The Healdsburg High swimming teams are making their move as the spring 2023 season nears its final weeks.
Tuesday night, April 11, both boys and girls squads swamped Windsor High at the Healdsburg swim center, under head coach Dean Clark and coaches Lorna Hayman and Alison Fealy. It was the second win this season against Windsor for both.
The boys almost scored a sweep, winning 10 of 11 matchups, including the 200 Freestyle Relay and the 200m Medley Relay, as well as sprints from 50 to 200 meters.
Only in the long 500 meter Freestyle did the Wildcats beat the Hounds, as Windsor’s top middle distance swimmer held off Matthew Nielsen with a 5:47.97 time over the distance. But Healdsburg’s swimmers won the event by taking second, third and fourth place.
Among the winners: Leo Kluse (200m Freestyle, 2:26.68), Julian Johannsen (200 medley, 1:50.22), Otis Hardin (50m Free, 25.90), Miles Ridder (100m butterfly, 1:25.53), Enzo Kluse (100m free, 1:02.27), James Parmeter (100m backstroke, 1:21.28) and Johannsen (100m breaststroke, 1:21.43).
The 200m medley relay team of Parmeter, Johannsen, Hardin and Kluse claimed the win with a 2:11.20 time.
The final score gave the Healdsburg boys a 124-39 win, their seventh in the so-far undefeated season.
Girls Team
The Healdsburg girls also won by a wide margin, 101-58. The team was almost as dominant as the boys, taking 9 of 11 races. They were unable to win in the 50m Freestyle or the 100 Backstroke, but triumphed in the relays, as well as most individual races.
Winners included Theresa Helfrick (200m freestyle, 2:45.01), Layla Greaves (200m medley, 2:33.21), Greaves (100m fly, 1:13.97), Hadley Rueter (100m free, 1:13.97), Helfrick (500m free, 5:54.47) and Reuter (100m breaststroke, 1:36.49).
The girls scored relay wins in the 200m medley (2:30.48) with Helfrick, Rueter, Greaves and Smith, and in the 400m free relay (5:13.97) with the same girls in Helfrick, Isabel Smith, Rueter and Greaves.
The girls swimmers are now 6-1 on the year, their only loss coming to Analy—who they meet again next week.
Healdsburg and Windsor are the two largest swim teams in the Redwood Division of the North Bay League, and Healdsburg’s wide margin of victory is a strong indication the school will do well in the upcoming North Bay League championships.
That championship will bring together all 12 teams in the NBL’s Oak and Redwood leagues. The meet takes place on April 28-29 at the Robert Quinn Swim Center, at Santa Rosa Junior College.
The NCS (North Coast Section) meet is the following weekend, May 5-6, and the CIF State Championship is May 11-13.
Healdsburg’s next and final regular meet this year is at the high school this afternoon, Thursday April 13. Competition is expected from Sebastopol’s Analy High, beginning at 4pm.
