JDHS boys claim first region title in eight years

The Juneau-Douglas High School boys swim and dive team ran away with their first Region V championship in eight years on Saturday in Petersburg.

They made it look pretty, too.

The Crimson Bears won all three relays and five out of the nine individual events: two by sophomore Caleb Peimann (100 backstroke and 100 butterfly), and one each by seniors Tyler Weldon (50 freestyle), Tate Goering (100 freestyle) and Cian Hart (1-meter diving).

“Everybody top to bottom swam lights out,” JDHS coach Seth Cayce said.

JDHS ended up with 166 points while Thunder Mountain finished in second place with 101 points. Sitka rounded out the top-3 with 95 points.

The Region V girls champion — Sitka — posted a similarly lopsided score with 155.5 points. Second-place JDHS had 106.5 points, and third-place TMHS had 104 points. Petersburg meet officials originally awarded the runner-up trophy to the Falcons, but the scores were shuffled after several points went to the wrong swimmers. What originally was a 1.5-point Falcons victory over the Crimson Bears turned into a 2.5-point loss.

“It was a challenging conversation to have with the girls but they definitely took it well and they understand,” TMHS coach Josiah Loseby said. “We were totally in agreeance that mistakes happen and the JDHS girls obviously earned it so we were more than happy to hand over the plaque.”

It was the closest TMHS has come to upending JDHS at the meet. Seniors Rosemary Kiessling, Amber Kahklen and the 400 freestyle relay team (Nancy Liddle, Sarah Heaton, Emily Heaton, Riley Traxler) set new school records. Kiessling and Kahklen finished one-two in the diving competition and the relay team came in third place behind Sitka and Petersburg.

Junior Hannah Taube also had a big meet for the Falcons.

Taube was third in the 500 freestyle after shattering her season-best time by 15 seconds. It was an emotional performance for both the junior freestyler and one of her biggest supporters.

“It definitely brings tears to my eyes when a kid is able to experience such a powerful thing like that,” Loseby said.

JDHS senior Cameron Howard also had several standout swims. Howard was the biggest threat to the Sitka Wolves’ attempt to win all 12 events (which they did). Howard touched the wall just two-hundredths of a second after Sitka’s Molly Blackmon in the 200-yard freestyle.

A similar finish played out in the boys 500 freestyle. Thunder Mountain’s Chris Ray won over teammate and former region champ Raymie Matiashowski, 4:55.23 to 4:55.44.

The state meet is next Friday and Saturday at Bartlett High School. The official qualifiers will be released online early this week. In order to qualify individually, swimmers must win their event at regions or post one of the next 12 best times statewide. In order to qualify as a relay, the team must win their event at regions or post one of the next four best times statewide. Cayce anticipates about 15 of his swimmers will make the cut. Loseby’s cohort will be closer to 12.

The TMHS boys won their first state meet in school history last year. Matiashowski is the only returning individual state champion from that team. The JDHS girls won back-to-back state championships in 2013 and 2014 and finished second in 2015 and 2016. Last year, they finished outside of the the top-10.

Results

Girls Team Scores — 1) Sitka 155.5; 2) JDHS 106.5 3) TMHS 104. 4) Petersburg 81. 5) Ketchikan 52. 6) Wrangell 30. 7) Craig 23.

Boys Team Scores — 1) JDHS 166; 2) TMHS 101; 3) Sitka 95; 4) Petersburg 62; 5) Ketchikan 52; 6) Craig 22; 7) Wrangell 6.

Girls 200-yard medley relay — 1, Sitka, 1:54.24. 2, TMHS (Emily Heaton, Jamie Heidersdorf, Nancy Liddle, Riley Traxler), 2:00.01. 3, JDHS (Tahlia Gerger, Taelyn Norvell, Mesa Moran, Cameron Howard), 2:00.09. 4, Ketchikan, 2:09.60. 5, Petersburg, 2:20.40. 6, Wrangell, 2:26.38.

Boys 200-yard relay — 1, JDHS (Caleb Peimann, Tyler Weldon, Tate Goering, Reed Gardinier), 1:45.37. 2, TMHS (Noah Loseby, Raymie Matiashowski, Micah Grigg, Chris Ray), 1:46.24. 3, Sitka, 1:47.39. 4, Craig, 2:10.84. 5, Ketchikan, 2:11.47.

Girls 200-yard freestyle — 1, Molly Blackmon, Sitka, 2:03.03. 2, Cameron Howard, JDHS, 2:03.05. 3, Allie Morgan, Petersburg, 2:03.06. 4, Emma Campbell, Ketchikan, 2:06.06. 5, Hannah Taube, TMHS, 2:07.39. 6, Stella Tallmon, JDHS, 2:13.65. 7, Erin Blankenship, Sitka, 2:16.15. 8, Alexa Godkin, TMHS, 2:25.83.

