Seven members of Petersburg’s high school swim team are competing in the state championship in Anchorage on Nov. 6–7. That’s after a very strong showing at the regional meet in Juneau last weekend.
KFSK’s Taylor Heckart sat down with head coach Andy Carlisle to talk about the results, and how the team stands heading into state.
“They were super excited. They’re placed pretty well,” Carlisle said. “We’re in one of the stronger regions, so if you’re doing well in our region, you’re doing well statewide.”
Listen to the interview here:
TRANSCRIPT:
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Carlisle: Well, Friday was prelims, and everybody just did what they had to do, which was make it to finals. And everybody made it to finals, which is always good.
And then Saturday, finals was pretty amazing. We did great. Lexi Tow won the 200 free. Just a little bit later, Cyrus [Hulebak] won the 200 IM. And then the next event, Tori Miller won the 50 free.
So right before diving, we had three wins under our belt.
Heckart: That’s impressive.
Carlisle: Yeah, I was really surprised. And then later on, Bella [Miller] won the 500 free, which was the best race of the whole night. She was a body length behind for 350 yards, and then started reeling her in.
Heckart: Oh my goodness!
Carlisle: Just the last 10 yards was neck and neck.
Heckart: Wow! So she pulled up from behind.
Carlisle: Yep. It was good.
And then Cyrus and Lexi both won another one, both 100 breaststrokes.
We have seven kids going to state out of 10, so that’s pretty good.
Heckart: That’s very good.
Carlisle: We have a girls’ relay. The boys’ relays were alternates, so they’re right there for four freshmen. I’m pretty happy with that. It was a very good weekend.
Heckart: Wow! And I know whenever we go into these big meets, you always have a lot of confidence about the team. But this seems even excelling expectations.
Carlisle: They seem to do that.
Heckart: And how are they reacting right now to this really good regions success?
Carlisle: They were very excited when we got the official list of who made it. They were super excited. They’re placed pretty well. We’re in one of the stronger regions, so if you’re doing well in our region, you’re doing well statewide.
Heckart: So that’s a good potential indicator of success.
Carlisle: Yeah.
Heckart: Okay, so what is it like between regions and state? It’s mostly resting, right?
Carlisle: It’s mostly resting. I call it active recovery because they burn a lot of gas over the weekend.
Heckart: Yeah, that does seem like it would be tough going all out in regions, and then being expected to go all out again in state.
Carlisle: Yeah, it’s rough. And I learned the hard way over several decades that getting back at it hard the next day is not the way to go.
Heckart: What are you most excited about for state?
Carlisle: Oh, all of it. Every single one of them. I hope we can get everybody into finals again. That would be wonderful.
Heckart: It seems like from a coach’s perspective, this is the time of year where it gets really exciting to watch,
Carlisle: It is. Oh, yeah. I like the good races, the close ones. Bella’s 500 free. Cyrus’s 200 IM came right down to the last stroke. That’s what I like.
Heckart: Nail biters.
Carlisle: Yes. Winning big, losing big, that’s no fun
Heckart: Because you already know.
Carlisle: Yeah, I like to have them work for it.
Junior Lexie Tow took first in the women’s 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:00.66. She took first in the women’s 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:09.21.
Junior Bella Miller took first in the women’s 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:34.08. She took fourth in the women’s 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:06.61.
Freshman Tori Miller took first in the women’s 50 yard freestyle with a time of 25.46. She took third in the women’s 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.22.
Freshman Cyrus Hulebak took first in the men’s 200 yard IM with a time of 1:59.60. He took first in the men’s 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.28.
Freshman Hakon Eddy took third in the men’s 200 yard IM with a time of 2:14.35. He took third in the men’s 100 yard butterfly with a time of 55.20.
Freshman Kendyl Lachapelle took fourth in the women’s 500 yard freestyle with a time of 6:02.70. She took sixth in the women’s 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:11.14.
Junior Olivia Hinde took fifth in the women’s 500 yard freestyle with a time of 6:21.19.She took seventh in the women’s 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:16.99.
Freshman Derek Allison took sixth in the men’s 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:07.33. He took 8th in the men’s 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:06.21.
Freshman Cedar Littleton took seventh in the men’s 50 yard freestyle with a time of 26.18. He took eighth in the men’s 100 yard freestyle with a time of 1:01.63.
Freshman Tavyn Cabral took 8th in the men’s 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:31.36.
The women’s 4×50 yard medley relay team took third with a time of 1:57.50.
The men’s 4×50 yard medley relay team took third with a time of 1:47.68.
The men’s 4×50 yard freestyle relay took third with a time of 1:37.57.
