Helaina Remsberg (in white shirt) encouraged fellow senior Olive Frady.
Methow Valley’s Killer Whales won 47 of the 116 events on their way to claiming the 2026 Okanogan County youth swimming championships Saturday (July 25) at the Omak swimming pool.
As was the case with their dual meet schedule against teams from Omak, Okanogan and Brewster, it was again a story of quantity The local contingent of approximately 90 swimmers significantly outnumbered the rest of the field. The Methow Valley team racked up 996.5 points to Okanogan’s 524, Brewster’s 486.5 and Omak’s 416.
On a day that started out under the gloomy veil of regional wildfire smoke, the sun eventually broke through around noon and the Killer Whales began to record some outstanding results. According to coach Barbara “Bo” Thrasher, the team recorded 167 new personal records to go along with all of those first-place finishes.
Spellman sweeps
The news of the day was in the girls’ 11-12 division where 12-year-old Montana Spellman entered eight races — six individual and two relays — and went eight-for-eight at the top of the podium.
Her closest race was a half-second win in the 50-meter breaststroke over teammate Rebekah Perin. Perin also placed second behind Spellman in the 100M freestyle, about 3.5 seconds back. Methow’s Astrid Stevie gave chase in the 100M individual medley, finishing in second place 13 seconds behind Spellman’s wake.
Spellman teamed with Perin, Stevie and Eliza Dubowy in the 200M medley relay for a sizable win by over 14 seconds. Two other Methow teams placed second and third in the five-team field. With Spellman anchoring the 200M freestyle relay with Perin, Stevie and Isabella Garcia-Lopez, the Methow girls rolled to a near half-minute win.
“Montana is certainly on fire,” said Thrasher. “She comes consistently to practice and works hard. She’s very determined and has a fierce competitive spirit. She also has incredible natural ability. She’s very strong and swims her strokes very efficiently.”
Another swimmer showing well individually in that age class was Rebekah Perin. Beside the two relay wins, Perin had second-place efforts in the 50M backstroke, 100M freestyle and third in the 50M butterfly.
More multiple champs
Another highlight of the day was outgoing senior swimmer Olive Frady, who posted wins in the 17-18 age class in the 50M freestyle, 50M breaststroke, 50M butterfly and 100- and 200M freestyle races. Brewster’s Camryn Ashworth managed narrow wins over Frady in the 50M backstroke and 200M individual medley. Both girls swam in the two relays, Methow Valley taking the 200M medley and Brewster winning the 200M freestyle relay.
Cassius Johnson, swimming in the 15-16 age group, and Danny McAuliffe in the 13-14 year old class, both landed atop the standings six times on the day. Johnson took first place in the 50M backstroke, 200M individual medley, 50M breaststroke, and 50M butterfly. He stepped up to the 17-18 age group to anchor first-place finishes for both the 200M medley and freestyle relays.
McAuliffe recorded first-place finishes in the 200M freestyle, 50M freestyle, 50M backstroke, 200M individual medley and 200M butterfly. He also swam the lead off leg of the 200M medley relay, joined by teammates Ethan Miller, Silas Papadopoulas and Finnbarr Humling in another win for the Killer Whales. The same group of boys placed second to Okanogan by a half second in the 200M freestyle relay.
Arwen Robinson led the 9-10 year old girls’ division with four victories in the 25M freestyle, 25M backstroke, 25M butterfly and 100M individual medley, plus second place in the 50M freestyle and 25M breaststroke. She also helped her team to a pair of third-place finishes in the two relays, joined by Esme Bell, Millie Roseland and Natalia Rodriguez in the 100M freestyle. Robinson, Roseland and Rodriguez were joined by Kendall Gardner in the 100M medley relay.
A tale of two swimmers
Cheering Olive Frady on from the deck was fellow 2026 Liberty Bell High School graduate and Killer Whale teammate Helaina Remsberg, sidelined this swimming season following comprehensive surgery to repair her right knee, which was injured during the Mountain Lion basketball season.
