Prep boys swimming roundup: Riechel breaks breaststroke meet record, takes aim at national mark

Published 11:28 pm Friday, February 20, 2009

FEDERAL WAY — Snohomish’s Garren Riechel keeps replacing himself in the record books.

Riechel, a junior and one of the state’s premier swimmers, set another 4A meet record in the 100-yard breaststroke with a swim of 54.86 seconds in the preliminaries of the state boys swimming and diving meet Friday afternoon at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

The previous record (56.06) was set by Riechel at the 2006 state meet.

The swimmer offered a smile and a humble response when asked if the state and national record (53.66 by Seattle Prep’s Pat Fowler in 1998) would fall in the finals today.

“I hope so,” Riechel said. “It felt pretty good (in the prelims).”

Riechel and his Panther teammates, the defending state champions, will have the opportunity to retain one team crown (the 200 medley relay where Snohomish is ranked as the No. 1 seed), but Kamiak, last season’s runner-up, is poised to capture its first swimming title following a solid performance Friday.

Kamiak qualified teams for all of the relays and the Knights placed multiple swimmers in championship and consolation finals in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke events. Also, senior Daniel Schmidt, who fell ill during districts and was questionable for the state meet, opted to compete. Schmidt swam well enough to earn a No. 6 seed in the 50 freestyle and he helped the Knights claim a No. 2 spot in the 200 freestyle relay.

“We’re going to package him up and send him home for rest and mom’s chicken noodle soup,” said Kamiak head coach Chris Erickson in regard to Schmidt. “Every day since Wednesday, he’s been feeling better.”

Erickson, clearly pleased with the Knights’ efforts, remained grounded.

“They know they had a good day,” Erickson said. “But they know they can do better.”

Kamiak received what could turn out to be a late Christmas present from Gig Harbor, one of its main competitors, when the Tides were disqualified from the 200 medley relay for what Erickson said he believed was an improper turn.

“We don’t know (the magnitude) yet, but it feels pretty big now,” Erickson said of Gig Harbor’s disqualification.

Other area swimmers who are positioned for championships are Cascade’s Sean Nesheim and Shorewood’s Bryan Michaels, who clinched the No. 1 and 2 seeds in the 200 freestyle. Unfortunately for Nesheim, his quest for the title in the 500 freestyle fell short when he was disqualified. Nesheim finished second to Michaels in the 500 freestyle at districts.

Oak Harbor’s John Hu looks set to win his second straight title in the 200 individual medley after earning the No. 1 seed with a time of 1:55.82.

But today, all eyes will be on Riechel, as he continues the quest for a state record in the 100 breaststroke, and Richland senior Cody Roberts in the 100 butterfly. Roberts’ preliminary qualifying time of 48.19 was five-tenths of a second off Ugur Taner’s 1992 state record of 48.14.

Riechel, who admittedly doesn’t have any pre-swim tradition or techniques to psych himself up, said just competing was enough.

“The feeling of being at state just gets you pumped up,” he said.

3A swim prelims: At Federal Way, Meadowdale’s Michael Keane was the only Wesco swimmer to qualify for a championship final. Keane qualified sixth in the 100-yard breststroke with a time of 1 minute, 2.54 seconds. Keane qualified for the consolation final in the 200 individual medley, finishing 13th. Teammate Sam Atkinson made the consolation final in the 100 backstroke, qualifying 14th. Both were on the Mavericks’ 200 freestyle relay team which qualified for the consolation final in 14th place. The only other Wesco qualifier was Shorecrest’s Ryan McMahon, who ranked ninth in the 500 freestyle.

2A swim prelims: At Federal Way, Philip Walczak and Arden Hunter each qualified for championship finals today at the King County Aquatics Center and were on the Archbishop Murphy 400-yard freestyle relay team which made the final in that event by finishing eighth in the prelim. Walczak qualified fourth in the 500 freestyle and will compete in the consolation final in the 200 freestyle after finishing 10th in the prelim. Hunter qualified fifth in the 100 backstroke and will be in the consolation final in the 200 individual medley after just missing the championship final with the ninth-best qualifying time.