Highlights from the Canyon Ridge Invite on Sept. 14 at the Twin Falls City Pool.
Twin Falls swim coach Beth Lamb wasn't sure how her Bruins would perform at Saturday's district meet.
Several swimmers had been sick in recent weeks, and the team as a whole wasn't able to practice Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
But Twin Falls made up for it as it fed off the energy bouncing off the dome covering the Twin Falls City Pool, helping the Bruins boys to a third straight district title.
"There's always high energy," Lamb told the Times-News. "There's high energy because of the crowd, the energy, the cheering, knowing that they have to be in the top three or four."
Senior AJ Schnitzeler became the team's lone individual district champion, winning the 100-yard butterfly. He also finished second in the 50 freestyle, swam the butterfly leg in the winning 200 medley relay and the anchor leg in the 400 freestyle relay. Schnitzeler won the 2023 100 freestyle 4A (now known as 5A) state title and finished second in the 50 free.
The top four individual finishers and the top three relays in each event qualified for the 5A state championship, which will take place at the West Boise YMCA & Boise City Aquatic Center Nov. 8-9.
Twin Falls boys finished third in 2023, though defending state champion Bishop Kelly moved up to 6A.
"Hopefully the team we're shooting for either second or first place, maybe," Schnitzeler said. "For me I'd like to get first for both of my events."
Three Magic Valley athletes won their individual events.
Minico senior Kyler Clark won the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke, finishing strong to beat Twin Falls senior Lucas Pulleiro in both events. Clark said he's dropped over a minute in the 200 IM since his freshman year and drew extra energy from the crowd and the comradery of fellow swimmers. He also wore Spiderman glasses for his medal ceremonies, carrying on a team tradition of one Spartans swimmer each dressing up in Batman, Superman and Spiderman apparel.
"The best I ever have," Clark told the Times-News about he swam. "I took a lot of pre-workout but honestly I love the people in these heats, I love the people in this pool and I feel like just this energy cooks it a lot more."
Kimberly freshman Kyler Brown won the 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, while Wood River's Haden Murdock won the 200 and 500 freestyle.
Boys team scores
Twin Falls, 409Minico, 282Burley, 281Kimberly, 269Wood River, 155Jerome, 131Mountain Home, 64Gooding, 30Filer, 27Declo, 23Oakley, 13
Wood River girls repeat
Wood River head coach Kaedi Fry was shocked when her girls team won the 2023 district title.
This year, she heard murmurs on the pool deck that if they repeated, she'd be pushed or thrown in the pool. Fry was able to take her shoes off before jumping into the pool with her team to celebrate the title. Not that she was complaining.
"Winning is awesome," Fry told the Times-News.
Wood River won all three relays, including the 400 free relay with a more than 20 second margin. Junior Bella Tognoni won the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, while five other swimmers qualified for the state meet. The Wolverines returned three 2023 state medalists in Tognoni, and seniors Rya Nichols and Riley Rundell.
"Throughout the season we've done really well," Fry said. "We've performed really well even without our top performers being sick or just missing a meet. We've had a really strong group of girls. Coming into today they really wanted it, they wanted it more than anything."
Tognoni, who is the two-time 5A (formerly 4A) defending state champion and meet record holder in the 100 breaststroke, missed much of the early season because to a shoulder injury, and dealt with the death of her grandfather and close family friends.
She looks to be rounding into form at the right time.
She won the 200 IM by 11 seconds, in a time a little less than three seconds over what she swam at the 2023 state meet, where she finished third. She won the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.95, a bit off her state meet record time of 1:05.41. It was the best she's felt this season.
Tognoni enjoys being a part of the Wood River team, as it is more social and team-oriented than her USA Swimming competitions for Sun Valley 5B. It helps too, that Fry, a 2015 Wood River graduate, competed for NCAA Division III Linfield College (now known as Linfield University).
"There's amazing kids on it," Tognoni told the Times-News. "And just an amazing opportunity to have a coach that used to swim for Wood River."
Minico senior Darah Thomson joined Tognoni as a double district champion, winning the 200 and 500 freestyle. Thomson finished fifth in both events at the 2023 state meet. Thomson's mom, Jessica, is the head coach for the Magic Valley Marlins, a USA Swimming team that practices at the Twin Falls City pool.
"She's always there for me," Darah Thomson told the Times-News. "She's always been encouraging even in the tough times, even when I feel like I'm not good enough."
Oakley junior Sarah Toribau also became a district champion in two events, winning the 100 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke.
Girls team scores
Wood River, 371Jerome, 284Kimberly, 279Twin Falls, 205Minico, 158Declo, 150Burley, 122Gooding, 98Mountain Home, 65Oakley, 40Richfield, 8