Both young women have been involved in the Killer Whale program since their early childhood days, Remsberg for as long as she can remember, Frady since the summer before her fifth-grade year. While they’ve taken somewhat divergent paths with their activities over the years, Killer Whale swimming has been a constant for the duo. Both of them are talking about returning to the program next summer to help with coaching duties.
Immediately in front of them are opportunities in opposite directions. Frady is planning on moving to the small town of Plummer, Idaho, taking a “gap” year working in the Spokane/Couer d’Alene area, and continuing with her swimming. Remsberg is heading for the big city of Seattle and the University of Washington.
Frady’s gap year will be a time of self-exploration, locating her true areas of interests and then matching those to a college. She hasn’t ruled out taking a shot at competitive swimming.
“I really like English and creative writing,” she said of her favorite subjects during her school years in the Masters Christian School and her final year of high school at Liberty Bell. “But I’m not really sure what I want to study and not sure if I want to continue to swim competitively.”
Frady also spent a significant amount of time on the pitch, playing soccer in the Mountain Lion program from eighth grade through her senior year last fall, earning three nominations to the All Central Washington B League, making first team as a sophomore and second team in her final two years. She also played three years of softball for the Mountain Lions prior to her senior year.
As part of the Liberty Bell Drama program, Frady played one of the lead characters in the recent school production of “Hello Girls” at The Merc Playhouse, and last year showed great talent and ability playing Captain Georg Von Trapp’s second daughter Louisa in the Methow Community Theater’s production of “The Sound of Music.”
But swimming is her thing. Two years ago when the Twisp pool was closed for the summer, she and her sister Lena put together a fundraising mechanism (aka bake sale) to raise money for travel back-and-forth to Omak multiple times per week through the swimming season.
This year, it was about growing as a leader. “I tried to take on a leadership role this year as one of the older girls,” Frady said. “I’m not sure how good I was, but I tried to be encouraging in helping the younger kids improve.”
“Olive was doing double workouts,” noted Thrasher. “She would show up for 6 a.m. lap swim, then take a break, and then it was into the team’s workout for the day. The kids notice things like that.”
For Remsberg, her final season as a Killer Whale has been difficult being landlocked, but she has remained upbeat and positive, volunteering as a meet official and supporting the local team.
She began her swimming career almost longer ago than she can recall. “I got started really young,” said Remsberg. Not a surprise since her mother, Amanda, aunts, uncles, and cousins have all been Killer Whales. Her family lineage goes back at least four, and maybe five, generations in the Methow Valley.
“This year it’s been tough,” Remsberg said. “I was able to end my senior volleyball year on my terms, at the end of the season. But the injury took that away for basketball, softball and swimming, and that was the hard part.”
Remberg suffered serious injury to her left knee and leg after a late-season hustle play in a basketball game at Liberty Bell against the Tonasket Tigers. The result was a torn anterior cruciate ligament, torn medial and lateral meniscus cartilage, and a non-impact fracture of her right femur. Surgery in mid-May repaired much of the damage but ended her high school sports career in the middle of her senior year.
The recuperation and rehabilitation period is slow and will take a lot of patience. Remsberg points toward her swimming as being key in the rehab process.
“I basically obliterated the ligament, there was nothing left that was connected,” she recounted. “It was a grueling, terrible injury.”
Enter swimming, which she says will be key in rebuilding her knee.
“I’m excited to get to the U-Dub,” Remsberg said. “They have great facilities there.”
Remsberg plans to work toward a bachelor of science degree in biology, having been already admitted into Washington’s pre-health sciences program, and then aim for four additional years of schooling in physical therapy.
“You have no idea how many people have asked me that question,” Remsberg said when queried about her desire to eventually move back to the Methow Valley and serve as a professional PT. “It’s what I’m hoping to do. That would be my dream.”
I’d swim a mile (or 80)
The Killer Whales held their annual Swim-A-Thon to raise financial support for their summer program at the Twisp Pool, this year swimming over 80 accumulated miles during the three-hour event a week ago.
The funds raised will help with the purchase of unform swimming apparel, equipment and other necessities of the youth program, now with over 100 enrolled local swimmers. The Killer Whales have kids in their program from 5 years of age through high school seniors.
