FEDERAL WAY — The immediate disappointment from missing out on another state title by a razor-thin margin was quickly replaced with pride for the Archbishop Murphy boys swimming and diving team.
In a Class 2A state meet that went right down to the wire, Anacortes, Sehome and Archbishop Murphy could all win a team title with a victory in the night’s final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Anacortes edged Sehome by just seven hundredths of a second, while the Wildcats came in third both in the relay and the overall team competition. Immediately after the race ended, Murphy swimmers were upset after coming so close to a second straight title, but that soon gave way to appreciation for what they had done that day, and for the seniors, in their careers.
Senior Stephen Boden won the 200-yard individual medley relay and the 500-yard freestyle for the third straight year, giving him six individual titles in his career. Fellow senior Austin Bernard won the 100-yard butterfly and finished third in the 200-yard freestyle, an event he won last year.
Those two played a big role in the growth of the Archbishop Murphy swim program, which started just seven years ago and finished in the top three at state each of the past three seasons.
“It stings a little bit,” said Boden, who will swim at Wisconsin next year. “We really wanted to win that relay. But I think we really did a great job today. We raced hard in every event, and realistically I think we did everything we could to put ourselves in a position to win. I’m really proud of the guys, all the effort we put in. It stinks to get third, we all hate losing, but the time (in the relay) was great. … To see what this team has done in the last three years, it’s been awesome, and I’m just so happy I was able to be a part of it.”
Added Bernard, who will swim at Seattle University next year: “I don’t even know how to explain it. We knew it was going to come down to the last race, but I can’t complain. All our guys gave everything they had. I’m really happy with this team.”
As her team tried to get over the shock of the meet’s close finish, Archbishop Murphy coach Erin Edmondson remained upbeat, saying she wasn’t going to let her swimmers get down over a near miss.
“I’m so proud of them,” Edmondson said. “They did as well as I thought they would do today, if not better. … They really had an amazing day today, so as their coach, I’m extremely proud.”
While the last relay didn’t go the way the Wildcats would have hoped, the team of Barnard, Stephen Boden Tony Mikhail and Bryce Lewis-Smith won 200-medley relay in 1:39.92 to kick off the meet, while Shorecrest finished second.
The Wildcats also got a huge boost from their diving team, with senior Elliott Forde winning a second straight championship while teammates Rory Krueger and Mitchell Borseth finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
Shorecrest, which finished fourth in the team standings, was led by junior Grant Heisey, who was second in the 200-free and the 500-free, and Aaron Zevenbergen, who finished second in the 100-yard butterfly behind Bernard.
Class 3A
Camden Wunderlich made sure his first state meet in three years was a memorable one. Wunderlich, a senior at Glacier Peak High School, took two seasons off from high school competition, as many top swimmers do, to focus on training with his club team, but in his first state meet since his freshman year, Wunderlich went home with a class 3A title, winning the 500-yard freestyle with a personal-best time of 4:35.90. Wunderlich also finished second in his other individual event, the 200-yard individual medley.
“I wasn’t expecting (to win), but I was hoping to,” said Wunderlich, who will swim at Wingate University next year. “I knew it was going to be a tight race, but I buckled down and really pushed.”
The race wasn’t quite as tight as Wunderlich made it out to be, as he finished more than four seconds ahead of second-place finisher Connor Broughton from Hazen. Wunderlich’s time in the IM of 1:54.45 was also a personal best, and though it was well off the winning time of Lakeside’s Abrahm Devine (1:50.26), Wunderlich was happy to finish second behind the Stanford-bound Devine, who last year set a state record in the event.
“That was another lifetime best, so I was happy with that race,” Wunderlich said. “Abrahm’s really fast, he’s a great competitor, so I feel like I did good against him.”
The last time Wunderlich participated in the state meet, he qualified for the consolation final in the 500 free and didn’t make it past the prelims in the IM, so it’s safe to say this trip to the King County Aquatics Center was a bit more enjoyable.
“I missed it a lot,” Wunderlich said of high school competition. “It’s really fun to be back here and racing with these guys… I’m super excited about what I did here today.”
The top local 3A finisher other than Wunderlich was his Glacier Peak teammate Nicholas Lavigne, who was fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 52.15.
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