Astoria High School swimmers celebrate after both the boys and girls teams won Cowapa League championships Friday in Tillamook.

Astoria High School’s swimming teams are the 2025 champions of the Cowapa League.

Both the boys and the girls teams won league championships Friday in Tillamook, marking the first time since 2006 that both genders won a title.

The girls defended their title from last season, while the boys were Cowapa League champions for the first time since 2019. The girls won with 304 points, finishing ahead of Tillamook (246), St. Helens (225), Seaside (173) and Scappoose (83).

The boys edged Tillamook, 336-323. Seaside came home third with a score of 169, Scappoose was fourth with 148 and St. Helens finished with 127.

Astoria head coach Paul Gascoigne said that about 70% of Friday’s swims marked season-best times.

The girls saw three individual event winners and three relay wins.

Lilly Smith was first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 28.59 and placed second in the 100 freestyle. Rylie Knight took first in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 1:22.83. She also finished third in the 50 freestyle. Ruby Smith won the 100 backstroke and finished second in the 200 freestyle. Hazel Towsey-French finished second in both the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle.

The relay team of Ruby Smith, Lilly Smith, Towsey-French and Alexzandra Nolasco won the 200 medley relay. Nolasco, Josie Reeves, Kayla Freeman and Knight took first in the 200 freestyle relay and the Fishermen wrapped up with the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay, with Towsey-French, Ruby Smith, Knight and Lilly Smith.

Finn Bizzell once again led the boys team with four first-place finishes. Bizzell placed first in both the 200 individual medley and 100 butterly, while anchoring the Fishermen’s winning 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams. Freshman Sam Reid continued his stellar debut campaign with a pair of second-place finishes in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. He also was apart of the second-place 200 medley relay team. John Ero placed third in both the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, while Casey Dopp placed third in the 500 freestyle and fourth in the 200 individual medley.

The team of Reid, Gabe White, Toby Thomas and Noah Kistner placed second in the 200 medley relay. Dopp, White, Ero and Bizzell won the 200 freestyle relay and the foursome of Dopp, Reid, Ero and Bizzell placed first in the 400 freestyle medley.

Seaside swimmers

Freshman Ellie Smith notched a first-place finish for the Seagulls.

Ellie Smith engaged in two showdowns with Astoria’s Ruby Smith. Seaside’s Smith beat Ruby Smith to win the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:28.52 and then finished second to her Astoria rival in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:14.91, just behind Ruby Smith’s 1:14.42.

Kayla Reckmann finished third in the 200 freestyle and second in the 100 butterly. Freshman Ella Crater was fifth in the 200 freestyle and fourth in the 500 freestyle. Finally, the Seagulls 200 freestyle relay team of Smith, Faith Handy, Reckmann and Crater finished second behind Astoria in a time of 2:11.06.

The Seagull boys were led by senior sprinting duo Mika Cannon and Alex Arden.

Cannon and Arden finished second and fifth in the 50 freestyle. Cannon swam a time of 25:65 and Arden clocked a 26.72. The pair came back in the 100 freestyle to finish second and fourth. Arden and Cannon were joined by Kaden Bingham and Grayson Patton on the second-place 200 freestyle relay team.