional, but also kind of like, relieving at the same time.”
Bella placed 7th in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:35.38.
She said the team will be different next year without their two seniors.
“It won’t be the same without Logan and Brooklyn, you know?” she said. “We’ll miss them.
Overall, she said it’s been a strong season.
“We all felt pretty good, and I felt pretty good, and it was just a really good season, I think,” she said.
Coach Carlisle agreed.
“They made us proud again, as they always do.”
