Astoria swim team strong at Cowapa Championships

Published 2:00 am Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Astoria senior Emery Young works on her backstroke technique during a pre-season swim practice at the Astoria Aquatic Center. ((Rob Hilson/ For the Astorian))

Next up: District Championships

Though host team Tillamook took home the expected first place finishes at the Cowapa League Championships, local swimmers put together great swims. Astoria boys, Astoria girls and Seaside girls held their own against the powerful Cheesemakers.

According to Astoria coach Paul Gascoigne, 80% of the swims over the weekend resulted in personal best times as the Fishermen finished second place for both the boys and girls. The boys almost pulled off a crazy upset, as they lost by just four points to the Cheesemakers.

Standouts for the Fisherman boys included Sam Reid, Brody Giles, John Ero, Toby Thomas and Konrad Struve. All of them were either victorious individually or as part of a relay. Reid was the only boys swimmer to win an individual race as he took first place in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke. He was also part of the first place 200-yard freestyle relay team and 2nd place 200-yard medley relay. Giles, Ero and Thomas were the other three swimmers in the 200-freestyle relay and Struve replaced Giles on the 200-yard medley relay team.

For the girls, Ruby Smith was the individual winner in the 200-yard freestyle. The senior set a new personal best by almost 4 seconds, improving her time from 2:29.06 to 2:25.41. She also teamed up with her fellow seniors Emery Young, Zany Nolasco and her sister Lily to take home first place in the 200-yard medley relay. The same foursome would place second in the 200-yard freestyle relay behind Tillamook.

Other notable swimmers for the Fishermen included junior Brennon Greer in the 500-yard freestyle. Greer and his teammate Roarke Struve finished second and third behind Tillamook athlete Johnny Sappington. Greer clocked a personal best of 6:24.31.

The overall scores for the girls were: Tillamook 324 points; Astoria 297; Seaside 147; Scappoose 145; and St. Helens 107.

The boys side scores were: Tillamook 322.5; Astoria 318.5; St. Helens 158; Scappoose 155; and Seaside 111.

Seaside girls strong

Saturday was one of the strongest meets off the year for the Seaside girls swim team as they finished a very impressive third place behind two strong teams.

They have continued making strides all season and put together quality performances in every discipline.

Their relay team of sophomore Ellie Smith, freshman Kailani Vidal, senior Kayla Reckmann and sophomore Baylee Bishop finished second behind Astoria in the girls 200-yard medley. Then the relay team of Smith, Reckmann, Bishop and Ella Crater finished third in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Individually, the girls had Vidal take first place in the 100 yard breaststroke. The freshman out touched Tillamook sophomore Sandra Hall at the wall to take the victory in a time of 1:30.20. Smith finished third in the 200-yard individual medley and second in the 100-yard backstroke. Finally, Crater finished third in the girls 500-yard freestyle.

Sophomore leads Seaside boys

Stellan Mortensen led the Seaside boys in the boys 100-yard butterfly.

The sophomore has been dropping time in the pool all year and did so again over the weekend. Mortensen came in with a seed time of 1:10.78 and finished with a time of 1:10.07 to finish fourth in the boys race. He was also part of the 200-yard medley relay team that placed fourth. Mortensen was joined by freshman Conner Murphy, junior Kaden Bingham and senior Yoshi Melo.

Bingham and Melo were the other top five performers for Seaside on the day. Bingham finished fifth in the boys 100-yard freestyle and fourth in the boys 100-yard breaststroke. Bingham swam a personal best in the 100-yard breaststroke. Melo was fifth in the 50-yard freestyle and also swam a personal best.

Next up for both the Fishermen and Seagulls are the District Championships Friday and Saturday at Astoria Aquatic Center. This will give local fans one last time to see the swimmers in action and also find out which local ones qualify for the State Championships.