Taft High School swimmers cheer on a teammate Tuesday afternoon during the Last Chance Meet at the pool at the Lincoln City Community Center. (Photos by Michael Heinbach)
Senior Makaia Kessinger swims the final leg of the Taft girls 200-meter-freestyle relay during the Last Chance Meet on Tuesday at the Lincoln City Community Center pool.
Toledo High School sophomore Cody Reed swims the breaststroke during the 200-meter individual medley Tuesday at the Last Chance Meet at the poll at the Lincoln City Community Center.
Taft junior Allison Lua swims the backstroke portion of the girls 200-meter-freestyle relay Tuesday at the Lincoln City Community Center pool during the Last Chance meet.
Taft High School swimmers cheer on a teammate Tuesday afternoon during the Last Chance Meet at the pool at the Lincoln City Community Center. (Photos by Michael Heinbach)
Senior Makaia Kessinger swims the final leg of the Taft girls 200-meter-freestyle relay during the Last Chance Meet on Tuesday at the Lincoln City Community Center pool.
Toledo High School sophomore Cody Reed swims the breaststroke during the 200-meter individual medley Tuesday at the Last Chance Meet at the poll at the Lincoln City Community Center.
Taft junior Allison Lua swims the backstroke portion of the girls 200-meter-freestyle relay Tuesday at the Lincoln City Community Center pool during the Last Chance meet.
LINCOLN CITY — The Taft High School swim program celebrated its seniors Tuesday afternoon, and in the process built some momentum heading into the postseason in posting several positive performances at the Last Chance Invitational, featuring 114 swimmers and hosted by the Tigers at the Lincoln City Community Center pool.
Paced by senior Lesley Lagunes and victories in one relay events, the Taft girls placed fourth out of six teams competing with 175 points. Blanchet Catholic took the girls team title with 299 points, followed by Molalla at 255, and St. Helens at 183.
Tigers junior Noah Serrato led Taft’s boys to a second-place finish in the team standings with 311 points, 65 behind team champion Molalla. Toledo, with only senior Zane Rodda and sophomore Cody Reed on its roster, tallied 18 points.
The combined Taft effort was more than enough to please longtime Taft head coach Lissa Parker after the Tigers’ final competition prior to the 4A/3A/2A/1A-SD 3 district meet, scheduled for Feb. 10-11 at the Newport Aquatic Center.
“Our boys A and B relays scored well, and they did gain a lot of points in events like the 100 (butterfly), and both Lesley Lagunes and Noah Serrato won their events,” Parker wrote in a Tuesday evening email to News-Times staff. “Our swimmers have been dropping a lot of time and are gaining more traction coming now into the last third of the season.
Lagunes posted individual wins in the girls 200- and 400-meter freestyle races, shaving two seconds off her previous season best in each event. She also combined with junior Allison Lua, freshman Ileyana Moreno and freshman Yireth Fuentes to place third in the 200- and win the 400-freestyle relays.
Fuentes claimed the lone additional individual win for the Tiger girls, claiming the 100 butterfly in one minute, 39.09 seconds, while Moreno placed second.
Like Lagunes in the girls events, Serrato collected victories in the 200- and 400-freestyle boys races, and anchored Taft’s winning 400-freetsyle relay, composed of sophomore Brenden Wilson, senior Logan Meyer, junior Brandon Murphy and Serrato.
Last Chance Invitational
Jan. 31 at Lincoln City Community Center pool
Girls team scores: Blanchet Catholic 299, Molalla 255, St. Helen’s 183, Taft 175, Tillamook 65, Rainier 30.
Boys team scores: Molalla 376, Taft 311, Tillamook 189, Blanchet Catholic 135, St. Helen’s 56, Toledo 18.
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