The 2023-24 swim season is officially underway, and the Celts opened the year with a splash.
McNary and Sprague clashed in the opening meet of the season on Thursday, and both the girls and the boys squads came away with wins.
The Lady Celts came out with a dominant 86-62 win, taking eight of 11 first place finishes.
They opened the meet by taking the top two spots in the girls 200 yard medley relay. McNary’s A-team composed of sophomores Madeleine McLain, Andrea Guevara, Evelyn Hales and Meili Skipper dominated the opening race, finishing at 2-minutes, 11.69 seconds, more than 30 seconds ahead of Sprague.
Guevara and Hales had two individual first place finishes each.
For Hales, her top finishes came in the 50 yard freestyle at 28.72 seconds, and the 100 yard backstroke at 1:13.44. Hales was a part of four wins, also taking part in the 200 yard freestyle relay with fellow sophomores Skipper, McLain and Cassidy Kerner.
Guevara took first in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 1:06.51, nearly seven seconds ahead of second place, and in the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:18.86, more than 23 seconds ahead of her closest competitor.
Like Guevara, on the boys side Grant Schaffer had three wins, a pair of individuals and as part of the 200 yard freestyle relay.
Shaffer, a junior, was joined by fellow juniors Caed Christensen and Brayden Kaehler, as well as sophomore Cole Pedersen on the Celts A-team that finished more than 12 seconds ahead of Sprague’s top team at 1:46.04.
His individual wins came in the 200 yard freestyle and the 50 yard freestyle.
Overall, the boys squad wasn’t quite as dominant as their female counterparts — Sprague actually came away with more first place finishes — but the Celts did enough to come away with the 73-66 meet win.
McNary returns to action at the Kroc Center on Thursday in a tri-meet with Century and South Salem at 4:30 p.m.
