MARYSVILLE — With another great performance in the 3A Northwest District 1 girls swim finals, Meadowdale’s Anna Keane leaves quite a legacy on the event held at the Marysville Pilchuck pool.
The senior set the district record in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events on Saturday, along with leading the Mavericks 200 medley relay to second and 400 free relay to victory.
Keane’s 51.62 in the 100 bested her meet record from a year ago and was well in front of Emily Strathy in second place from Shorecrest. Keane missed All-American consideration by five hundredths of a second. In the 50 free she did post an All-American consideration time of 23.78, also beating Strathy in second and her previous meet record by .02.
Despite all that, Keane knows she has a lot more in her for the upcoming state meet.
“I’m not rested right now, so I need to feel good in the water,” Keane said. “Right now I kind of feel tired and slow.”
Next week she goes for a three-peat at the state level in both individual events, something that would automatically qualify her for the WIAA swimming hall of fame.
“I want to win three in a row if I can,” said Keane, who will attend Northwestern next year and study biochemical engineering as well as swim for the Wildcats. “It would be an accomplishment that not a lot of people can do.”
As her storied high school career ends, coach Kati Girard can only marvel at the competitor and person Keane has become.
“I’ve coached her as a little girl so it is very strange (to say goodbye),” Girard said. “We’ve been involved with USA swimming ? seeing her go off is so exciting but kind of sad because we have so much history.”
Though Keane is home schooled and doesn’t attend Meadowdale High, she has had a huge impact in developing the Mavericks program and her teammates, especially with the relays.
“Anna is amazing, but it does take four,” Girard said
When she first came to compete with Meadowdale, Keane was intimidating to some of her teammates, but that’s all gone now.
“They were a little afraid of her sometimes, but she’s really grown into a great young lady,” Girard said.
Keane loves how the number of Mavericks competing at a high level has grown over her four years.
“It’s way more fun than showing up and swimming your races and leaving,” she said.
The only thing more impressive than Keane’s individual dominance was Shorewood’s all-around team dominance as the Thunderbirds raced to their eighth consecutive district title.
The Thunderbirds ran away with the team title, scoring 529.5 points, well ahead of second place Glacier Peak at 334 points.
Susie McDowell has been involved with the program for 24 years and coached for the past 17. She said never before have the Thuderbirds qualified their entire roster from preliminaries Friday night to Saturday’s final.
“I’ve never had that before in all my years,” McDowell said. “So that was kind of neat.”
“We have a lot of depth and because they score to 18 (in district competition) we are very fortunate to have it all the way through.”
The Thunderbirds feel the positive pressure of keeping the team’s run of district crowns alive.
“The fact that we haven’t lost districts since 2006 is also motivation because we don’t want to let down the legacy,” T-bird sophomore Britt Blomso said.
Blomso is one of the T-Bird’s individual stars, leading the 200 medley relay that beat Meadowdale and Keane by over 2 seconds with a time of 1:54.39.
“In practice, we push each other,” Blomso said. “We want that trophy. We want to win, so it’s a really fun environment.”
Blomso was the top qualifier in the 100 butterfly but finished .06 behind Rachel Hartmeyer, a senior from Marysville Getchell. Abby Magee from Marysville Pilchuck was .70 behind Blomso and all three advance to state.
The T-Bird sophomore made up for it by cruising in the 100 backstroke with time of 1:00.85.
A year ago as a freshman Blomso was 13th and 15th in her individual events and a part of two fourth-place relays. She’s aiming for podium, or top four, in all her events this year.
“We’ve done a really good job of maintaining the speed and everyone’s really stepped up,” Blomso said. “We have a really good shot to getting where we were last year. So we are hoping to get podium again.”
At Marysville Pilchuck H.S.
Team Scores: Shorewood 529.5, Glacier Peak 334, Shorecrest 306.5, Oak Harbor 284, Meadowdale 257, Marysville Pilchuck 233, Stanwood 225, Marysville Getchell 153, Everett 115, Mountlake Terrace 62, Ferndale 54
200 medley relay—1. Shorewood 1:59.39, 2. Meadowdale 1:56.82, 3. Marysville Pilchuck 1:57.24; 200 freestyle—1. Marissa Morris (OH) 2:01.95, 2. Nicola Gerbino (Shorewood) 2:06.80, 3. Maddie Henry (Shorewood) 2:12.37; 200 individual medley—1. Melody Coleman (Marysville Pilchuck) 2:12.52, 2. Karlie Rimat (Stanwood) 2:15.39, 3. Abby Magee (Marysville Pilchuck) 2:16.58; 50 freestyle—1. Anna Keane (Meadowdale) 23.78, 2. Emily Strathy (Shorecrest) 25.95; 3. Ari Norberg (Shorewood) 26.11; Diving—1. Brooke Wherley (Marysville Getchell) 406.75, 2. Annika Dayton (Glacier Peak) 290.70, 3. Alex Pimental (Marysville Getchell) 276.25; 100 butterfly—1. Rachel Hartmeyer (Marysville Getchell) 1:00.03; 2. Britt Blomso (Shorewood) 1:00.09. 3. Abby Magee (Marysville Pilchuck) 1:00.79; 100 freestyle—1. Keane (Meadowdale) 51.62; 2. Strathy (Shorecrest) 55.92, 3. Erin Arslanoglu (Shorewood) 57.73; 500 freestyle—1.Rimat (Stanwood) 5:19.88, 2. Morris (Oak Harbor) 5:23.38; 3. Hartmeyer (Marysville Getchell) 5:29.81; 200 freestyle relay—1. Shorewood 1:44.68, 2. Marysville Pilchuck 1:46.33, 3. Stanwood 1:48.22; 100 backstroke—1. Blomso (Shorewood) 1:00.85, 2. Annika Matthews (Mountlake Terrace) 1:04.00, 3. Mollie Briddell (Oak Harbor) 1:06.26; 100 breaststroke—1. Coleman (Marysville Pilchuck) 1:08.34, 2. Christina Garrison (Shorewood) 1:10.31, 3. Victoria Nguyenle (Meadowdale) 1:10.94; 400 freestyle relay—1. Meadowdale 3:47.66, 2. Shorewood 3:53.97, 3. Glacier Peak 4:00.11.
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