Under the bright lights of the OSAA State Swimming Championships at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center, the Klamath Union High School boys swim team delivered a performance for the history books.
Competing in Special District 2, Klamath Union’s five point-scoring swimmers placed third as a team with 35 points, finishing just behind Cascade Christian (37) and state champion Newport (40). It marked the first time in school history KU’s boys placed as a team at state — a milestone head coach Heather Shaffer did not take lightly.
“KU has never placed as a team at state before,” Shaffer said. “This is historic.”
Senior’s Max Hendricks and Kamron Bouma had a season which will be remembered like no other at Klamath Union.
“First off, it’s just an absolute honor to represent KU and the Klamath Basin as a whole, going to state and trying to do our best,” Bouma said. “It’s been great getting the records that we have, and I’m very thankful for the opportunity.”
Records fell throughout the weekend.
Bouma claimed second place finishes in both the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, setting new school records in each with lifetime-best times of 21.48 and 47.41 seconds. Bouma beat his own school record in the 50 freestyle set during the Skyline Championships, a record of 22.47 which beat Klamath Union's Marich Sikes' time of 22.69 he had back in 2013.
For Bouma, breaking a school record in each of his four events is something he won’t soon forget.
Shaffer noted Charles Warrington, who was recently inducted as the first male swimmer into the Pelican Hall of Fame, had told her he was excited about the possibility of his 100 freestyle school record being broken.
“It’s just awesome to have broken his record in the last meet of the year,” Bouma said. “I’m glad for the opportunities I’ve got and the coaching I’ve got. It’s a good feeling and I’m very thankful for the boys around me that helped get me there.”
Hendricks added a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:54.64) and fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:00.00), swimming less than a second off his lifetime bests despite battling illness the week between districts and state.
“I’d had a cold all week,” Hendricks said. “You could definitely tell when you started racing that you weren’t quite there. I was expecting some drops, but it happens sometimes. It was still a good last meet.”
The relays proved especially dramatic. The 200 freestyle relay team of Hendricks, Sawyer Olsen, Finley Chase and Bouma placed second in a school-record 1:34.64, just four-hundredths of a second shy of a state title.
“It was a close race,” Bouma said. “We lost by .04 seconds. That was definitely a tough loss. It would have been nice to win that, but they swam fast enough and earned it. It was a fun race.”
Shaffer noted Hendricks opened the relay with a lifetime-best split, giving KU an early edge before Bouma nearly chased down the win at the wall.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Hendricks, Jonas Southwell, Chase and Bouma also broke a long-standing school record by nearly three seconds, finishing third in 3:30.79. Both Hendricks and Bouma swam sub-50-second splits, a breakthrough mark in high school sprinting.
“That’s a lot to break a record by,” Shaffer said. “Max and Kamron dropped so much time.”
For Chase, the relay success reflected months of technical refinement and team accountability.
“I think it was a lot due to the people on the team,” Chase said. “Swimming with Cameron and Max and getting pointers from them helped me and Jonas drop a lot of time this season.”
Shaffer added Chase made significant stroke adjustments over the summer and that all her team’s state qualifiers paid attention to the details.
“There’s a lot you can do to move more efficiently through the water,” Shaffer said. “They tracked those details down and perfected them. They were very focused.”
At the state meet, there was a selfless team decision involving Southwell and Olsen.
Shaffer explained Olsen was part of the 400 freestyle relay team that qualified for state at districts, but as a first-time state swimmer, he felt more comfortable focusing on the 50 freestyle rather than the 100 freestyle leg of the relay.
With Southwell swimming the 100 faster late in the season and serving as the team’s alternate at state, Olsen asked if Southwell could take his spot on the 400 relay. As a result, Olsen competed on the 200 freestyle relay, while Southwell swam on the record-breaking 400 freestyle relay that placed third at state.
On the girls side, sophomore Gretchen Lindecamp qualified individually and placed 12th in the 200 freestyle while also swimming on the 10th-place 400 freestyle relay, along with teammates Hazel Squibb, Elsie Baumann and Elly Amos.
“It was really cool being able to see all the work I’d been putting in pay off,” Lindecamp said. “Going to such an important meet individually taught me a lot about not expecting the best every race, but still being proud of what I can do.”
Lindecamp emphasized the bond among teammates as a driving force.
“We all really like each other,” Lindecamp said. “We expect a lot out of each other, and that pushes us to do our best.”
Shaffer described the electric state atmosphere and camaraderie among Special District 2 swimmers.
“We never have a student section,” Shaffer said. “Nobody knows what we do. But at state, it’s electric. After the 50 freestyle, four boys from our district who medaled were standing together with their arms around each other. Our athletes are supportive of everyone swimming.”
