It was the end of an era Saturday afternoon at the Astoria Aquatic Center.

Making their final home appearance as coaches of the Astoria swim team, Carla Oja and Paul Gascoigne received the best going-away gift they could ever ask for: Another district title trophy for the Fishermen swim team.

The Astoria boys racked up 262 points to put themselves back on top of the District 1/4A world, taking the title from defending champion Seaside.

The Seaside boys (second with 235 points) and the Astoria and Seaside girls will send a few select athletes to the state meet later this week. Scappoose won the girls’ team title with 247 points, ahead of Taft (225), Astoria (221) and Seaside (153).

The state meet takes place Friday and Saturday at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham.

“It was a hard day to start,” Oja said. “Thank heavens for that girls’ 200 relay and the boys’ 200 relay.”

If there’s one thing the Astoria swim team is good at, it’s the 200-yard freestyle relay.

The Fishermen swept the event in Saturday’s finals, their only two victories of the day.

For the girls, Janessa Wright, Becca Alfaro, Chelsey Olson and Brittany Janda teamed up to finish in 1 minute 53.50 seconds, almost two seconds faster than their time in Friday’s preliminary, and three seconds faster than second-place Newport.

Shortly after the girls’ win, Astoria’s foursome of Nick Agalzoff, Daniel Perry, Josh Jensen and Todd Cooper – all seniors – put their experience to good use and won the boys’ 200 freestyle relay in 1:36.40.

Seaside, with freshman Christian Anderson, juniors Travis Cockcroft and James Stewart, and senior Logan Ward, took second in 1:38.28, good enough for a wild-card entry to state.

Ultimately, the Astoria boys used their depth to win the district title.

“With the boys, we came into this meet knowing that Newport was going to be phenomenal,” Gascoigne said. “They’ve got a great team for state, with top, top guys. So we knew it would be a close three-way between us, Seaside and Newport.”

One thing the Fish had going for themselves – Astoria had 30 entries in Saturday’s finals.

“After the prelims, it felt good depthwise,” Oja said. “And that’s exactly why the boys pulled it off.”

“I felt really good after prelims,” Gascoigne added. “For the most part, everybody placed well. But I also knew how tight it was going to be today.

“And it was. Halfway through the meet, I think it was tied between us and Seaside,” he said. “So all of our plans today were based on trying to out-depth the other teams. It worked, but it was a nail-biter.”

The Astoria boys will send a handful of athletes to the state meet, including two relays, with another four individual wild-card entries.

The state participants will include Nick Agalzoff (second in the 200-yard freestyle); Daniel Perry (third in the 100-yard breaststroke); freshman Nick Janda (second, 500-yard freestyle); and Jon Sprouse (second, 100-yard backstroke).

Sprouse, Perry, Agalzoff and Cooper also qualified as a wild card with a second-place showing in the 200-yard medley relay.

The Lady Fish will send their district relay champion, with another relay and two individuals, all by way of wild-card times.

Wright, Niquelle Baxter, Janda and Olson finished third in the 200 medley relay in 2:10.02, good enough for a state berth.

Individually, state qualifiers were Wright in the backstroke (second); and Janda qualified in two events, finishing second in the 50 freestyle and 100-yard freestyle.

Seaside’s lone victory on the day came from senior Carlie Gilligan, whose winning time of 1:13.53 in the breaststroke earned her a free ticket to state, where she will be seeded third in the event.

Gilligan also qualified as a wild card (and will be seeded third at state) in the 200 freestyle. She will be joined at state by teammates Travis Cockcroft (second in the butterfly); David Hoth (third, 500 freestyle) and James Stewart (second, 50 freestyle).

The boys’ 200 medley relay will head to state, after a third-place finish at districts; and Seaside’s girls 200 medley relay – despite a fourth-place finish at districts – also qualified for state.

The Seaside boys will return next year with a strong team, while the Astoria boys will go into rebuilding mode with a new coach.

Gascoigne and Oja spent Saturday enjoying the meet, at the same time knowing it was their last meet as coaches at the Aquatic Center.

“I thought it wouldn’t bother me at all, but it was very bittersweet at times today,” said Gascoigne, who swam for Astoria High School, then later returned as a coach. “I was really hoping for that trophy as a good way to go out. That was a nice finish. The kids at the end were fantastic. It was a lot more emotional for me than I thought it would be.”

Oja said, “I was tearing up when the girls’ 200 relay won.”

And, fighting back tears after the meet, said, “I reflect over the years, all the kids we worked with. It’s a lot of kids, and they’re all dear friends of ours. It has been phenomenal.”