Solid start for Jays, JHS splits with Demons, Patriots

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Jamestown High School’s Chesney Middaugh does the backstroke in the 200 individual medley during Tuesday night’s season-opening double-dual against Bismarck and Century at the JHS pool.
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Camille Kawaski competes in the 200 freestyle.

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Senior Blue Jay divers Alex Lind and Abby Wanzek finished 1-2, while three Jamestown swimmers qualified for state in the pool, as the Blue Jay girls hosted their season-opener against Bismarck Century and Bismarck High in a double-dual on Tuesday night.

JHS senior Kamie Wager got her season off on the right note by winning the 100-meter butterfly in a state-qualifying time of 1:05.37.

Wager also qualified for state in the 100 breaststroke by taking fourth with a time of 1:18.24. The top five finishers of that race all broke the state-qualifying standard of 1:20.00.

“The girls were awesome. This was the first meet of the year and they all just really stepped it up and performed well,” JHS swimming coach Ben Smith said. “Everyone improved on their times from the intrasquad meet we held last week.”

Jamestown fell to defending state champion Bismarck Century 125-61 during the double-dual, but the Jays did defeat Bismarck High 108-78.

Along with Wager, Jamestown sophomore Annie Hart also punched her ticket to the state meet in a pair of events on Tuesday. Hart won the 100 backstroke with a state-qualifying mark of 1:02.10, and also qualified for state in the 50 freestyle by swimming a 26.49.

The top six in the 50 free bested the state standard of 27.96, including Jamestown junior Paige Peterson who finished fifth in a time of 26.84. Hart finished second in the race, just a hundredth of a second behind Bismarck Century’s Veronica Herrmann who posted the winning time of 26.48.

“In those sprint events, you normally see a lot of qualifiers really quickly,” Smith said. “We did really well, and this was their first race so after that we just look to keep on improving.”

Peterson finished 14th at state last year in the 50 free, and Smith said her race on Tuesday was great to see.

“That was a really nice surprise. It was close to her fastest time, about a second off,” Smith said. “To be that close to her best time already is something that we really noticed.”

Lind, the defending state diving champion, appears to be on top of her game from the get-go. Lind scored a 245.75 to run away with the diving event, while Wanzek’s 207.90 placed her second.

“Both Alex and Abby did really well, going 1-2,” Smith said. “They both did some diving over the summer, went to some camps and just really stayed in shape.”

The Blue Jays now travel to face the Fargo North Spartans in a dual next Thursday in Fargo.

“You always want to see improvement, whether it be in times or just the way they swim their races or perform their dives,” Smith said. “It was really good to see that everyone was really on their game tonight. Everyone was focused and supportive of each other.

“It was just a good team effort.”

Team results

Bismarck Century 125, Jamestown 61

Jamestown 108, Bismarck 78

Bismarck Century 124, Bismarck 62

Individual results

200 medley relay: 1, BHS (Emma Hepper, A.K. Koebele, Kristin Engeberg, Hailey Dempsey), 2:01.50; 2, JHS (Annie Hart, Kamie Wager, Paige Peterson, Camille Kawasaki), 2:01.73; 3, Century (Tess Sether, Maddie Lares, Alex Jamieson, Kaitlyn Ekre), 2:09.73.

200 freestyle: 1, Dempsey, BHS, 2:07.03 SQ; 2, McKenzie Jeske, Century, 2:11.11 SQ; 3, Grace Werder, Century, 2:11.84 SQ.

JHS results

5, LaMae Turk, 2:19.93; 6, Kawasaki, 2:20.02; 8, Karissa Hubbard, 2:26.41; 10, Amber Walch, 2:42.09; 13, Julia Shirly, 2:56.28.

200 individual medley: 1, Dani Bergeson, Century, 2:16.45 SQ; 2, Hepper, 2:25.18 SQ; 3, Abby Bourgois, Century, 2:32.42 SQ.

JHS results

6, Chensey Middaugh, 2:40.16; 8, Madisen Prasek, 2:43.41; 9, Brianna Johnson, 2:47.32.

50 Freestyle: 1, Veronice Herrmann, Century, 26.48 SQ; 2, Annie Hart, JHS, 26.49 SQ; 3, Kristin Engeberg, BHS, 26.59 SQ; 4, Kyra Ekre, Century, 26.69 SQ; 5, Paige Peterson, JHS, 26.84 SQ.

Other JHS results

8, Karlie Marle, 29.16.

Diving: 1, Alex Lind, JHS, 245.75; 2, Abby Wanzek, JHS, 207.90; 3, Lauren Gietzen, Century, 205.55; 4, Karli Knutson, Century, 193.50; 5, Jenny Nelson, BHS, 184.40.

Other JHS results

10, Abbie Conlon, 144.80.

100 butterfly: 1, Kamie Wager, JHS, 1:05, SQ; 2, Kristin Engberg, BHS, 1:08.67 SQ; 3, Abby Bourgois, Century, 1:11.26; 4, Madisen Prasek, JHS, 1:12.71; 5, Ashle Shafer, JHS, 1:16.39.

100 freestyle: 1, Kyra Ekre, Century, 58.67 SQ; 2, Amy Warren, Century 1:00.97 SQ.

JHS results

4, Pagie Pterson, 1:03.89; 5, LaMae Turk, 1:04.63; 7, Madisen Mandan, 1:06.05.

500 freestyle: 1, Dani Bergeson, Century, 5:31.61 SQ; 2, Hailey Dempsey, BHS, 5:46.41 SQ; 3, Grace Werder, Cenutry, 5:47.03 SQ; 4, A.K. Koebele, BHS, 6:00.12 SQ; 5, Tess Sether, Century, 6:00.86 SQ.

JHS results

8, Ashlee Shafer, 6:28.60; 10, Karlie Marler, 6:53.86; 12, Amber Walch, 7:31.40.

200 freestyle relay: 1, Century (Veronica Herrmann, Kyra Ekre, McKenzie Jeske, Dani Bergeson), 1:47.27; 2, JHS (Annie Hart, Camille Kawasaki, Chensey Middaugh, Kamie Wager), 1:50.85; 3, Century 1:55.55; 4, JHS (LaMae Turk, Madisen Prasek, Madisen Mandan, Karlie Marler), 2:00.74.

100 backstroke: 1, Annie Hart, JHS, 1:02.10 SQ; 2, Emma Hepper, BHS, 1:04.80 SQ; 3, Veronica Herrmann, Century, 1:08.20 SQ.

Other JHS results

6, Brianna Johnson, 1:13.17; 8, Karissa Hubbard, 1:20.18.

100 breaststroke: 1, McKenzie Jeske, Century, 1:12.37 SQ; 2, A.K. Koebele, BHS, 1:15.35 SQ; 3, Tess Sether, Century, 1:17.26 SQ; 4, Kamie Wager, JHS, 1:18.24 SQ; 5, Vanessa Herrmann, Century, 1:19.76 SQ; 6, Chensey Midddaugh, JHS, 1:22.58; 7, Taysha Zeeb, BHS, 1:25.40; 8, Camille Kawasake, JHS, 1:27.45.

400 freestyle relay: 1, Century (Kyra Ekre, McKenzie Jeske, Veronica Herrmann, Dani Bergeson), 3:54.90.

JHS results

4, JHS (LaMae Turk, Ashlee Shafer, Chesney Middaugh, Paige Peterson), 4:24.14; 6, JHS (Renna Gardner, Kylie Pfaff, Karlie Marler, Jenny Allmer), 4:45.82.

Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at mikes@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, jays, swimming