Senior Sectionals a Dramatic Team Success
HEAT Families:
I am honored to announce that last night the HEAT finished off an extraordinary weekend of swimming at the 2019 Western Region Sectional Championships. For those of you that don’t know what the Sectional Meet is, I will do my best to explain…
It is a meet overseen by USA Swimming designed to bring it’s member clubs together for a high level, Senior Championship meet. The NW version of the meet is one of the most attended— thus most competitive— Sectional Championship meets in the Nation. This year’s version of the meet saw 110 teams in attendance from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico… 893 Swimmers competed in a total of 3922 individual events and 568 relays. It is a massive, highly competitive meet.
Both our women’s and men’s squads finished with more points then last year… In the combined team standings we finished in 6th Place overall… our women ended up in 20th Place… and our men secured the Sectional Championship Title.
It is a rare thing for such an honor to go to a small team such as ours. The teams that typically take home this honor are swim clubs that boast a total swimmer count far exceeding that of our own, with typically around 60+ athletes in attendance. Our squad of 6 young women and 13 young men, did our program, and Oregon Swimming proud….
NEW Western Section Meet Records:
(as an fyi… the Western Section was actually SPLIT into two meets a couple of years ago… the meet had just gotten too large… the meet records are the fastest of BOTH meets, all-time)
- Men’s 4x50 Medley Relay: Max Woodbury, Brett Champlin, Ethan Heasley, Luke Thornbrue- 1:29.07
- Men’s 1000 Freestyle: Ethan Heasley- 8:50.51
- Men’s 400 IM: Ethan Heasley- 3:44.25
- Men’s 1650 Freestyle: Ethan Heasley- 15:03.24
Oregon Swimming Records:
- 17-18 year old and OPEN 4x50 Medley Relay: Max Woodbury, Brett Champlin, Ethan Heasley, Luke Thornbrue- 1:29.07
- 17-18 year old men’s 1000y FR- Luke Thornbrue- 9:00.22
- 17-18 year old and OPEN 1000y FR- Ethan Heasley- 8:50.51
- 17-18 year old 200 FL- Ethan Heasley- 1:45.76
- 17-18 year old 4x50 FR Relay: Brett Champlin, Ethan Heasley, Elijah Clements, Luke Thornbrue- 1:23.49
- 17-18 year old 200 FR- Luke Thornbrue- 1:35.58
- 17-18 year old and OPEN 400 IM- Ethan Heasley- 3:44.25
- 17-18 year old 500 FR- Ethan Heasley- 4:20.83
- 17-18 year old and OPEN 4x100 Medley Relay: Max Woodbury, Brett Champlin, Ethan Heasley, Luke Thornbrue- 3:17.30
Men’s High Point Winner: Ethan Heasley- 179
Men’s 3rd Highest Point Scorer: Luke Thornbrue- 162
FINALISTS (top 32):
Brett Champlin- A Final 100/200 BR; B Final 200/400 IM; C Final 50 FR
Nathan Claxton- D Final 200 FL
Elijah Clements- B Final 100 FL
Ethan Heasley- A Final 500/1000/1650 FR; 200/400 IM; 200 FL
Hayden Kirkpatrick- C Final 200 BK
Liza Lunina- D Final 100 FR, 200 FL; B Final 100 BK; C Final 200 BK, 50 FR
Elsie Pagel- B Final 1000/1650 FR
Kenneth Sugiantoro- D Final 200 FR
Luke Thornbrue- A Final 200/500/1000/1650 FR; 100/200 FL
Max Woodbury- D Final 200 BR; B Final 100 BK; C Final 200 BK
We had phenomenal performances from all of our relays, and I was so impressed with the entire team’s attitude and willingness to be on any relay of any letter designation… every athlete just wanted to do whatever was best for the team and was ready and willing to put it all on the line for whatever relay they were placed on… this is what the team dynamic should be.
Each team at the meet is allowed to enter as many relays as they wish but can only score 2 of any entered relays per event. For the teams fighting for team titles, both the A and B relays were of vital importance towards that effort and I loved how our young men embraced that across the board; even with our C relays.
The best moments will not be seen in the stats above… seeing our entire team go crazy when we won the first relay of the meet… something no one thought was possible but us… seeing Luke win the 200 FR in an epic come from behind fashion while also holding off another late charger… to the atmosphere these instances created and how emotionally charged it made everyone. To the exclamation point we put on the overall meet by once again capturing a relay title… once again winning as the underdog.
Other moments that will stay with me forever came in the form of seeing our Men’s team Captain Brett Champlin— who I’ve watched grow from a shy young 7 year old to a fierce leader and competitor— lead his squad to the podium to claim their Title Trophy… the pride in all of their eyes… To our Senior Girls crying tears of happiness that they accomplished their squad goal for the weekend, and watching them embrace while immediately setting forth plans for the future…
I am so proud of this accomplishment and this team. The title itself is a representation of all of our swimmers. Past and Present. Young and Old. It is a credit to all of the coaches that have ever been a part of the program; to all of our officials; and to all of the parents of the HEAT… we ALL contributed to this accomplishment. Thank You.
Congrats Hillsboro.
Keep Dreaming Big…. And when others tell you that it cannot be done… know that is only the case when you start believing them.
~Coach James
