Senior strength leads Kamiak to swim title

Published 11:08 pm Saturday, February 21, 2009

FEDERAL WAY — Chris Erickson, Kamiak boys swimming head coach, sat nervously beside the water waiting for his team to compete in the final event of the afternoon.

With the Knights in first place by eight points, a top-three finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay was a must for the race’s fifth-seeded team.

“There’s not much you can do as a coach,” Erickson said. “You just have to sit and watch.”

Led by its solid seniors, Kamiak won the final relay and secured the first WIAA 4A boys swimming and diving championship in school history with a narrow 16-point cushion over second-place Shorewood Saturday at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way.

Shorewood claimed the lead through 10 of 12 events, but Kamiak seniors Chris Lynch and Gus Brunner finished second and third in the 100 breaststroke to vault the Knights into first place.

“That’s what we were shooting for, the 2-3 finish,” said fellow Kamiak senior Daniel Schmidt. “That got us a bunch of points.”

“Obviously, with Shorewood’s 500 freestyle (Bryan Michaels’ first-place finish) and backstroke (Shorewood scored 18 points), that’s the only thing we had to counter those points,” Erickson said of the 100 butterfly.

Schmidt, Lynch, Patrick Hunziker and Tyler Carriker then clinched Kamiak history with a first-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. Those four, plus Brunner, make up the senior core of Kamiak’s squad.

“The fab five seniors were amazing,” Erickson said, also mentioning that the quintet scored all but 13 of Kamiak’s 222 total points.

In order to offset Shorewood’s individual depth, everything had to fall in place for the Knights — including getting top performances from Schmidt, who was hospitalized for two days earlier in the week because of a trio of illnesses.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it,” Schmidt said, adding that the quest for a title served as inspiration. “It’s amazing that I’m here.”

In the pursuit of a state and national record, Snohomish’s Garren Riechel fell short in the 100 breaststroke, but set another 4A meet record with a time of 54.49 seconds. Riechel, a junior, will have plenty more opportunities to break the record.

One record that did fall was in the 100 butterfly. University of Washington-bound Richland senior Cody Roberts set a state record with a time of 47.81, beating the previous record of 48.14.

In other area results, Oak Harbor senior John Hu was unable to defend his title in the 200 individual medley because of a strong push from Marysville-Pilchuck’s Trevor LeValley. The Tomahawks’ senior, who seemed to take a back seat to Hu during the last two years of competition in the 200 IM, finally broke through for his first title with a time of 1:55.02.

“Every turn I looked, we were right there,” LeValley said of his neck-to-neck race with Hu. “This is what I’ve been preparing for since the beginning of the year.”

In another head-to-head battle, Shorewood’s Michaels (1:39.64) unseated Sean Nesheim (1:40.61) for the championship in the 200 freestyle. Nesheim, last year’s winner, was unable to keep pace with Michaels over the final 50 yards.

The 200 medley relay, the meet’s first event, might have been a good omen for Kamiak. Tyler Carriker brought the Knights back with a strong anchor leg and Kamiak (1:38.56) beat Shorewood (1:38.57) by one-hundredth of a second.

“It was what we needed,” Erickson said.

3A finals: At Federal Way, Meadowdale’s Michael Keane placed eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1 minute, 3.15 seconds and 15th in the 200 individual medley in 2:04.74. Teammate Sam Atkinson was 13th in the 100 backstroke in 57.92. They both swam on the Mavericks’ 200 freestyle relay squad, which placed 12th in 1:34.08. They were joined on that team by Allen Wong and Jai Sun. Shorecrest divers Ben Wilcox and Reye McElmurray placed fourth and 11th, respectively. The Scots’ Ryan McMahon was ninth in the 500 freestyle in 4:50.22.

2A finals: At Federal Way, Archbishop Murphy’s Philip Walczak finished third in the 500-yard freestyle in 5 minutes, 11.47 seconds and teammate Arden Hunter took seventh in the 100 backstroke in 1:01.12. Both swam on the Wildcats’ eighth-place 400 freestyle relay, which finished in 3:44.58. They were joined on the relay by Patrick Throckmorton and Nick Pursley.

At King County Aquatics Center

200 medley relay—1. Kamiak (Daniel Schmidt, Chris Lynch, Patrick Hunziker, Tyler Carriker) 1:38.56; 2. Shorewood (Thor Stenfjord, Bryan Michaels, Mackey Hopen, Max DeMeritt) 1:38.57; 4. Snohomish (Daniel Pedack, Garren Riechel, Logan Goodman, Kyle Moen) 1:40.19; 6. Marysville-Pilchuck (Gabe Lopez, Spencer Girard, Trevor LeValley, Brandon Caldwell) 1:40.34; 8. Cascade (Sean Nesheim, Bramon Yotty, Eric Ellersick, William Bergman) 1:41.76; 10. Oak Harbor (John Hu, Yale Rosen, Brandon Vagt, Tyler Schell) 1:43.17.