Boys 200-yard freestyle — 1, Micah Grigg, TMHS, 1:50.62. 2, McKinley Janik, Sitka, 1:50.66. 3, Peter Kowalski, Petersburg, 1:52.23. 4, Reed Gardinier, JDHS, 2:01.45. 5, Tyler Merle, Ketchikan, 2:09.82. 6, Anakin Purser, Craig, 2:20.85. 7, Caleb Pfundt, Petersburg, 2:22.54. 8, Orion Swanson, JDHS, 2:23.84.

Girls 200-yard IM — 1, Grace Harang, Sitka, 2:13.32. 2, Laura Sherrill, Ketchikan, 2:17.65. 3, Alyssa Guthrie, Petersburg, 2:21.95. 4, Taelyn Norvell, JDHS, 2:23.24. 5, Kai Frawley, Sitka, 2:28.08. 6, Natalie Zimmerman, JDHS, 2:33.04. 7, Jenny Chester, TMHS, 2:34.03. 8, Jamie Heidersdorf, 2:34.23.

Boys 200-yard IM — 1, Jacob Gagner, Sitka, 2:08.25. 2, Tytan Frawley, Sitka, 2:08.53. 3, Erik Jim, JDHS, 2:19.52. 4, Alec Lundburg, Ketchikan, 2:30.60. 5, Ulric Lehman, Craig, 2:31.84.

Girls 50-yard freestyle — Kyleigh McArthur, Sitka, 25.72. 2, Maria Pfundt, Petersburg, 26.03. 3, Renee Roberts, Wrangell, 26.07. 4, Cameron Howard, JDHS, 26.27. 5, Maddy Whitethorn, Petersburg, 26.29. 6, Riley Traxler, TMHS, 26.43. 7, Emily Heaton, TMHS, 27.50. 8, Addy Mallot, JDHS, 27.71.

Boys 50-yard freestyle — 1, Tyler Weldon, JDHS, 22.56. 2, Ryan Wallace, Petersburg, 23.97. 3, Reed Gardinier, JDHS, 24.40. 4, Sid Fleming, Sitka, 24.55. 5, Kristofer Ely, TMHS, 25.17. 6, August Kiessling, 25.18. 7, Noah Loseby, TMHS, 25.14. 8, Karthik Sanguni, TMHS, 25.66.

Girls 1-meter diving — 1, Rosemary Kiessling, TMHS, 298.65. 2, Amber Kahklen, 286.95. 3, Jessilyn Sivertsen, Ketchikan, 285.62. 4, Karman Funderburk, JDHS, 255.60. 5, Kessie Vonscheerschmidt, Sitka, 233.75. 6, Caity Pearson, Ketchikan, 204.70.

Boys 1-meter diving — 1, Cian Hart, JDHS, 367.60. 2, Will Torgerson, JDHS, 280.80. 3, Tate Goering, 251.65. 4, Steven Ireland-Haight, 235.60. 5, Branden Widdison, Sitka, 234.95. 6, Aiden Bailey, Sitka, 214.95. 7, Noatak Post, 213.10.

Girls 100-yard butterfly — 1, Jessica Davis, Sitka, 1:00.54. 2, Laura Sherrill, Ketchikan, 1:01.57. 3, Maria Pfundt, Petersburg, 1:01.95. 4, Nancy Liddle, TMHS, 1:02.34. 5, Sophia Schwantes, Sitka, 1:03.69. 5, Mesa Moran, 1:03.69. 7, Razie Guillory, Sitka, 1:05.30. 8, Dessa Gerger, JDHS, 1:08.10.

Boys 100-yard butterfly — 1, Caleb Peimann, JDHS, 56.03. 2, Jacob Gagner, Sitka, 57.35. 3, Rylan Wallace, Petersburg, 58.14. 4, Erik Jim, JDHS, 1:00.85. 5, Kyan Klinger, Ketchikan, 1:02.95. 6, Adrell Mulgrew-Truitt, JDHS, 1:03.43. 7, Ethan Thomas, Ketchikan, 1:05.67. 8, Ethan Ulric, Ketchikan, 1:06.00.

Girls 100-yard freestyle — 1, Kyleigh McArthur, Sitka, 56.21. 2, Allie Morgan, Petersburg, 57.04. 4, Riley Traxler, TMHS, 57.38. 5, Maddy Whitethorn, Petersburg, 57.66. 6, Addy Mallot, JDHS, 1:01.11. 7, Sarah Heaton, TMHS, 1:02.30. 8, Judy Meiresonne, Ketchikan, 1:03.36.

