A record-breaking performance by senior Lydia Bartlett highlighted results for the Sisters Outlaws in their first meet of 2020 held at the Madras Swim Center on Saturday, January 11.

The Madras Invitational was missing some teams this year due to snowy weather, but seven squads, mostly from the 5A and 6A ranks, competed in the meet.

Bartlett’s school record came in the 100-yard butterfly; she dominated the field, winning by over six seconds in 1:03.24. Bartlett holds school records in a number of other events, according to Coach Bryn Singleton.

“Lydia was part of all three relays’ records and also holds the 100 free, 50 free and 500 free records,”said Singleton. “It’s an amazingly impressive feat that her name is now on nearly every event on the record board.”

Bartlett also captured first place in the 100-yard breaststroke, winning by a full seven seconds, in a time of 1:12.13.

Bartlett joined Cambria Leaver, Iris Diez, and Lizzie McCrystal in the 200-yard medley relay in which they took third place in a time of 2:23.95.

Leaver, Diez, Bartlett and Laura Clem placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:03.32.

Clem (3:00.56) and Leaver (3:02.31) placed fourth and fifth respectively in the 200-yard individual medley.

All of the girls are progressing, and Singleton exuded joy over how much the swimmers, particularly the newcomers, improve from week to week.

“It’s such a joy to watch the new swimmers improve and how hard they work. Lizzie McCrystal, Makenzie French, Ryan Ilmberger and Tanner Clem are really rising to the challenge of learning a tough new sport,” she said. “Team members are continually asking for advice and working to translate it into the pool, which is all a coach can ask for.”

As a team the girls placed fourth with 140 points. Pendleton won the meet with 338 points, followed by The Dalles (278), and Ridgeview (227). Redmond placed fifth (88) and Madras sixth with 77.

For the boys, Singleton says that the relay teams are the best that Sisters has had in some time. Sam Mayes, Osmond Bates, Austen Heuberger and Clayten Heuberger finished fourth in the 400-yard freestyle relay (4:03.74) with Mayes at the anchor achieving the fastest split among the four in 57.27. The quartet placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:46.67.

Other notable performances for the boys team included Osmond Bates’ fourth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke (1:15.94), Austen Heuberger’s fifth-place in the 200-yard freestyle (2:18.67), and Sam Mayes’ sixth-place in a tightly packed 50-yard freestyle (25.32).

Redmond won the team title with 302 points, followed by Pendleton (237), The Dalles (194), Ridgeview (135), Madras (119), Sisters (104) and Cove (50).