YOUTH SPORTS: Jensen leads Sandpoint Sharks to 10th place finish at IEL Long Course Championships

SPOKANE — Myelle Jensen (12 years old) took home an impressive five gold medals and the Sandpoint Sharks swim team placed 10th out of 20 teams at the Inland Empire Swimming Long Course Championships held July 26-28 at Witter Pool.

The championship meet, which is a qualifying, three-day meet, tests the endurance of some of the fastest swimmers throughout Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The meet has a preliminary round and a finals round (top 16) on the same day, which means some athletes arrive at the pool at 7 a.m. and often leave the pool after 8 p.m.

“Many of our swimmers made it to finals and contributed team points,” head coach Emily Renzini said. “Myelle Jensen (12) had the most points for our team by winning all but one of her events. The race she didn’t win (50-meter breast), she placed third in and dropped over a second.” 

Jensen won the girls’ 11-12 200-meter individual medley (2:45.32), the 50-meter freestyle (30.84), the 100-meter butterfly (1:18.68), the 100-meter backstroke (1:15.12), and the 200-meter freestyle (2:22.74). In the 50-meter breaststroke, in which she placed third, she swam to a new personal best time of 39.77 seconds.

Many other new swimmers qualified for the meet and put up some strong swims as well. Charley Rain Olpin (10), who placed amongst the top 10 in seven different events, won the girls’ 9-10 200-meter freestyle (2:57.04), placed second in the 50-meter backstroke (43.67) and third in the 50-meter freestyle (36.67). Isaac Good (8) swam a clean, dynamic 50-meter breaststroke (1:21.81) for a seventh place finish in the boys' eight and under division. Emerson Johnson, at only six years of age, proved that even the youngest of Sandpoint Sharks can contribute to the team’s success. She placed 10th in the girls’ eight and under 50-meter freestyle (1:39.08) and a 12th place finish in the 50-meter backstroke (1:22.10). All of the other competitors in her bracket, except one, were eight years of age.

Butterfly extraordinaire Ryleigh Bamer (16) had the swim of the meet in the girls' 15 and over 100-meter butterfly final (1:12.86).  

“Ryleigh has put in countless hours in the pool figuring out how to continue to drop time,” said coach Renzini. “This weekend she did it, dropping over a half a second and placing seventh.” 

Distance swimmers Ava de Leeuw (17) and Lou Foust (14) demonstrated their grit with big time drops in the mile Sunday night. de Leeuw, competing in the girls’ 15 and over division, dropped over 40 seconds off her personal best for a second place finish (19:05.29). Foust, in the boys’ 13-14 division, dropped 22 seconds for a third place finish (19:14.20). 

Coach Renzini said her favorite part of coaching is seeing her swimmers achieve their goals. Renzini said seeing swimmers such as Savannah Ferris (12), Alivia Storms (13) and Athena de Leeuw (13) make their final debuts this past weekend wasn’t much of a surprise considering how much time and effort the girls have put into practice this year. 

Next on the agenda for the Sandpoint Sharks is the Long Bridge Swim this Saturday. For Myelle Jensen, she will head to the 2024 Western Age Group Zones Championships set to be held Aug. 7-10 at the Idaho Central Aquatics Center in Boise.

If you know someone who would like to join the Sandpoint Sharks Swim Club, tryouts are September 10 and 12 at 4 p.m. at the YMCA. Contact head coach Emily Renzini at Headcoach@sandpointsharks.com for more information.