For the first time in 16 years, the Tillamook Boys Swim Team held up the Cowapa League Championship trophy on February 2.
From day one, we’ve talked about this being a central focus and goal of the season. When I asked who was even born in 2008, the last time Tillamook had won a boy’s swimming title, only a few raised their hand. Each of those young men mentioned they were just an infant at the time.
That one question resonated with everyone on the team and provided perspective on just how long it had been. And as a result, we had a group that was ultra-focused and determined this year to end the drought.
In the end, Tillamook put up 300 points and dismantled every other team in the league, including Astoria who had already beat us twice previously during the season, including the week prior in the final dual meet of the season.
The Cheesemakers won 7 of 11 events including the 200 Medley Relay (Landon Munly, Jack Sappington, Wyatt Swart, Brandon Hudgeon), 200 Freestyle (Hudgeon), 100 Freestyle (Hudgeon), 500 Freestyle (Sappington), 100 Backstroke (Munly), 100 Breaststroke (Sappington), and the 400 Freestyle Relay (Munly, Swart, Hudgeon, and Sappington), boasted 10 relay personal records and 24 individual personal records.
In our Monday team meeting leading up to the meet I told them we needed someone in an early event to give us a jumpstart and set the tone.
That moment came early in the meet starting with the 200 freestyle when three boys got the crowd in the meet with Alpacino Soto, Noel Guttierez and Brandon Hudgeon all winning their separate heats. In the final heat, Hudgeon took down Astoria’s top swimmer with a huge and dramatic 6 second PR and really shellshocked the Fisherman in the event. Astoria’s team and spectators weren’t expecting their swimmer to lose. He’s had a remarkable season to date and been one of the top swimmers in the state all year. Astoria’s coach looked at me after the race and said he knew Brandon had his swimmer after bolting out to the lead over the first 50 yards. My response, “Brandon’s not afraid, our team is not afraid.”
The drama didn’t end in the 200 freestyle. Sappington stepped up to the blocks in the 100 breaststroke later in the evening for his signature event and did not disappoint. I talked about the fact we were officially on record watch in an earlier column and Sappington took advantage of the electric atmosphere and home crowd.
In a storybook-like way, Sappington sprinted out the first 50 yards in almost a second faster than he ever had and I looked over to assistant coach, Jacob Harley and told him, “He’s got a chance.” Sappington charged down the home stretch and ultimately took down Denver Sheets’s 1987 record by almost a half second. Assistant coach, Todd Bush who teamed with Sheets in 1987, wasted no time getting on the phone to share the news with Sheets, who said he was grateful such a great kid and competitor like Sappington took down his record.
And if that was not enough, the most intense race of the night came in the final event, the 400-freestyle relay. The quartet of Munly, Swart, Hudgeon, and Sappington were beaten by just a half second a week earlier in Astoria. Astoria rotated in a new swimmer to ensure their top four boys lined up alongside Tillamook to ensure they won again.
But unlike last week, the Cheesemakers kept it closer early. Munly and Swart both improved their two legs by a combined 6 seconds and rather than being down 25 yards, Hudgeon got his leg only down 15 yards this time around.
Hudgeon blistered the third leg in a personal best relay split in a way I haven’t seen him swim this year. He was charging hard up and down the pool and pulled even with the Astoria swimmer as he passed the last leg to Sappington.
Astoria’s anchor had already swum a 51 second 100 free several times this season, but Sappington rose to the occasion again swimming a three second personal best to close the deal and finish the night with a win. We were jumping up and down and the crowd was going crazy. One of Sappington’s teammates slowly shook his head, smiled and covered his face in disbelief.
A storybook ending to a magical night.
Local News
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