Kamiak races to first district title

Published 11:34 pm Saturday, February 9, 2008

MARYSVILLE — Snohomish may have had the bigger guns, but Kamiak had the numbers.

The Kamiak Knights rode a lethal combination of speed in the freestyle sprints and relays, diving prowess and excellent depth to their first-ever team title in a frenzied 4A District 1 boys swimming and diving championship meet at Marysville-Pilchuck High School Saturday.

“It was definitely a great team effort today,” Kamiak coach Chris Erickson said as the Knights celebrated outscoring two-time defending state champion Snohomish 539.5 to 511. “Snohomish had more first places and maybe more top-five’s and they’re going to be tough at state because of that, but we had great depth.”

Shorewood scored 393.5 to edge Marysville-Pilchuck (390) for third. Oak Harbor (273) placed fifth.

Coming into the district meets, taking place all over the state this weekend, Western Conference individuals and relay teams had recorded the fastest reported times in seven of the 11 swimming events and the athletes did not disappoint a packed house.

“Our district is just blazing fast this year,” Snohomish coach Rob Serviss said. “There were guys in the B finals swimming state times. Wesco as a group is going to have a very strong showing at state.”

Snohomish won two of the three relays and got individual victories by Garren Riechel (100-yard breaststroke) and Eric Pedack (100 butterfly), who were both somewhat under the weather with colds. But, among other factors, the Panthers could not overcome the 75 points amassed by Kamiak in the 50 freestyle (led by Tyler Carriker, who overcame a bad start to place first in 22.20 seconds).

“It’s a fast race so if you mess up one thing you go from first to sixth,” Carriker said of the 50. “I was behind at the turn, but I said to myself ‘I’m not going to lose,’ and went as fast as I could to the wall.”

Four Knights combined to ring up 67 points in the 1-meter diving event won by M-P’s Taylor Gibson. Snohomish scored 47 points in the event.

Carriker, Rayan Carter and Daniel Schmidt finished 1-3-4 in the 50 freestyle and Alex Lagerkrans joined the trio in a critical victory over the second-place Panthers in the 200 freestyle relay with a school-record time of one minute, 29.77 seconds.

“We all went our best splits and we’re really happy with it,” said Carriker who added a second place in the 100 freestyle just behind Jackson’s Jimmy Rogers. “We’re hoping to go 1:27 at state when all our guys are shaved, tapered, and ready to go.”

Snohomish was poised to take the title away if Kamiak had for any reason been disqualified in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, which the Panthers (3:17.74) won ahead of the second-place Knights.

“I told the guys if you keep it safe we’ve got it,” Erickson said. “It’s not a good idea to put that word DQ in their brains.”

Kamiak’s triumph was keyed by clutch performances in both the championship and consolation finals.

“Our seven unshaved guys (who had already qualified for the state meet) were pretty much right on,” Ericksen said. “All the other guys that really had to focus (to make district finals and/or qualify for state) just did great.”

Serviss said many of his swimmers struggled after stellar performances in Thursday’s prelims.

“It’s asking a lot of an athlete to spin around and do that again on Saturday. “But, I don’t want to make any excuses. Kamiak had a lot of kids in the same situation and they responded to it and they were the better team today.”

Oak Harbor’s John Hu earned a victory over Riechel and M-P’s Trevor LeValley in the much anticipated 200 individual medley with an All-American consideration time of 1:56.16.

“There was some stiff competition out here today, these guys are fast,” Hu said. “I kept imagining seeing (Riechel) in the corner of my eye and I’m pretty sure he was there.”

Cascade junior Sean Nesheim, a long-time club swimmer who is in his first year of high school swimming, is bound for state after twin triumphs (200 freestyle and 100 backstroke).

“This was fun,” Nesheim said. “These guys really know how to race.”

Shorewood was led by Bryan Michaels’ victory in the 500 freestyle and the Thunderbirds piled up points in the relays.

“This is the best team we’ve ever had and we had to fight to get third,” Shorewood coach Scott Kelley said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see the top-four teams here in the top-10 at state.”

At Marysville-Pilchuck Pool

Team results — 1. Kamiak 539.5. 2. Snohomish 511. 3. Shorewood 393.5. 4. Marysville-Pilchuck 390. 5. Oak Harbor 273. 6. Jackson 169. 7. Edmonds-Woodway 163. 8. Cascade 161. 9. Lake Stevens 148. 10. Stanwood 135. 11. Mariner 61. Mountlake Terrace 56.

State Qualifiers

200 Medley Relay – 1. Snohomish (Pedack, Riechel, Harvey, Hanley), 1:38.61*; 2. Kamiak (Hunziker, Lynch, Carter, Schmidt), 1:41.46; 3. Shorewood (Michaels, Joy, Hopen, Vincent), 1:43.04; 4. M-P (Lopez, Girard, LeValley, Goff), 1:44.22. 200 freestyle – 1. Nesheim (CAS), 1:42.86*; 2. Michaels (SH), 1:43.21*; 3. Goodman (SNO), 1:48.42; 4. Lynch (K), 1:50.77; 5. Durand (M-P), 1:50.94. 200 Individual Medley – 1. Hu (OH), 1:56.16*; 2. Riechel (SN), 1:58.31; 3. LeValley (M-P), 2:00.02; 4. Roe (ST), 2:03.15; 5. Win (J), 2:04.70. 50 freestyle – 1. Carriker (K), 22.20; 2. Vincent (SH), 22.25; 3. Carter (K), 22.86; 4. Schmidt (K), 23.02. 1-meter diving – 1. Gibson (M-P), 382.15; 2. Wells (K), 308.25; 3. Greenwood (SN), 285.30; 4. Chung (SH), 277.55. 100 butterfly – 1. Pedack (SN), 53.43; 2. Tan (SH), 54.38; 3. Harvey (SN), 54.74; 4. Hunziker (K), 56.43. 100 freestyle – 1. Rogers (J), 48.29; 2. Carriker (K), 49.04; 3. Coxen (SN), 50.02; 4. Lopez (M-P), 50.63. 500 freestyle – 1. Michaels (SH), 4:39.57*; 2. Roe (ST), 4:45.70; 3. LeValley (M-P), 4:52.93; 4. Durand (M-P), 5:02.76. 200 freestyle relay – 1. Kamiak (Lagerkrans, Schmidt, Carriker, Carter), 1:29.77; 2. Snohomish (Hryciuk, Coxen, Hanley, Goodman), 1:31.23; 3. Shorewood (Hopen, DeMerritt, Tan, Vincent), 1:31.77; 4. E-W (Stoll, Stepenski, Warren, Abadi), 1:34.20. 100 backstroke – 1. Nesheim (CAS), 53.61; 2. Hu (OH), 54.01; 3. Rogers (J), 54.46; 4. Pedack (SN), 55.15; 5. Hunziker (K), 56.75; 7. Harvey (SN), 57.41. 100 breaststroke – 1. Riechel (SN), 59.59; 2. Lynch (K), 1:01.24; 3. Coxen (SN), 1:02.40; 4. Brunner (K), 1:03.36; 7. Rosen (OH), 1:03.84; 8. Lewis (SH), 1:03.93. 400 freestyle relay – 1. Snohomish (Goodman, Hryciuk, Pedack, Riechel), 3:17.74; 2. Kamiak (Carriker, Hunziker, Brunner, Lynch), 3:21.56; 3. Shorewood (Michaels, Tan, Gill, DeMerritt), 3:22.43; 4. M-P (LeValley, Lopez, Durand, Coleman), 3:26.09.

*Denotes All-American consideration time.