Boys 100-yard freestyle — 1, Tate Goering, JDHS, 50.54. 2, Sid Fleming, Sitka, 54.58. 3, Kristofer Ely, TMHS, 54.67. 4, Adrell Mulgrew-Truitt, JDHS, 54.84. 5, Isaac Gabel, JDHS, 56.05. 6, Tyler Merle, Ketchikan, 56.35. 7, Sean Spigelmyre, Petersburg, 58.00. 8, Wade Jack, Wrangell, 59.74.

Girls 500-yard freestyle — 1, Grace Harang, Sitka, 5:21.21. 2, Nancy Liddle, TMHS, 5:31.17. 3, Hannah Taube, TMHS, 5:35.60. 4, Mesa Moran, JDHS, 5:44.17. 5, Alyssa Guthrie, Petersburg, 5:46.34. 6, Natalie Zimmerman, 5:49.25. 7, Tahlia Gerger, JDHS, 5:52.19. 8, Razie Guillory, Sitka, 5:54.17.

Boys 500-yard freestyle — 1, Chris Ray, TMHS, 4:55.23. 2, Raymie Matiashowski, TMHS, 4:55.44. 3, Tytan Frawley, Sitka, 4:57.09. 4, Peter Kowalski, Petersburg, 5:03.34. 5, McKinley Janik, Sitka, 5:03.70. 6, Micah Grigg, TMHS, 5:04.66. 7, Samson Anderson, TMHS, 5:32.70. 8, John Bullock, Ketchikan, 5:57.60.

Girls 200-yard freestyle relay — 1, Sitka, 1:44.00. 2, Petersburg, 1:45:65. 3, JDHS (Taelyn Norvell, Mesa Moran, Addy Mallot, Cameron Howard), 1:46.65. 4, Ketchikan, 1:53.22. 6, Wrangell, 2:17.99.

Boys 100-yard freestyle relay — 1, JDHS (Adrell Mulgrew-Truitt, Isaac Gabel, Erik Jim, Reed Gardinier), 1:40.31. 2, Petersburg, 1:40.92. 3, TMHS (Karthik Sanguni, Samson Anderson, August Kiessling, Kristofer Ely), 1:43.20. 4, Ketchikan, 1:46.41. 5, Sitka, 1:51.71.

Girls 100-yard backstroke —1, Jessica Davis, Sitka, 1:00.05. 2, Molly Blackmon, Sitka, 1:04.45. 3, Stella Tallmon, 1:05.67. 4, Talia Gerger, JDHS, 1:06.74. 5, Emily Heaton, TMHS, 1:08.66. 6, Claire Schumacher, JDHS, 1:09.10. 7, Sarah Heaton, TMHS, 1:10.42. 8, Sunny Tveten, JDHS, 1:10.67.

Boys 100-yard backstroke — 1, Caleb Peimann, JDHS, 56.57. 2, Noah Loseby, TMHS, 59.81. 3, Sean Spigelmyre, Petersburg, 1:05.57. 4, Kyan Klinger, Ketchikan, 1:07.99. 5, Gabe Loseby, JDHS, 1:12.07. 6, Orion Swanson, JDHS, 1:12.07. 7, Wesley Urias, Sitka, 1:12.41. 8, Caleb Pfundt, Petersburg, 1:13.69.

Girls 100-yard breaststroke — 1, Sophia Schwantes, Sitka, 1:10.94. 2, Taelyn Norvell, JDHS, 1:13.66. 3, Kai Frawley, Sitka, 1:14.62. 4, Jamie Heidersdorf, TMHS, 1:16.15. 5, Dessa Gerger, JDHS, 1:17.97. 6, Amara Sanguni, TMHS, 1:22.49. 7, Jenny Chester, TMHS, 1:21.99. 8, Sierra Nelson, Craig, 1:27.85.

Boys 100-yard breaststroke — 1, Raymie Matiashowski, TMHS, 1:02.70. 2, Tyler Weldon, 1:03.17. 3, Karthik Sanguni, TMHS, 1:09.83. 4, Jimmy Baggen, Wrangell, 1:13.16. 5, Lewis House, Craig, 1:13.30. 5, Samson Anderson, TMHS, 1:13.30. 7, August Kiessling, 1:17.76. 8, Chase Lockhart, Petersburg, 1:18.01.

Girls 400-yard freestyle relay — 1, Sitka, 3:47.09. 2, Petersburg, 3:52.07. 3, TMHS (Nancy Liddle, Sarah Heaton, Emily Heaton, Riley Traxler), 3:53.79. 4, JDHS (Tahlia Gerger, Dessa Gerger, Natalie Zimmerman, Addy Mallot), 4:07.77. 5, Ketchikan, 6:45.86.

Boys 400-yard freestyle relay — 1, JDHS (Tate Goering, Caleb Peimann, Adrell Mulgrew-Truitt, Tyler Weldon), 3:25.94. 2, Sitka, 3:27.21. 3, Petersburg, 3:47.54. 4, Ketchikan, 4:01.88.

---

• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.

---