The Bend High Lava Bears swam like real bears in this weekend’s IMC Championships, taking home both the girls and boys title. Coming off of two straight IMC Championship wins, the Bend girls did not disappoint, winning every event except for two.
Senior Hadley Hayes, Junior Maddie Thornton and Junior Emma Bronson led the way for Bend, each winning two individual events. Bend also captured the 200m Individual Medley relay title and will have a shot at breaking their own state record from last year in the State Championships this weekend. They were also victorious in both the 200m and 400m freestyle relays.
Mountain View penciled in two victories on the day in both the 50m freestyle (22.57) and the 200m freestyle (1:31.25).
The lone non-Lava Bear to take home a district title for the girls was Summit Junior Adeline Benet, who won both the 50m freestyle (24.43) as well as the 100m freestyle (52.67).
The boys Championship proved however to be a bit more surprising. Bend High used their talented underclassman to sweep the podium with three freshmen in the 200m individual Medley (2:04.94). Freshman Marker Still took home the gold in the 100m backstroke (1:02.76).
It seemed like everyone in attendance turned their heads to watch senior Campbell Mckean from Caldera who enjoyed a nice trip to Indianapolis last summer for the US Olympic Trials. Mckean, who already holds the state records for 200m Individual Medley and 100m backstroke, looked to add to his records in the 100 butterfly but came up short with a time of 48.33. Mckean secured another victory for Caldera in the 100m backstroke coming in at 50.46.
The Summit boys took home five first place finishes of their own with the Egeland brothers leading the way combining for all five. The Egeland brothers faced off in the 200 freestyle with the older of the two, Senior Landon Egeland, winning in a photo finish with a time of 1:41.25 edging out his brother, Junior Brecken Egeland, who came in at 1:41.68. The brothers weren’t finished yet though with Landon Egeland securing the win in 500m freestyle (4:35.98), and Brecken Egeland winning the 100m freestyle (47.25). The brothers teamed up with Junior Aj Struelhing and Senior Holden Short to win the 400m freestyle relay (3:20.82). Brecken Egeland joined Short, Junior August Erber and sophomore Rafael Maloney to win the 200m medley relay.
The brothers, however, were not enough for the Storm. The Lava Bears sweeped the IMC Championships finishing with a total of 273 points. Coming in at a close second was the Storm finishing with 256 points. Caldera finished third, followed by Mountain View, Ridgeview, and Redmond.
