Woodburn Independent Online

Wicks qualifies for state in four events

Junior Kyle Wicks will compete in two relays and two individual events at state

• Published: 2/16/2010 10:17:59 AM

Photo By: Photo courtesy of Shalom BonhamKyle Wicks
Woodburn junior Kyle Wicks found his way in to the district, and Woodburn High School record books at the Mid-Willamette Conference district swim meet, qualifying for state in two individual events and two relay teams.

CORVALLIS — The Mid-Willamette Conference district swim meet turned into Kyle Wicks’ personal arena last weekend as the Woodburn swimmer qualified for the Class 5A state meet in two relays, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke.
 
Wicks finished first in the 100 breaststroke on Saturday, bettering his district record by two-tenths of a second he set the day before, from 1 minute, 1.83 seconds to 1:01.60. His district record also set a new Woodburn High School record.
 
Wicks also set the school record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.19 seconds, breaking the old mark set in 2005 of 55.29.
 
“It is an amazing accomplishment,” Woodburn swim coach Andrea Smith said of Wicks’ feats. “Kyle has a great attitude toward swimming, is very humble and is very willing to try new things. He is a hard worker at practice and is a great role model for the other swimmers. Kyle also swims for the Bearcats Swim Club and has a very grueling training schedule with them, in addition to his commitment to the high school team.”
 
Smith said Wicks’ dedication rubs off on other swimmers.
 
“He is a talented swimmer who brings the best out of the other swimmers. He is also very friendly, not only to his teammates but, to competitors as well,” she said.
 
“He had a great district meet. I think he was a little disappointed in his butterfly race, but since he hadn’t rested for the district meet, his swims were amazing. If he is able to rest up for the state meet, we may see some truly awesome swimming.”
 
The 200 medley relay team of Mitchell Shepherd, Kyle Wicks, Bogdan Shevchuk and Jacob Bonham broke the school record with a time of 1:47.31 in the district preliminaries.
 
In the finals, they got third place in 1:47.65, which was good enough to get to state.
 
The 400 free relay team of Shevchuk, Shepherd, Bonham and Wicks beat the existing school record by nearly 6 seconds with a time of 3:30.12, which placed them fourth. Their time, however, was good enough to qualify for the state meet.
 
In addition to the state qualifiers, Woodburn, as a team, placed fifth at the district meet with just five swimmers. This is the highest placing in program history.
 
Also having solid swims for the boys were Rich Prewitt, who qualified for the district finals in the 200 individual medley with 2:17.16; Shepherd swam a 24.60 in the 50 free, good enough for ninth place; Shevchuk, in addition to Wicks,  made the 100 butterfly finals and swam to a fourth-place finish in 56.93. Shevchuk also got fifth place in the 100 free in 53.16. Bonham got sixth in the 500 freestyle in 5:31.63 and Shepherd took sixth place in the 100 backstroke in 1:02.97. Prewitt was 10th in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.56 and Bonham finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.89. 
 
On the girls side, Lupita Andrade and Elizabeth Duncan both made it to the district finals in their events.
 
Duncan swam a personal record (PR) 2:31.03 in the 200 freestyle, good enough for 16th place and Andrade was 12th in the 200 IM in 2:46.32.
 
The 200 medley relay team of Alexa Morris, Malia Berry, Andrade and Duncan tied for seventh place with a time of 2:15.28. 
 
Andrade finished up the meet with a 10th place finish in the 100 breaststroke in 1:25.24
“I was very happy with everyone’s swims,” said Smith.
 
“The swims were PRs for all swimmers in either prelims or finals and that is exactly how we want it.”

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