Schoening, Bokowy, Wright lead Bulldog girls to district swim title

Ballard, Norling win four golds each for boys

MOSCOW — Mikayla Schoening and Kate Bokowy each won all four of their events, leading the Sandpoint girls to the championship of the 4A Region 1 swim meet on Saturday at the University of Idaho pool.

Schoening won the 50 and 100 free, and Bokowy the 200 IM and 100 butterfly, and each swam a leg on the winning 200 free and 200 medley relay teams to help the Bulldogs run away from runner up Moscow 192-113. Joining them on the winner relays were Autumn Morgan and Sierra Speakman in the 200 medley relay, and Kaya Wright and Morgan on the 200 free relay.

Both relays figure to be in the hunt for a podium spot at state. All told the girls will bring 12 swimmers to state after a strong showing at districts.

Other top five finishes by the girls included Wright winning the 100 back and finishing second in the 100 free, Morgan winning the 100 breast and taking second in the 200 IM, Speakman taking second in 100 fly and 500 free, Speakman, Sabrina Wilson, Charlie LeBlanc and Wright 2nd in 400 free relay, Brosnahan 2nd in 200 free and fourth in the 100 breast, missing a state berth by just .07, Wilson 2nd in 100 breast and 4th in 200 free, Clara Cave 3rd in 500 free and 5th in 50 free, Chandler Sanborn 4th in 500 free and Elise Gregory 5th in 200 free.

The first and second place finishers in each event earned state berths, as well as the winning relays, with the next three fastest times in state getting at-large berths.

“I’d like to put our performance in perspective. There are 16 individual spots available and three relay spots available. The Sandpoint girls took 12 individual and two relays,” raved head coach Greg Jackson. “I’d say we took more than our fair share. The girls speak for themselves.”

Jackson was moved by the actions of one swimmer and surprised the finishes of another.

“Briana Brosnahan showed tremendous sportsmanship in a joyful congratulations to her teammates that just beat her out of an automatic qualification in her main event, the 100 Breaststroke,” said Jackson, who hopes Brosnahan gets an at large berth in the event. “Kaya was on fire. Her performance led her from a maybe for qualifying at all to state to a contender to be reckoned with at state.”

Jacob Ballard continues to impress in leading the boys team with four gold medals, winning the 100 butterfly by nearly five seconds, winning the 100 breast and also legs on the winning 200 medley and 400 free relays.

Caleb Norling won the 200 free and 500 free and also claimed four gold, while Garrett Bamer won the 100 breast and was second in the 100 free.

Bamer, Ballard, Norling and William Dormand won the 200 medley relay, and Bamer, Norling, Ballard and Jack Grzincic won the 400 free relay in a strong showing of speed. The boys team finished second with 139 points to Moscow’s 161.

“The Boys saw obvious performances from the likes of Jacob, but Hayden, Jake (Aitken), and Garrett swam beautifully to achieve personal bests and score important points for the team,” lauded Jackson. “The boys did not get beat by speed, it was the sheer number of boys that Moscow had that allowed them to win. They had over 15 swimmers compared to our eight, and with scoring to 8th place, we were hard pressed to make up the difference with top finishes alone.”

Other top five finishes from the boys included Aitken, Grzincic and Dormand and Hayden Leavitt finishing 3rd in the 200 free relay, Dormand 2nd in 50 free and 3rd in 100 butterfly, Grzincic 3rd in 200 IM, Aitken 4th in 50 free and 5th in 100 back and Leavitt 5th in 200 free and 500 free.

Overall the Bulldogs posted 50 percent personal records, with 75 percent of the athletes achieving at least one personal best.

“I couldn’t be happier with the meet,” claimed Jackson. “It was a great conclusion for some of the swimmers’ seasons, and a great motivator for those going on to state.”

The state meet is Friday and Saturday at the Boise YMCA.