Tigers secure first place

SENIOR SWIM: First-time swimmer Josh Cornwell takes his turn in the pool at the LHS swim meet Saturday. Observer photos/PAUL HARDER

The Tigers girls swim team finished first at its home invite.

Team captain Chrissie Younggren helped lead the team with a first-place finish in the 200-meter IM, and finished second in the 100-meter backstroke.

The freshman won the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events.

“The girls team as a whole continues to improve,” Tigers head coach Darren Dutto said. “I’m extremely pleased with the level of effort and dedication by these girls.

“Their win in this meet was truly a team effort. They continue to gel together nicely.”

Allie Godfrey won the 100-meter butterfly and took third in the 50-meter freestyle.

As a team, La Grande placed first in the 200-meter medley relay and the 400-meter freestyle relay.

The boys team narrowly missed out on the same success achieved by the girls team.

La Grande finished with 110 points.

Pendleton took first with 113.5 points.

“We had a great Christmas training cycle this year,” Dutto said. The kids worked very hard and made tremendous progress as evidenced by the team performance this meet. (The team) is swimming with a lot of confidence that is carrying over from our conditioning.”

 Zach Gray and Soren Madsen each broke a meet record.

Gray, the boys captain, broke the record in the 200-meter IM. He also won the 100-meter backstroke.

Madsen set his mark in the 500-meter freestyle. The senior also won the 100-meter freestyle event.

Freshman Matt Cook made his mark at the meet too.

Cook won the 100-meter freestyle, and placed second in the 50-meter freestyle.

The boys team took first in the 200-meter medley relay and the 400-meter freestyle relay.

As a whole the La Grande swimming team is headed in the right direction as the season hits the home stretch.

Of the 38 individual swims 14 were lifetime bests. Thirty-one were personal bests.

“While we had a great meet, we still have a few things to work on,” Dutto said. “We will continue to refine our racing strategies over the next couple of weeks.

“Next week we travel to a big meet hosted by The Dalles-Wahtonka. This meet features many of our district competitors. It will be our first chance to see our competition.”