Nearly 300 student athletes convened at the Palmer Pool for the two-day annual Valley Invitational Swimming and Diving Meet in Palmer, Alaska, October 17th and 18th.  Female and male swim and dive teams from 16 schools competed in one of the biggest ASAA high school swim and dive meets in the state. Each athlete was allowed to swim in up to two individual events and two relay events and each team could have no more than three individual entries per event.

Unalaska’s teams competed in 11 out of 24 total events. Everyone swims on day one and the top 12 swimmers in each event make it to day two finals. Team captain, Lucio Howard, had a successful two days. He made it to day two finals in his individual events - 200 Yard Individual Medley, finishing 8th overall, and 100 Yard Breaststroke, finishing 5th overall. Howard is hoping to make it to states this year in breaststroke. He is inching closer to his goal by beating his fastest times of the season each day with a final breaststroke time of 1:10.36. Head coach, D. Tyrell McGirt, said "Lucio is working really hard to make states but he'll need to get that time down to under 1:10.00 to have a fighting chance. The top 16 swimmers from across the state in each event make it to states, Lucio is in the hunt but he still has some work to do before regions in two weeks". Sophomore Delanney McConnell also made it to day two finals in the 100 Yard Butterfly, finishing 11th overall. McConnell had her fastest butterfly time of the season at the Valley Invite. Sophomore Amber Le made alternate swimmer in both the 200 Yard Individual Medley and 100 Yard Breaststroke.

Unalaska’s swim teams will host Bartlett from Anchorage in the final home meet of the season Friday, October 24th, at 7:00 p.m. Graduating seniors Trisxia Fernandez and Lucio Howard will be recognized during a special Senior Night presentation. Unalaska teams will be in the air and on the road again for the region meet in Soldotna from October 30th - November 1st.

TOP UNALASKA FINISHES

-  5th Place Lucio Howard - 100 Yard Breaststroke
-  8th Place Lucio Howard - 200 Yard Individual Medley
-  11th Place Delanney McConnell - 100 Yard Butterfly

OTHER TOP UNALASKA FINISHES
-  14th & Alternate Day 2 Swimmer Amber Le - 200 Yard Individual Medley
-  14th & Alternate Day 2 Swimmer Amber Le - 100 Yard Breaststroke
-  23rd / 43 Swimmers Alyssa Tungul - 100 Yard Freestyle