Alex Ramsey-George, 15, showed the power of the butterfly in the 100-yard individual medley.
Relay teams dominate at home and in Brewster
The summer season of swim meets is underway for the Methow Valley Killer Whales, who hosted a dual meet Thursday (July 6) with the Okanogan Bullfrogs and traveled to Brewster for a larger, countywide meet this past Saturday (July 8).
The local team consists of swimmers from ages 6 up through high school and has had some early season standout performances.
At the Wagner Memorial Pool on Thursday, Alex Ramsey-George, Helaina Remsberg and Olive Frady each picked up two individual wins and helped relay teams in the 200-yard medley and freestyle relays in the 15-18 year old class as the Killer Whales easily defeated Okanogan, 450-170.
Other senior class winners included Marit Nelson, Adee Smith (100-yard freestyle) and Finn Simmons (50-yard backstroke).
Ramsey-George easily outdistanced Austin Nelson of Okanogan in the 50-yard freestyle and posted a solo time of 1:14.54 in the 100-yard individual medley. Frady’s double happened in the 100-yard individual medley and 50-yard breaststroke. Remsberg’s efforts came in the 50-yard backstroke and butterfly.
The Methow Valley swimmers swept all four of the relays in the 15-18 age class. The boys team of Gavin McAuliffe, Baker Smith, Alex Ramsey-George and Finn Simmons swam both the 200-yard freestyle and medley relays, winning by easy margins over the Bullfrogs. On the girls’ side, Remsberg, Frady, Smith and Nelson swam the 200-yard medley, along with a second valley team of Firn Pepper, Lena Frady, Clara Ramsey-George and Zoe Kaltenbach. The winning team clocked in at 2:31.17 while their teammates finished in 2:46 and change.
The 200-yard freestyle relay was also an inter-squad race, the senior team adding Firn Pepper to their team with Riya Simmons joining the younger team with much the same result.
On Saturday, 10-year-old Phoebe Schmidt swam to three individual wins, Maverick Sinclair and Olive Frady each picked up two wins as a Killer Whale team limited in numbers traveled to Brewster for the Brewster Invitational.
Nine-year-old year old Montana Spellman was on her way to a win in the 100-yard individual medley at Twisp.
Maya Gehring and Isabella Garcia-Lopez each added single wins and Methow Valley relay teams scored eight victories.
The smaller number of swimmers held Methow Valley to a close 3rd-place finish in the points race. Omak took the team title with 409 points, Brewster was 2nd at 405, edging the Killer Whales by three points, and Okanogan was farther back at 378.
This Saturday (July 15), the Killer Whales travel to the Stampede Grounds for the Omak Pentathlon. First races begin at 9 a.m. and go into the afternoon. Their next home meet will be on Saturday, July 22, at the Methow Invitational at the Wagner Pool in the Twisp City Park.
