Camas swimmers get league championship back

The Mountain View swimmers may have won more races Monday, but Camas had a lot more top 10 placers in a league championship clinching team victory at LaCamas Swim & Sport.

“Our depth was the key to the win. We traded some first places, but it was our seconds, thirds and fourths that got us the victory tonight,” said Camas head coach Mike Bemis. “It took the whole team to pull this one out because they are so fast on their top end.”

That Papermaker depth was on display in nearly every event. Mountain View won the 200-meter medley relay, in 1 minute, 53.44 seconds, but Camas had two relay teams follow in second and third. Lucas Ulmer, Jake Yraceburu, Nick Kabel and Tyler Travis grabbed second in 1:58.76. Ian Ulmer, Kasey Calwell, John Utas and Alastair Graham took third in 2:03.98.

“It’s tough to have a Monday meet when you haven’t been able to swim all weekend,” said Ian Ulmer. “To still be able to come out strong like we did and beat Mountain View for the league title is amazing.”

Alexander Suk earned first place for Mountain View in the 200 freestyle (2:12.42). Camas countered with Max Urbanek in second place (2:14.04) and Seth Albert (2:16.96), Nick Langer (2:19.1) and Nick Panebianco (2:20.44) in fourth, fifth and sixth place.

Calwell claimed second in the 200 individual medley (2:21.54). Yraceburu grabbed fifth (2:32.18) followed by Jeffrey Lee (2:40.82), Xiangyang Yan (2:40.86) and Ian Ulmer (2:40.93). All Mountain View could manage was a third-place finish by Kyle Law. He also won the 400 freestyle (4:36.38), but Camas came back with Urbanek in second (4:46.76), Panebianco in fourth (5:00.74), Albert in sixth (5:07.41) and Langer in seventh (5:09.69).

The Papermakers capped off the meet in winning fashion. Calwell (1:13.04) and Yraceburu (1:13.97) locked up the top two spots in the 100 breaststroke. Camas also had two teams finish first and second in the 400 freestyle relay. Kabel, Utas, Yraceburu and Calwell won in 3:58.9. Travis, Albert, Alister Graham and Joey Stitzel followed in 4:11.09.

“It’s really fulfilling to go out on a high note as a senior,” said Kabel. “Mountain View took that league title from us last year, but we got it back. I’m just really proud of our whole team for what they bring to the table for every practice and every meet. They really work hard, and they deserve it.”