200 freestyle—1. Bryan Michaels (Shorewood) 1:39.64; 2. Sean Nesheim (Cascade) 1:40.61; 6. Oliver Durand (Marysville-Pilchuck) 1:46.06; 12. Tyler Schell (Oak Harbor) 1:50.38; 13. Logan Goodman (Snohomish) 1:51.16.

200 individual medley—1. Trevor LeValley (Marysville-Pilchuck) 1:55.02; 2. John Hu (Oak Harbor) 1:55.63; 5. Ali Abadi (Edmonds-Woodway) 1:59.22; 8. Nick Win (Jackson) 2:03.54; 13. Marcus Gill (Shorewood) 2:04.00; 16. Price Hu (Oak Harbor) 2:07.11.

50 freestyle—1. Garren Riechel (Snohomish) 21.14; 2. Tyler Carriker (Kamiak) 21.49; 5. Daniel Schmidt (Kamiak) 21.79; 6. Mackey Hopen (Shorewood) 21.99.

Diving—1. Max Klassen (Redmond) 452.90; 5. Eddie Young (Shorewood) 376.60; 11. Zach Russell (Marysville-Pilchuck) 308.55; 12. Tim Greenwood (Snohomish) 302.15; Mitchel Wright (Kamiak) 284.40; Scott Wanner (Kamiak) 283.50.

100 butterfly—1. Cody Roberts (Richland) 47.81 (stae record); 3. Ali Abadi (Edmonds-Woodway) 51.34; 5. Trevor LeValley (Marysville-Pilchuck) 52.97; 6. John Hu (Oak Harbor) 53.23; 12. Price Hu (Oak Harbor) 55.30; 13. Scott Jerde (Lake Stevens) 55.45; 15. Bramon Yotty (Cascade) 56.19; 16. Tim Tan (Shorewood) 56.39.

100 freestyle— 1. Logan Goodman (Snohomish) 47.50; 3. Tyler Carriker (Kamiak) 47.71; 4. Patrick Hunziker (Kamiak) 48.21; 6. Thor Stenfjord (Shorewood) 48.37; 10. Mackey Hopen (Shorewood) 49.50; 13. Chris Lynch (Kamiak) 49.90; 16. Gabe Lopez (Marysville-Pilchuck) 50.19.

500 freestyle—1. Bryan Michaels (Shorewood) 4:31.55; 5. Oliver Durand (Marysville-Pilchuck) 4:44.54; 11. Matt Roe (Stanwood) 4:55.75; 16. Tyler Schnell (Oak Harbor) 4:58.92.

200 freestyle relay— 1. Kamiak (Daniel Schmidt, Patrick Hunziker, Kris Bratvold, Gus Brunner) 1:28.72; 4. Shorewood (Mackey Hopen, Marcus Gill, Tim Tan, Max DeMeritt) 1:30.81; 7. Marysville-Pilchuck (Gabe Lopez, Oliver Durand, Brandon Caldwell, Nathan Schaffer) 1:32.99; 11. Oak Harbor (Matt Bolte, Yale Rosen, John Hu, Tyler Schell) 1:32.52; 13. Cascade (Sean Nesheim, Bramon Yotty, William Bergman, Eric Ellersick)1:33.41; 16. Lake Stevens (Blake Werner, Scott Jerde, Tom Hale, Kyle Libra) 1:34.55.

100 backstroke— 1. Cody Roberts (Richland) 50.37. 7. Thor Stenfjord (Shorewood) 55.35; 10. Nick Win (Jackson) 55.80; 11. Marcus Gill (Shorewood) 56.88; 15. Justin Murrell (Stanwood) 58.95; Jacob Jepsen (Oak Harbor) 59.24.

100 breaststroke—1. Garren Riechel (Snohomish) 54.49 meet record; 2. Chris Lynch (Kamiak) 59.34; 3. Gus Brunner (Kamiak) 1:01.40; 4. Bramon Yotty (Cascade) 1:01.46; 7. Yale Rosen (Oak Harbor) 1:01.96.

400 freestyle relay—1. Kamiak (Patrick Hunziker, Tyler Carriker, Daniel Schmidt, Chris Lynch) 3:13.82; 3. Shorewood (Thor Stenfjord, Tim Tan, Marcus Gill, Bryan Michaels) 3:14.97; 7. Marysville-Pilchuck (Gabe Lopez, Trevor LeValley, Oliver Durand, Brody Coleman) 3:19.11; 16. Lake Stevens (Blake Werner, Scott Jerde, Tom Hale, Kyle Libra) 3:32.07.