Petersburg’s high school swim team traveled to Anchorage last weekend to compete in the state swim meet. By the time the team reached the finals, head coach Andy Carlisle said things were looking good.
“On the first day, almost everybody made it to the finals, which is huge,” he said.
When it came time for freshman Cyrus Hulebak to start the 200 yard individual medley, Carlisle was nervous. Cyrus had already taken first in the event the week before during the Southeast regional meet.
“He jumped out to an early lead, which always makes me nervous on a 200,” Carlisle said. “I’m more comfortable if they just hang with the crowd and then win at the end. But that’s not Cyrus’s way of doing things.”
But Cyrus didn’t end up falling back.
“He jumped out ahead and just hung on,” Carlisle said. “Every time Zach [Martens] from Sitka got a little close. He just poured on some more.”
Cyrus took a state championship title with a time of 1:58.75.
The freshman said he’s been working hard on getting his moves down to a science.
“I was focusing on all four strokes and then the exchanges between them, because on the turns you can’t do a flip turn on all of them,” he said.
So, he said that the first place victory felt pretty good.
“I was really happy,” Cyrus said. “There’s a video, I slap the water.”
Other members of the team also had great finishes. Junior Bella Miller took second in the 500 freestyle, which Carlisle said is her best finish ever. Junior Lexie Tow also finished second in the 200 free. Cyrus took a third place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke. Others finished higher at state than they had in regions.
Overall, Carlisle said he’s happy with where the team ended up this year.
“It was just a great season all around. They worked hard,” he said. “It was a short season because we missed two weeks at the beginning, which made me nervous all season long. But we seemed to get it done.”
Those missing two weeks were due to construction that temporarily closed down the community’s only pool.
With all of that hard work out of the way, the team celebrated their victories with a noise parade. Fire trucks and cars met the swimmers at the airport on Monday, and drove around town honking their horns.
And at the end of the parade route, members of Petersburg’s youth swimming team, the Viking Swim Club, were waiting at the high school. They held signs congratulating the team on a season well done.
State championship finals results
Freshman Cyrus Hulebak took first in the boys’ 200 yard IM with a time of 1:58.75. He took third in the boys’ 100 yard breaststroke.
Junior Bella Miller took second in the girls’ 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:30.28.
Junior Lexie Tow took second in the girls’ 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:59.67. She took fourth in the girls’ 100 yard backstroke with at time of 1:09.20.
Freshman Hakon Eddy took fifth in the boys’ 100 yard butterfly with a time of 54.41.
Freshman Tori Miller took 7th in the girls’ 50 yard freestyle with a time of 25.88. She took 7th in the girls’ 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:01.19.
The girls’ 200 yard medley relay team took 7th with a time of 1:58.17.
The boys and girls teams placed 8th overall.
