FEDERAL WAY — Archbishop Murphy senior Kaelee McCloskey had accomplished a lot in her high-school swimming career, but the one thing that had eluded her was an individual state championship — until Saturday that is.
McCloskey capped off her career with a victory in the 100-yard butterfly at the 2A state swimming and diving championships.
Her time of 58.72 edged Squalicum’s Olivia Nielsen, who finished in 59.06.
“(It was) really rewarding,” McCloskey said. “In the back of my mind it was like, ‘I have a chance,’ but I didn’t know if it was actually going to happen. To actually have it happen, it felt great.”
McCloskey had placed fourth in state as a junior and third as a sophomore in the 100 butterfly before Saturday’s victory.
“It’s amazing,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Erin Edmondson said. “She’s a senior and it’s a great way for her to go out.”
McCloskey reached the top of the podium a second time, helping the Wildcats’ to a win in the 200 freestyle relay.
McCloskey, along with seniors Caitlin Mitchell and Danielle Booth and sophomore Caroline Kowalchuk, finished with a time of 1:41.11, just ahead of Liberty, which finished in 1:41.60.
“Our (200 freestyle) relay has three seniors on that relay,” Edmondson said. “For all of them, to get that first place, was an amazing feat and Kaelee finally having that 100 fly was kind of a dream come true for her.”
Going into the race, McCloskey wanted to keep it a dream and focus on racing her best. The strategy paid off.
“I’ve never gotten nervous, but I didn’t want to think about it because I didn’t want to start imagining it and have it not happen,” McCloskey said. “I was just going to go in and race as hard as possible and see how it turned out.”
McCloskey added a fourth-place finish in the 200 individual medley.
Booth, who won the state championship in the 100 breaststroke as a junior and finished second in that same event and the 50 freestyle Saturday, was pleased that her teammate got to experience winning a state title as she did a year ago.
“I’m so proud of Kaelee,” Booth said. “She worked so hard at practice. We have high school practice every morning before school. She’ll go to club practice and then she’ll go to (high school) practice, so she goes to two morning practices. She works so hard and the fact that she finally got that her senior year, I was almost in tears when she won. I was so happy for her.”
Booth didn’t repeat in the 100 breaststroke, but she did reach the top of the podium again with Wildcats’ relay victory — a moment that meant a lot to the three outgoing seniors.
“It meant so much,” Booth said. “Caitlin was practically crying on the podium. Three of us are seniors and we’re all just so close, so being able to share that experience with your friends is just absolutely phenomenal. Being at that podium and getting first and having all your friends cheer for you and all your loved ones cheer for you and just knowing that you did that together is just the most amazing thing ever.”
Senior diver Reilly Krueger, who won the state championship as a junior finished third. The Wildcats finished fourth overall behind Anacortes, Squalicum and two-time defending state champion Liberty.
3A
Pair of MG divers place
Marysville Getchell senior Alexandra Pimentel placed third in the 3A state diving finals on Saturday in Federal Way.
Pimentel was joined on the podium by sophomore teammate Chloe Bishop, who finished eighth with a score of 325.15.
It’s the third straight year the Chargers have had two divers in the top 10 in the state.
Pimentel placed 10th each of the past two seasons and Brooke Wherley won the title last year as a senior and placed second the previous year as a junior.
Stanwood’s Rimat takes 4th
Stanwood junior Karlie Rimat capped off her season with a fourth-place finish in the 500 freestyle at Saturday’s 3A state swimming championships.
Rimat finished with a time of 5:09.65, just over 10 seconds behind Seattle Prep’s Cameron Smith, who won her third straight state championship with a time of 4:58.64.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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