Kevin Waller of the South Coast Aquatic Team had a memorable performance at the Oregon 11-14 state championships in Corvallis last weekend.

Waller, a North Bend eighth-grader, won two events and had times that rank him in the top 10 in the nation for his age group in each.

His top national ranking is fifth in the 1,000-yard freestyle. His time at state of 9 minutes, 35.27 seconds, was good enough for second place.

He won the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16:07.96, which puts him sixth in the rankings during the current season, which started in September.

Waller’s other win came in the 200 freestyle, where his time of 1:45.02 was better than the winning mark North Bend’s Matt Johnson put up while winning the Class 4A-3A-2A-1A state meet and breaking the meet record.

He perhaps had an even more impressive time in the 500 freestyle, where his time was 4:41.28, better than all the high school champions, but only good enough for second place last weekend.

He also finished fifth in the 100 freestyle, though his time of 50.01 in the prelims was better than his mark in the finals (50.20). In his other event, Waller was ninth in the 100 butterfly (58.39).

Gold Coast Swim Team

The Gold Coast Swim Team had three swimmers compete at state and another, Max Stuntzner-Gibson, who couldn’t because of an illness.

Garrett Swafford finished fifth in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the 200 breaststroke. Shaylyn Brownell was sixth in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the 50 breaststroke. Steven Joel’s top finish was 12th in the 100 backstroke.