Bartlesville swimming: Howze sisters, trio of boys lead teams

Santa Claus’ job is never done.

Nearly a month after G-Day, the jolly scoutmaster bestowed a belated treasure of talent to the Bartlesville High School girls swimming team.

Her name is Addison Howze.

Making her long-anticipated appearance with the squad, Howze won three events (200 medley relay, 100 back, 200 I.M.) and placed second in another (400 free relay) during Tuesday’s quad-meet sweep during Senior Night at the Adams Building pool, against Tulsa Union, Bixby and Owasso.

Howze had been competing as a home school independent during the first two-and-a-half months of the season before becoming eligible to swim for the high school program.

She wasn’t the lone Howze to boost the Lady Bruins like a rocket booster. Her older sister Emma — who has been with the team all season — won all four of her events (200 free relay, 400 free relay, 200 free and 100 fly).

For the Bartlesville boys’ team, Griffin Craig surged to four titles (200 medley relay, 400 free relay, 100 fly, 200 I.M.). Cody Lay also went four-for-four in championships (200 free relay, 400 free relay, 100 free, 200 free). Luke Olsen matched both of them with four first places (400 free relay, 200 medley relay, 50 free, 500 free).

Following are more details:

LADY BRUINS

Freshman Anna Young sparkled on Senior Night with three championships (400 free relay, 200 medley relay, 100 free). Lily Talbot made her high school finale special — championships in the 200 free relay and 400 free relay and runner-up honors in 200 free and 100 fly.

Gabrielle Burke claimed two event titles (200 free, 200 medley relay), Racking up one championship apiece were: Annabelle Droege (500 free), Calli Richards (200 medley relay), Erin Roper (400 free relay), Ashlynn Taylor (100 breast), Julie Vilardo (200 free relay) and Tristin Weaver (50 free).

Bartlesville girls racked up 20 championships.

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BRUINS

With Craig, Lay and Olsen harvesting 12 titles among them, there weren’t a whole lot of others to go around.

Even so, Parker Shoesmith grabbed three first-places (400 free relay, 200 medley relay, 100 back).

Those with two championships each included: Ethan Peterson (200 free relay, 200 medley relay) and Zane Deal (200 free relay, 200 medley relay). Kevin Contreras recorded one title (200 free relay).

The Bruins also collected 20 championships.

SOME SPOTLIGHTS

— Contreras turned in a season best in the 100 free (1:00.96) and in the 100 breast (1:26.1).

— Deal improved his best time in the 200 free by more than a second (1:54.57); he also went below 1:11 in the 100 breast (1:10.63).

— Camden McDonald shattered his previous best in the 100 back (:58.83) and went below a minute in the 100 fly (:59.29).

— Shoesmith broke a minute in the 100 back (:58.2).

— Sianna Kuehn improved her time by more than a second in the 100 fly (1:14.84).

— Cara Moore set a season best in the 100 breast (1:16.04).

— Roper improved by nearly 1.5 seconds in the 100 back (1:06.5).

— Ashlynn Taylor made a big improvement in the 100 breast (1:10.27).

— Sophia Williams recorded season bests in both the 100 free (1:03.04) and the 100 breast (1:17.48).

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville High School swimmers surge to 40 titles