BEND – T.J. Tangney and Melissa Newhouse highlighted the Pendleton Bucks’ day at the Intermountain Conference district swim meet Friday with first-place showings in both the boys and girls 50-meter freestyle heats.

Tangney finished in 22.63 seconds, followed by teammates Jeff and Jamie Comrie, who finished third and fourth, respectively.

All three swimmers advanced to today’s district finals starting at noon. The top eight preliminary finishes in each event are in today’s finals where they will go for a chance to qualify for the Class 4A state championships.

“I’m impressed that we had as many qualify,” Pendleton coach Kevin Hamblin said. “I’m impressed with how well they’re swimming.”

Newhouse finished the 50 freestyle in 26.44 and placed third in the 100 freestyle, advancing to the finals in each event. Katie Sutphin placed eight in the 100 freestyle for an appearance in the finals.

Jeff Comrie broke the Bucks’ school record in the boys 100 backstroke with a time of 1 minute, 0.29 second, finishing second. Tangney and Jamie Comrie moved on to the 100 freestyle finals with third- and fifth-place finishes, respectively.

Nick Lapp placed fourth in the 200 freestyle and seventh in the 500 freestyle.

Kristina Grant earned fourth in the girls 500 freestyle in 5:59.91 and teammate Hilary Ishii took fifth. Grant also moved into the finals in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 1:07.36.

“I’m excited for (today) to see how they do,” Hamblin said.

Hermiston’s Mychal Bert finished second in the 50 freestyle to lead a good showing from the Hermiston Bulldogs.

“I wasn’t expecting to do as well as we did, especially the younger swimmers,” Hermiston coach Chelle Hankinson said. “All but two of our boys qualified for the finals or consolation finals.”