Slideshow: TMHS Swim Practice<\/a>]<\/p>\nAs 2015\u2019s 200-yard medley and 100 breaststroke state champ, JDHS senior Mia Ruffin can safely make the claim as Juneau\u2019s top prep swimmer. In just two meets this year, Ruffin has already posted times fast enough to qualify her for four events at the state meet (100 butterfly, 100 freestyle, 200 free, 500 free).<\/p>\n
\u201cShe could probably place in the top three in any event at state,\u201d Cayce said of Ruffin.<\/p>\n
Following Ruffin\u2019s lead for the girls are seniors Gabi Kito (currently top 16 in the 100 butterfly, 100 free and 500 free) and Lena Kawakami (1-meter dive). Senior boys team member Aiden Seid has posted top 16 times in the 100 back, 100 breast, 200 medley.<\/p>\n
In addition to Ruffin\u2019s two state championships, JDHS took home gold in the girls 200 medley relay last year and placed second in the girls team overall competition. They return three of their four medley relay team members this year, replacing the graduated Eliza Chappell with Sarah Mertz.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been putting in all the hard work and hopefully it will pay off at state,\u201d Mertz said.<\/p>\n
The girls 1 minutes, 55.04 seconds time in the 200 medley, set at their home meet on Sept. 17, currently stands as the state\u2019s fastest time.<\/p>\n
The Crimson Bears\u2019 success this season culminated at their home meet Sept. 16-17 where they took team first both Friday and Saturday. The look forward to an away meet at Petersburg Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. They then travel to Bartlett Oct. 7-8, and to Ketchikan Oct. 28-29 for Regionals before the state meet Nov. 4-5.<\/p>\n
TMHS swim & dive: swimming in a fountain of youth<\/p>\n
If JDHS is peaking, TMHS is just getting started.<\/p>\n
A groundswell of freshmen and sophomores lead the Falcons, who are particularly strong on the boys side. Sophomore boys team captain Noatak Post said he\u2019s confident they\u2019ll see results at the state meet, but he\u2019s more excited for the years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s cool this year is that we are starting with a group that is already good and we\u2019re looking forward to two, three good years together,\u201d Post said.<\/p>\n
In the state\u2019s top 16 for TMHS are sophomores Davis (100 free, 200 free, 200 medley, 100 backstroke) and Spencer Holt (100 free, 200 free); as well as Hannah Taube (500 free) and Amber Kahklen (1-meter dive).<\/p>\n
Davis exhibits a maturity in the water Juneau residents can only hope the new driver replicates on the road. As a freshman at last year\u2019s state championships, he finished second in the 200 medley with a time of 1 minute, 57.24 seconds and third in the 100 breast with a 59.09.<\/p>\n
His goal this year is to break state records.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to hopefully win the 100 breast at state and I\u2019m going for a couple state records,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
Davis is surpassed only by Holt in the 200 free. Holt currently hold the state\u2019s second-best time and Davis is third. Both of Thunder Mountain\u2019s boys will chase Kodiak\u2019s Talon Lindquist, a two-time state champion and current holder of six of the state\u2019s fastest times.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the whole state here, it\u2019s going to be exciting. I expect some very fast swimming,\u201d Post said.<\/p>\n
TMHS enjoys the leadership of first-year coach Josiah Loseby. Loseby is a good fit for his young team: he\u2019s still a student himself, albeit in college.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoaching is definitely my passion, it\u2019s what I look forward to each day,\u201d Loseby said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe age is a factor in ability in all situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old University of Alaska Southeast student is a recent graduate of Thunder Mountain; his team\u2019s lone senior was a freshman when Loseby was a senior.<\/p>\n
Loseby has an advantage when working with younger student-athletes. \u201cIf they ever complain about anything, I can say \u2018I am doing the same thing you guys are.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
TMHS travels to Sitka Sept. 30-Oct. 1, then hosts a home meet at the Dimond Aquatic Center Oct. 14-15 before Regionals in Ketchikan Oct. 28-29.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact Sports writer Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s just before 8 a.m. on a Wednesday and Thunder Mountain High School swimmer Bergen Davis stands on a bench before his teammates, who are yelling at him. It\u2019s the sophomore\u2019s birthday, and his young Falcons teammates chose to subject him to a grating, discordant serenade made worse, somehow, as it echoes off the walls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":22317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-22316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22316"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=22316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}