STATE SWIMMING: Snohomish’s Riechel rules the pool

Published 12:08 am Sunday, February 21, 2010

FEDERAL WAY — Snohomish senior Garren Riechel capped a phenomenal four-year high school swimming career, successfully defending his individual titles in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 breaststroke Friday during the 4A state meet at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way.

“The highlight of all four years has been state because of the atmosphere,” Riechel said following his fourth straight win in the breaststroke. “I’ve got my friends out there to cheer me on and it’s great to see them come all the way down here.”

Riechel, who was named swimmer of the meet, will continue his swimming career next year in college at Stanford.

The only blemish on Riechel’s career, if it can be called one, was his failure to break Pat Fowler’s national and state meet record in the breaststroke. At 55.63 seconds, Riechel missed by just less than 2 seconds.

Riechel wasn’t the only highlight for Snohomish. Panthers junior Bryan Harvey won the 100 butterfly in an automatic All-America time of 49.29 seconds, more than 3 seconds faster than his qualifying time.

Snohomish, which placed eighth overall with 101 points, had it’s second-place finish in the 200 medley relay disqualified. The Panthers ended the meet by winning the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:19.73.

Meanwhile, Shorewood, which will be a 3A school next season, found a way to exit the Class 4A ranks with some fireworks and continue the Western’s Conference’s dominance of the 4A state meet.

Shorewood junior Thor Stenfjord won the 100-yard freestyle and the Thunderbirds won two relays to capture their first boys 4A state swimming and diving championship Saturday night.

Stenfjord’s win in the 100 freestyle, an event in which he entered with a middle-of-the-pack fourth seed, highlighted an inspired effort from the Thunderbirds, who were competing with just five swimmers and one diver.

“I wasn’t feeling too good on the day of prelims,” said Stenfjord, who won with a time of 47.69 seconds — 0.28 seconds quicker than South Kitsap High first-seed Taylor Rousell. “Going in ranked fourth I felt confident, maybe because I was feeling better. I knew I had to go quick and I did.”

A distance swimmer normally, Stenfjord said he knew he had enough pop left for the final 25 yards of the 100 freestyle.

“I was just going,” Stenfjord, who also placed second in the 200 individual medley, said. “Flip turns are usually my downfall, but I knew if I nailed those I could do it. … I just kind of put my head down on the last 25 (yards).”

Shorewood’s victory is significant for a number of reasons.

The Thunderbirds avenged a runner-up finish to Kamiak in the 2009 meet and a third-place finish at this year’s 4A District 1 meet. Stenfjord and sophomore diver Eddie Young captured their first individual titles and Shorewood helped keep the Western Conference’s winning streak alive — the conference has claimed five-straight boys swimming titles.

“It was definitely up in the air all weekend, all year, I knew we would have a shot at it,” Shorewood head coach Scott Kelley said. “Going into this meet I knew if we won the 200 free relay we would be able to pull ahead of Gig Harbor, but I didn’t tell my guys that.”

Shorewood did win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:28.25 and locked up the team title before the final two events.

“It’s pretty sweet,” Kelley said of the title after finishing second last year. “We go down to 3A next year, so it was kind of win it this year or not for a while (because of Mercer Island High’s dominance at the 3A level).”

“I’ve never seen my coach so happy in his life,” Stenfjord added. “After prelims, we weren’t even thinking about winning state, but all of us swimmers just stepped up to the plate today and did amazing.”

Along with the 200 freestyle relay, Stenfjord’s 100 freestyle win and Young’s diving title, the Thunderbirds opened the meet with win in the 200 medley relay and junior Mackey Hopen placed second in the 100 breaststroke.

Shorewood edged out second-place Gig Harbor by 15 points, 194-179.

“We’re going out with a bang,” Stenfjord said.

Defending champion Kamiak finished in seventh place with 130.5 points and Marysville-Pilchuck, whose head coach Scott Knowles is retiring following 30 years of coaching high school swimming, placed ninth with 100 points.