Kenai tops SkyHi in dual

At the Kenai Invitational on Sept. 22, the Skyview girls and boys swimming teams scored a total of two points. On Friday, Skyview scored 92 points in a dual meet with visiting Kenai.

That's just one of the reasons Skyview coach Angie Brown and Kenai Central coach Lee Moore are so fond of dual meets, which are rare on the Kenai Peninsula due to the fact the schools are so spread out. The Kardinals swept the dual meets the girls winning 129-46 and the boys winning 114-46.

"I wish we had more," Brown said of dual meets. "Duals are a fun experience for the kids who aren't at the highest level.

"With such a young team, it's easy to get lost in all the swimmers and disappointed. At dual meets, there's an opportunity for more swimmers to score points."

Brown said Friday's dual was the only time many of the swimmers on her team would have an opportunity to score points all year.

Typically, Kenai Peninsula schools are involved in meets with at least four schools. The meets can be two days long, or can run from 10 a.m. to at least 4 p.m. on Saturday. Friday's dual meet only took about two hours.

"Dual meets are always such fun," said Moore. "There's always somebody swimming in every event in every heat. It's good, old-fashioned, head-to-head competition. There's not a lot of down time.

"For spectators and team members, it's a lot shorter. And everybody gets just as much of a chance to watch their own kids."

Moore's wife and Kenai assistant, Pam, grew up swimming in Indiana. There, almost all of the meets were dual meets.

"She always tells me that dual meets were so much more fun," Lee Moore said. "Especially when you've got such a young team, the young kids very rarely get a chance to compete for first place. In dual meets, that happens."

Kenai had three swimmers win two individual events on Friday. Kendra Ashwell won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 butterfly, Dylan Wannamaker won the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, and Anders Nyquist won the 50 and 100 freestyles.

Skyview had two swimmers win two individual events. Kari Daly won the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, while Chrissie Strange won the 50 and 500 freestyles. Brown said Strange normally competes in diving, but since Kenai did not have any divers, she competed in the 500 instead.

"She's a senior leader," Brown said of Strange. "She swims the last leg in our relays. It's nice to see the seniors pulling weight."

Both coaches saw other highlights at the meet. Moore said Lee Ann Magiera's time in the 50 freestyle is coming back down. Magiera, who finished second in the race, works so hard that her time was going up in the event. As Moore eases her workload, the time should come down.

In the 100 breaststroke, Kenai sophomore Dax Thompson finished second, about three seconds behind Wannamaker. Moore said that Thompson is new to swimming and has only been in the water for about a month, so the performance was impressive. In the 100 butterfly, Kenai's Jasmine Klauder finished second to Ashwell by less than a second. Moore said that was a great effort, considering it was the first time Klauder raced the 100 butterfly.

For Skyview, Brown said Colin Murray won the 100 butterfly in his first time in the event. She also said Brandon Jones, a first-year swimmer, had a great effort in the 200 individual medley. Jones finished second in the event that requires a swimmer to do each of the four different strokes.

Kenai girls 114, Skyview 46

200-yard medley relay 1. Kenai A (Hanson, Jumtina, Magiera, Ashwell), 2:19.83; 2. Kenai C, 2:57.29.

200 freestyle 1. Kari Daly, Sky, 2:47.09; 2. Mary Pat Mills, Ken, 2:53.31; 3. Breanna Penning, Sky, 3:05.20.

200 individual medley 1. Kendra Ashwell, Ken, 3:01.78; 2. Natalie Kurzendoerfer, Ken, 3:09.57; 3. Adrianna Garcia, Ken, 3:23.68.

50 freestyle 1. Chrissie Strange, Sky, 28.40; 2. Lee Ann Magiera, Ken, 30.90; 3. Sara Hanson, Ken, 33.52.

100 butterfly 1. Kendra Ashwell, Ken, 1:36.21; 2. Jasmine Klauder, Ken, 1:37.17; 3. Anna Jumtina, Ken, 1:37.44.

100 freestyle 1. Lee Ann Magiera, Ken, 1:09.10; 2. Dedra Ming, Ken, 1:16.85; 3. Breanna Penning, Sky, 1:22.64.

500 freestyle 1. Chrissie Strange, Sky, 7:01.15; 2. Natalie Kurzendoerfer, Ken, 7:07.80; 3. Sara Hanson, Ken, 8:00.98.

200 freestyle relay 1. Kenai A (Garcia, McGahan, Ming, Kuzendoerfer), 2:20.16; 2. Kenai B, 2:35.39.

100 backstroke 1. Aundrea Moulton, Ken, 1:32.95; 2. Mary Pat Mills, Ken, 1:42.77; 3. Adrianna Garcia, Ken, 1:44.10.

100 breaststroke 1. Kari Daly, Sky, 1:26.38; 2. Anna Jumtina, Ken, 1:27.15; 3. Courtny Hodson, Sky, 1:50.46.

400 freestyle relay 1. Kenai A (Ashwell, Magiera, Kurzendoerfer, Jumtina), 4:48.76; 2. Skyview A, 5:15.62; 3. Kenai B, 5:23.25.

Kenai boys 129, Skyview 46

200 medley relay 1. Kenai A (Wannamaker, John, Nyquist, Sonnichsen), 1:53.52; 2. Skyview A, 2:07.75; 3. Kenai B, 2:26.37.

200 freestyle 1. Dylan Wannamaker, Ken, 2:17.64; 2. Jared Penning, Sky, 2:33.32; 3. Jake Iverson, Ken, 3:03.15.

200 individual medley 1. Alex Sonnichsen, Ken, 2:28.36; 2. Brandon Jones, Sky, 2:51.07; 3. Dax Thompson, Ken, 2:58.13.

50 freestyle 1. Anders Nyquist, Ken, 25.07; 2. Larry Blum III, Ken, 31.51; 3. Ian West, Ken, 38.40.

100 butterfly 1. Colin Murray, Sky, 1:04.56; 2. Alex Sonnichsen, Ken, 1:11.52; 3. Gradey Iverson, Ken, 1:20.03.

100 freestyle 1. Anders Nyquist, Ken, 54.79; 2. Freddie John, Ken, 56.65; 3. Jared Penning, Sky, 1:04.04.

500 freestyle 1. Ryan McMaster, Sky, 6:36.64; 2. Jacob Bisset, Ken, 8:13.72; 3. Ben Gillman, Ken, 9:07.39.

200 freestyle relay 1. Kenai A (Bisset, J. Iverson, Thompson, G. Iverson), 2:08.19; 2. Kenai B, 2:27.45.

100 backstroke 1. Freddie John, Ken, 1:08.34; 2. Ryan McMaster, Sky, 1:16.09; 3. Jake Iverson, Ken, 1:45.27.

100 breaststroke 1. Dylan Wannamaker, Ken, 1:20.84; 2. Dax Thompson, Ken, 1:23.55; 3. Brandon Jones, Sky, 1:26.35.

400 freestyle relay 1. Skyview A (McMaster, Jones, Penning, Murray), 4:09.01; 2. Kenai Central, 5:20.43.