The Madras High School swimmers had one of their best outings of the season so far Saturday, Jan. 17, at the La Grande Invitational.The Buffalo boys finished third in a very tight meet. The Dalles won with 61 points and Pendleton was third with 59.5. Madras came in with 50 points, and La Grande had 48. Baker took fifth with 22. With limited numbers, the Madras girls squad did not finish in the top five.“We had a great meet,” said co-head coach Justin Bendele. “We had three first-place finishes and two second-p...
The Madras High School swimmers had one of their best outings of the season so far Saturday, Jan. 17, at the La Grande Invitational.
The Buffalo boys finished third in a very tight meet. The Dalles won with 61 points and Pendleton was third with 59.5. Madras came in with 50 points, and La Grande had 48. Baker took fifth with 22. With limited numbers, the Madras girls squad did not finish in the top five.
“We had a great meet,” said co-head coach Justin Bendele. “We had three first-place finishes and two second-place finishes. We also had several other swimmers with personal best times.”
The boys 200-yard medley relay marked the first Madras boys win. Wyatt Sklenar, Neilson Currer, Johan Garcia and Bryan Barajas combined to finish in 2:03.96. The Dalles was the next foursome in at 2:04.09.
Sklenar won a very close 100-yard butterfly. Sklenar touched the wall in 1:04.27 to edge Pendleton’s Jared Pace’s 1:04.96.
Currier won the 100-yard breaststroke with ease. The junior finished in 1:08.62. Baker’s Jarrin Bott was second in 1:15.85.
The Buffalos’ 200-yard freestyle relay team, featuring the same four swimmers in the 200-yard medley, finished second, edging third-place Pendleton by a half-second. The Dalles won in 1;42.91. Madras finished in 1:47.78 and Pendleton in 1:48.28.
Sklenar took second in the 200-yard freestyle. The sophomore touched in 2:08.24. The Dalles swimmer Rhett Loughmiller, though, was outstanding in finishing in 2:01.73. The third-place swimmer finished in 2:10.72. The Buffs’ Gracia was fifth in 2:29.87.
Currier was also second in the 50-yard freestyle. He finished in 24.63 when the winner, Ephraim Moyal of La Grande, touched in 23.99. Barajas with 11th in 28.77 and Andre Mora 15th in 30.58. Freshman Owen Bennett was 18th in 33.83.
Barajas was ninth in the boys 100-yard freestyle.
In the girls competition, the Buffalos’ Cierra Weeks was eighth in the 100-yard freestyle, 10th in the girls 200-yard freestyle and 11th in the 50-yard freestyle.
Kyra Weeks was 14th in the 100-yard backstroke for Madras.
The Buffalo swimmers host the annual White Buffalo Classic Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Madras Aquatic Center.