Kamiak edges Shorewood in early season battle between South powers

Published 11:06 pm Tuesday, December 16, 2008

MUKILTEO — One meet into its league schedule, the Kamiak boys swim team grabbed the inside track to repeat as the Wesco South champion.

Because of a scheduling quirk that had both coaches scratching their heads, the Knights took on the Shorewood Thunderbirds ­— their top division rival — and came away with a 102-84 victory in the league opener for both Tuesday afternoon at Kamiak High School.

“It’s surprising to have a meet like this so early in the season,” Thunderbirds coach Scott Kelley said, a sentiment echoed on the other side of the pool by Kamiak’s Chris Erickson.

Kamiak (1-0 in league, 3-0 overall) and Shorewood (0-1, 3-1-1) finished 1-2 in the Wesco South last year, and the Knights went on to be the runners-up at the state tournament. The Thunderbirds finished fourth at state.

“We’re so happy, all our hard work has paid off,” Knights senior Tyler Carriker said. “We’ve been focusing on this meet. Our ending goal is (the state tournament) in February, but this is a good milestone.”

The meet started with 200 medley relay teams from both squads swimming state qualifying times. The Shorewood team of Thor Stenfjord, Bryan Michaels, Mackey Hopen and Max DeMeritt won the event in 1 minute, 40.42 seconds.

In all there were 13 state qualifying times during the meet.

Stenfjord (500 freestyle, 100 backstroke), Michaels (100 freestyle, 100 breaststroke) and Tan (100 butterfly) also notched individual state times, and they teamed up with Marcus Gill to win the 400 freestyle relay in a state time.

With so much riding on the outcome — the teams face each other just once in the regular season — both coaches entered the meet with a carefully crafted strategy for success.

Because points are accrued by the top four finishers in individual events — top three for relays, top five for diving ­— the depth of the team is probably more important than the speed of the quickest swimmer.

“It’s all about the matchups,” Kamiak senior Patrick Hunziker said.

Although Hunziker won the 200-yard individual medley, the Shorewood swimmer who nearly beat him to the wall in the final few yards wasn’t who he thought it would be.

“I was expecting to race Thor (Stenfjord),” Hunziker said. “We both swam about the same time last week.”

Instead, it was the Thunderbird’s Gill who nearly pulled off the come-from-behind win in the 200 IM.

One event Knights coach Erickson said he knew would be tough to win would be diving, where Thunderbirds freshman Eddie Young has proven to be a strong addition to the squad.

“This kid is great,” Erickson said after one of Young’s dives on Tuesday. Young won the event with 210.15 points, but the Knights’ trio of Matt Johnson, Mitchell Wright and Scott Wanner also finished in the points in positions 2-3-4.

The Knights led 37-25 before the diving, but were able to put the meet out of reach by extending their lead to 87-69 after 10 of 12 events.

Kamiak’s state-qualifying 200 medley relay team — Carriker, Hunziker, Daniel Schmidt and Chris Lynch ­— featured three of the swimmers that recorded a state time in winning the 200 freestyle relay. Gus Brunner swam on that team instead of Lynch, who notched a state time in the 100 breaststroke.

Carriker and Schmidt recorded individual state times in finishing 1-2 in the 50 freestyle, and Carriker also had a state time as the runner-up in the 100 freestyle.

After Tuesday’s meet, both sides began to look forward.

“It’s a relief,” Kamiak senior Hunziker said of the victory. “Now we just have to care about district and state (tournaments).”

Erickson, for one, expects to see some familiar faces along the way to reaching state.

“They’ll be in the heat of competition come districts and state,” the Knights coach said of Shorewood. “We haven’t seen the last of them.”

At Kamiak H.S.

200 freestyle relay—1. Shorewood (Thor Stenfjord, Bryan Michaels, Mackey Hopen, Max DeMeritt) 1:40.42*, 2. Kamiak (Daniel Schmidt, Chris Lynch, Patrick Hunziker, Tyler Carriker) 1:42.04*

200 freestyle—Tim Tan (S) 1:51.84

200 individual medley—Patrick Hunziker (K) 2:06.01

50 freestyle—1. Tyler Carriker (K) 22.55*, 2. Daniel Schmidt (K) 22.58*

Diving—Eddie Young (S) 210.15

100 butterfly—Tim Tan (S) 55.39*

100 freestyle—1. Bryan Michaels (S) 47.59*, 2. Tyler Carriker (K) 49.62*

500 freestyle—Thor Stenfjord (S) 4:58.23*

200 freestyle relay—Kamiak (Tyler Carriker, Gus Brunner, Patrick Hunziker, Daniel Schmidt) 1:31.68*

100 backstroke—Thor Stenfjord (S) 56.73*

100 breaststroke—1. Bryan Michaels (S) 1:00.32*, 2. Chris Lynch (K) 1:01.78

400 freestyle relay­—Shorewood (Tim Tan, Marcus Gill, Thor Stenfjord, Bryan Michaels) 3:21.69*.

*Class 4A state meet qualifying time.