Petersburg junior Logan Tow was pretty sure he was going to win the 500 yard freestyle at the region 5 swim and dive meet this weekend. But the crowd watching – maybe not so much. That includes Petersburg’s long-time swim coach Andy Carlisle.
“He was trailing by a body length for 475 yards, and then the last length, he just turned it on and won in the last stroke,” he said.
Carlisle said Tow usually doesn’t wait until the last ten yards to pull ahead.
“I think everybody was surprised,” he said. “I can’t take many more of those races.”
Tow said he tries to tune everything out before a race. He puts on his noise canceling headphones, sometimes even without music on. He said he focused on calming his stomach before the 500 freestyle on Saturday.
“I was actually pretty nervous before the race,” he said. “Not the 200 but the 500. It was like, the butterflies were going. I just knew it was gonna be a close race, and I really wanted to win, and I knew I could.”
Tow was competing in the Region V Swim and Dive competition, hosted over the weekend by the Petersburg School District, and the Viking Swim Club. Nearly 100 kids from six Southeast towns competed at the meet, including Juneau Douglas, Ketchikan, and Wrangell.
Now all five members of the Petersburg High School swim team are headed to state. With so few swimmers, the Vikings didn’t have a chance of placing as a team at the regional meet, but they more than made up for it in their individual events.
Tow will swim the 200 and the 500 freestyle at state. He said the competition will be tight, but he hopes to finish in the top three and get a place on the podium.
“All the times are super close up there, so I’m right in the mix with everybody else, and maybe I could pull out a win. We’ll see,” he said.
Until recently, Tow was one of only two Viking swimmers. This year three freshman girls joined the team. With junior Brooklyn Whitethorn that makes four girls – enough for a relay team. And that relay team is really holding their own. They placed second in the 200 yard medley relay, but they’re going to state anyway. That’s because while the first place finisher in each region automatically goes to state, the top eight relay teams from across the state all qualify, regardless of finish.
That’s true for individual events too – first place in each event goes to state, and the top twelve times around Alaska also go to the state meet. That means some of the Petersburg girls will be competing in events besides the relay in Anchorage this weekend.
Freshman Bella Miller came in 4th in the 500 freestyle after shaving off twelve seconds from the day before. That put her in the top 12 statewide, so she’ll be swimming the 500 freestyle as well as the relay. She’ll also be competing in the 200 freestyle.
Junior Brooklyn Whitethorn placed second in the 50 freestyle and third in the 100 freestyle. She’ll be competing in both at state as well.
On Saturday evening, the meet was wrapping up. The last competitive event for the Petersburg team was the girls 100 yard breaststroke finals. Logan Tow’s little sister, freshman Lexie Tow, climbs up on the block in lane four.
Her teammates waited at the other end of the pool. The starting buzzer sounded.
She dove off the block, coming up halfway down the pool, just little ahead of the rest. Her teammates started yelling, rhythmically, each time she came up for air.
At the first turn, she widened the gap.
She was still ahead the second lap.
And the third.
She really picked up steam in the fourth and final lap – finishing an easy first. Her teammates erupted in cheers.
She pulled herself out of the pool and joined the team, dripping and grinning and out of breath.
She said she thought she could win, but she was surprised she dropped as much time as she did – five or six seconds since prelims yesterday, and two seconds from her best time.
She wasn’t sure how she did it. “Actually this really surprised me,” she said.
Tow will also compete in the 200 freestyle at state. She placed 2nd in the event, but finished in the top twelve statewide.
Coach Carlisle said he’s pleased with the team’s performance.
“Everyone’s doing as well as I’d hoped, which is odd. It doesn’t usually happen that way,” he said.
He chalked it up to all the hard work the kids have put in.
“They get here every day and grind it out,” he said.
In the few days before state, the team is taking it easy, letting their bodies recover. It’s called “tapering,” and it will leave them ready to perform their very best in Anchorage.
The five Petersburg swimmers will compete in nine events at the state meet this weekend at Bartlett High School in Anchorage.
