It was a good ol’ Cowapa League reunion to open the 2004-05 swimming season, in the six-team Andrew Nygaard Invitational Saturday at the Astoria Aquatic Center.

The swim meet is named for Nygaard who was a promising swimmer for the North Coast Swim Club. He collapsed and died following a workout at the Seaside pool in 1998.

In a bit of a twist, Seaside won the boys’ title, while Astoria captured the girls’ trophy for the second year in a row.

“All the coaches, all the kids from every school … there’s some real camaraderie there,” said Astoria coach Carla Oja. “I think we all felt good about being back together. It was really good to see everybody.

“I think we were feeling some anxiety, and once the other teams got here, they were feeling the same thing,” she said. “It’s always good to have a meet like this, to see where we stand.”

Some swimmers missed the meet, “because some of the schools had SATs, and there were some last minute changes because of injuries,” said Oja, whose team was missing Ryan Gallagher. “But overall the meet was well run, and it went smoothly with no hitches.”

The Astoria girls racked up 346 points to outdistance Scappoose (266.5) and third-place Seaside (265.5).

SUE CODY – The Daily Astorian

Micah Schauermann and Matt Brause embody the spirit of Fishermen fans at the Andrew Nygaard swim meet Saturday.The Fishermen girls did not have any individual winners, but won two relay events and used their depth to win their second straight Nygaard Invitational.

Astoria’s 200-meter freestyle relay of Wendi Agalzoff, Rachel Gascoigne, Kelley Pierce and Katie Blue swam a 1:53.95 minute to win that event, and the same four concluded the meet with a 4:18.50 to win the 400-meter freestyle relay, well ahead of Scappoose (4:37.66).

“We had some good relays, particularly in the girls,” Oja said. “We’ve got some pretty good depth there with some talented new swimmers.”

Individually, Astoria had second-place finishes from Blue in the 50-meter freestyle (28.19) and the 100-meter freestyle (1:00.69); and Gascoigne in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:19.14).

The Gulls picked up wins from Brittany Baldessari in the 50 freestyle (27.59) and Rebecca Fisk in the 500 freestyle (6:02.17).

The Astoria boys – who scored 445 points to win last year’s Nygaard meet – found themselves trailing Seaside this year as the Gulls scored 380 points to win the team title, to 312 for Astoria.

Seaside won six of the 11 events and Astoria won the other five, as the Gulls and Fishermen will again look to dominate the district.

Individual wins for the Gulls came from Daniel Stowers in the 50 freestyle (23.07) and 100-meter butterfly (1:00.78); Dylan Ford in the 200-meter individual medley (2:15.93); and Kevin Lewis in the 100 breaststroke (1:18.72).

The Gulls’ foursome of Ford, Jonathan Vitron, Stowers and Stan McGuire won the 200 medley relay (1:55.60), and the same four won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:40.84.

Astoria captured the 400 freestyle relay in 3:52.17 (Astoria’s B team was third), and added individual victories from Eddie Duret (200 freestyle, 2:08.95), Robbie Weidman (100 freestyle, 55.70), Ben Lilley (500 freestyle, 5:41.49) and Andrew Ellsberg (100 backstroke, 1:06.86).

Lilley had a 1:02.96 for second in the butterfly, a three-second personal best.

In the end, the Gulls were able to take the trophy away from the Fishermen.

SUE CODY – The Daily Astorian

Astoria’s Robbie Weidman swims the backstroke in the 200-yard individual medley. He placed second in the race Saturday.”That’s been kind of a change,” Oja said. “We lost our big studs, so the tide is changing a bit.

“There’s some fast swimmers with the other schools, like the Heller girls (Anna and Heidi) at Scappoose,” she said. “Our girls did really well – we’ve got some good little swimmers, and I was really pleased.”

WrestlingNeah-Kah-Nie wins 8-wayROCKAWAY BEACH – Neah-Kah-Nie won the first of several invitational meets the Pirates will host this year, scoring 141 points to slip past Seaside (129.5) and Dayton (128.5).

Neah-Kah-Nie had five individual champions, although Cody Chambers was the only entrant at 103, while Jaren Kamerer (130) and Taren Keesey (140) won in weight classes with only two entrants.

Neah-Kah-Nie’s Ryan Vandecoevering won the 135-pound division, pinning teammate Brett Kiser in the final; and Cody Smith pinned Daniel Edwards of Seaside in the championship at 275.

The Gulls picked up three individual titles: Kyle Oathes (119), Justin Rogers (125) and Josiah Sigler (160); and Knappa’s Steve Brandon defeated the only other competitor at 215, pinning Henry Heiser of Dayton.

Team results: Neah-Kah-Nie 141, Seaside 129.5, Dayton 128.5, Knappa 96, Santiam Christian 45, Alsea 44.5, Nestucca 44, Vernonia 32.

Tigers win own meetCLATSKANIE – Clatskanie had seven individual champions to win a 5-way wrestling meet Friday.

The Tigers racked up 78 points to finish first ahead of Wilson (67), Seaside (47), Ilwaco (3) and Knappa (no score).

Clatskanie won individual titles at 103 (Isaac Jepson), 112 (Zach White), 140 (Kyle Escola), 171 (Tyler Best), 189 (Broderick Hilton) and 215 (Ian Rice).

Knappa went 13-12 in 25 matches, highlighted by a 3-0 performance by Kenny Williams at 135 pounds. Williams pinned all three of his opponents.

Logger teammate Gary Newberry did the same at 145, while Dennis Peterson won his lone match at 152 by pin.

Knappa’s James Brunes won twice by pin at 189; Steve Brandon went 2-1 at 215; and Robert Rankin lost his first match at 275, then won his last two, including a pin over Clatskanie’s Kanan Kjelland.