The last time Juneau hosted the state swim\/dive championship, the Juneau-Douglas High School girls won it all. With the state championship meet returning to Juneau this year, they\u2019re once again a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n
The JDHS girls team will compete for their third team title in four years this weekend as more than 250 of the state\u2019s best prep swimmers descend on the Dimond Park Aquatic Center for the Alaska School Activities Association Swim\/Dive State Championship.<\/p>\n
Twenty-seven athletes from Thunder Mountain and JDHS will compete with 236 athletes from 24 schools for titles in 24 events. Preliminary races take place Friday from 10:15 a.m. to 9 p.m. Finals are Saturday from 10:55 a.m. to 6:15.<\/p>\n
The Crimson Bears girls team leads a group of peaking upperclassmen whom coach Seth Cayce thinks is his most talented cohort since their back-to-back 2013 and 2014 state titles. Highly-decorated senior Mia Ruffin, having been a part of champion relay teams since her freshman year, broke out for her first two individual titles at last year\u2019s state championship (in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke).<\/p>\n
The JDHS boys will have a tough time breaking out of their counterpart\u2019s shadow, but the team boasts title contenders in several events.<\/p>\n
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JDHS title contenders:<\/strong><\/p>\n Women\u2019s 200 medley relay<\/strong><\/p>\n As two-time defending champions, Ruffin\u2019s 200 medley relay team face some stiff competition to three peat as the team\u2019s best time this year stands at four seconds behind the state\u2019s best with, three teams recording faster times this season (Chugiak, Dimond and South have all recorded faster times this year).<\/p>\n Ruffin is the only member of this year\u2019s 200 medley relay team who has won that event both years. In 2014, she recorded a win as a sophomore with now-graduated JDHS swimmers Ciera Kelly, Dakota Isaak and Rielly Walsh with a 1 minute, 46.75 seconds time; that time set the all-time state record.<\/p>\n In 2015, Ruffin led a team of Eliza Chappell, Gabi Kito and Andyn Mulgrew-Truitt to the title with a time of 1:49.60.<\/p>\n This year, the senior standout will return to the event with Kito, Mulgrew-Truitt and fellow JDHS senior Sarah Mertz, who posted a 1:55.84 at the Region V meet.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re going to do really well because we have been working really hard this season,\u201d Ruffin said of the meet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Women\u2019s 200 freestyle relay<\/strong><\/p>\n JDHS\u2019 women\u2019s 200 freestyle relay team may have a better shot at a relay title, as they currently hold the second-best time in the state, having been clocked at two seconds behind Sitka\u2019s state leading 1:39.57 at the Region V meet last weekend.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Women\u2019s 200 individual medley<\/strong><\/p>\n In addition to shots at two relay titles, Ruffin is favored to repeat in the 200 individual medley (IM). She holds a smoking fast 2:07.49 time in that event, nearly 7 seconds faster than her closest competitor, Colony\u2019s Camille Dayton.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Women\u2019s 100 breaststroke<\/strong><\/p>\n Ruffin also holds the state\u2019s current best in the 100 breastroke with a 1:04.82 mark, nearly three seconds ahead of the No. 2 time held by Sitka\u2019s Skylar Moore.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Women\u2019s 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle<\/strong><\/p>\n Behind Ruffin, JDHS senior Gabi Kito has a good shot at a few titles, provided the home crowd can cheer her on to personal bests. Her 100 butterfly time stands at only two seconds off the state\u2019s best; she also holds the state\u2019s fifth best time in Alaska swimming\u2019s longest event, the 500 freestyle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Men\u2019s 200 IM<\/strong><\/p>\n JDHS\u2019 Aiden Seid has a shot at the men\u2019s 200 IM with the state\u2019s fourth-best time. He will attempt to catch TMHS\u2019 Bergen Davis, the state\u2019s fastest swimmer in that event.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If the JDHS women are Juneau\u2019s seasoned vets, the Thunder Mountain men are the talented young upstarts. Sophomores Bergen Davis is currently ranked as the state\u2019s top swimmer in two events, while teammate Spencer Holt holds the state\u2019s third best time in the 100 butterfly.<\/p>\n Both have state championship experience and will be in contention in several events.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TMHS title contenders:<\/strong><\/p>\n Men\u2019s 100 breaststroke<\/strong><\/p>\n Davis currently holds the state\u2019s only time in this event under one minute, having recorded a 58.37 seconds time. Davis is already swimming nearly a second faster than his third place time in last year\u2019s state championship.<\/p>\n State meet history favors hometown swimmers, who often shave seconds off their times in front of home crowds. Davis is a favorite to win the event this year and could approach Region V \u2014 or possibly state \u2014 records if he can dip below 57 seconds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Men\u2019s 200 individual medley<\/strong><\/p>\n Davis also holds the state\u2019s current top time in the 200 IM, having recorded a 1:55.44 this season, nearly two seconds off his second place time at last year\u2019s state meet. Two Juneau athletes have a shot at the podium in this event as JDHS\u2019 Aiden Seid will attempt to unseat his crosstown rival. Seid currently has the state\u2019s fourth-best time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Men\u2019s 100 butterfly<\/strong><\/p>\n Holt holds the state\u2019s third best time at 52.26 seconds. He\u2019ll attempt to unseat Colony\u2019s Jake Simmons and South\u2019s Cody Watkins, both of whom are within Holt\u2019s striking distance at 51.49 and 51.15, respectively.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Men\u2019s 200 freestyle<\/strong><\/p>\n Holt will also have a shot in the 200 freestyle with the state\u2019s fifth best time. He\u2019s already shaved nearly three seconds off his time in this event compared to last year. Though Holt will have a hard time catching Ketchikan standout Talon Lindquist, who\u2019s 1:40.43 stands more than 5 seconds faster than the next-best time, he has more than a legitimate shot at the podium if he finishes near 1:45.00.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Men\u2019s 200 medley relay<\/strong><\/p>\n Thunder Mountain\u2019s team of Davis, Holt, sophomore Noatak Post and freshman Micah Grigg are less than three seconds from the state\u2019s top time in this event, currently held by Dimond.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact Sports and Outdoors reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Related links:<\/strong><\/p>\n List of state qualifiers for each event<\/a>:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n