Three classes of high school swim teams competed in state championships in Washington this weekend, with Pullman High School winning class 2A (small schools), Mercer Island winning class 3A (medium schools), and Newport winning 4A (big schools).
Class 2A recap
Pullman High School freshman Taylor McCoy was impressive in the small-school division, winning four state titles and leading her team to the championship. McCoy was most notable for her backstroke prowess; the freshman won the 100 back in 56.40 and led off Pullman’s state championship medley relay in 27.00. She also won the 200 IM, going 2:05.73.
Pullman took the medley relay in 1:53.62 with a team of McCoy, Courtni Larsen, Rose Jao, and Rachel Sun. Three of those swimmers also took the closing relay, going 3:45.14 in the 400 free relay. The winning team was Caroline Brock, Sun, Jao, and McCoy.
Capital High School won the 200 free relay, with the team of Jenessa Schulte, Jada Pearson, Madeline Hoffman, and Jsica Eidenmuller going 1:43.47.
Ellensburg High School had two individual event champions, freshman Alia Malella in the 500 free (5:20.60) and junior Taylor Wilson in the 100 breast (1:08.29).
Caitlyn Quaempts out of West Valley High School picked up the win in the 50 free (24.41) and took second in the 100 back. Gwendolyn Roley won the 200 free (1:57.33) and also took third in that backstroke event.
Nadia Popovici was the 1-meter diving champion with a score of 329.70.
Kelsey Crane of Klahowya High School won the 100 butterfly in 57.77; she was also runner-up to McCoy in the IM. The 100 freestyle was a youth movement, with freshmen sweeping the top three spots. Squalicum’s Sydney Wong was the winner in 54.27.
Top 5 Teams
1. Pullman 204
2. Squalicum 198
3. Sehome 190
4. Ellensburg 188
5. Lake Washington 150
Class 3A recap
Bellevue junior Kim Williams put on a show in class 3A, taking home two individual titles and chasing state records in both. She first won the 200 IM in 2:00.64, crushing the field. Later in the meet, she won the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.11, just a tenth of a second off of the overall Washington state record.
Senior Emma Chard of Foss High School put up a nice time to win the 100 free, going 50.17 to get within four tenths of the state record in that event.
Bainbridge Island won the medley relay in 1:47.44, led by senior backstroker Shayla Archer’s strong leadoff split. Her relay-mates were Ani Duni, Candice Rosen, and Allison Murphy. Archer, a verbal commit to the University of Utah, also picked up the individual 100 backstroke win, going 56.38.
Lakeside won the 200 free relay with three sophomores and a freshman. Caroline Wagner, Abby Wagner, Helen Teegan, and Hannah Shabb went 1:38.24 to take the event and should look to make a run at the state record of 1:37.1 down the road.
The 400 free relay went to Mercer Island, which also won the overall team state championship. Their team of Alex Seidel, Maeve Murdoch, Caitlin Cox, and Leah Fisk went 3:34.35.
Columbia River senior Monica Bottelberghe was the state champ in the 200 free, going 1:50.86. She’ll swim for Boise State next fall. Anna Keane, of Meadowdale High School and recently signed to Northwestern University, won the 50 free by well over a second, going 23.21.
Danielle Freund of Southridge won diving with a score of 416.35 and Liberty’s McKenna Briggs was the 100 fly champ (55.02).
Freshman Cameron Smith of Seattle Prep won the 500 free in 4:55.46, she’ll be a swimmer to keep an eye on in the future.
In the team points battle, Mercer Island rode depth and one relay victory to a narrow state championship, besting Lakeside by 17 points.
Top 5 Teams
1 Mercer Island 296
2. Lakeside 279
3. Bainbridge Island 256
4. Bellevue 147
5. Liberty 131
Class 4A recap
A pair of seniors won two events each in class 4A and a third senior broke an overall state record in a veteran-dominated finals session.
Richlandd’s Lisa Bratton won both the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke, narrowly missing state records in both. She won the 100 backstroke, going 54.04, just four tenths of a second off the state record. Bratton, who will swim for Texas A&M next season, also won the 200 IM and was just over a second off the state record there. Her time of 1:59.44 was just enough to best Gig Harbor’s Carolyn McCann, another Division I prospect. McCann went 1:59.56 for second.
McCann broke a five-year-old state record in the 100 breast, going 1:01.33 to shatter the old record (1:02.00) in impressive fashion. She has signed an NLI with Michigan for the 2014 season.
Federal Way senior Kenna Ramey was the other dual-event winner. Ramey won events bookending the diving break: she went 22.96 in the 50 free, just .04 off of the state record, and won the 100 fly in 54.32.
Freshman Madison Pressler was victorious in the 200 freestyle, going 1:53.16 to sneak out the win for Jackson High School. Marley Cross, a sophomore from Garfield, won the 100 free in 51.71, and Mariner High School’s Brianna Lucien won the 500 free, going 5:04.46. Both Cross and Lucien are sophomores.
Auburn senior Hailey Kessler won the diving competition with a score of 387.30.
Gig Harbor won the opening medley relay thanks in large part to Michigan-bound Carolyn McCann‘s 24.2 butterfly split. She joined three freshmen on the relay, Alana Ponce, Ursula Andren, and Anna Furrer, to go 1:47.52.
Newport High School swept the free relays, powering them to the overall state title.
The team of Emily Waddell, Jenny Huo, Maggie Pana, and Lorea Gwo won the 200 free relay in 1:39.26, just barely getting in ahead of McCann and Gig Harbor.
Things were less nerve-wracking for Newport in the 400 free relay, where Gwo, Pana, Maddie Rainey, and Elisa Fang went 3:34.00 to win easily.
Top 5 Teams
1. Newport 232
2. Wenatchee 169.5
3. Gig Harbor 152
4. Skyline 146
5. Richland 123