Kalena Laurent
Cascade | junior
Kalena Laurent (below) is a good enough swimmer to skip the high school swim season and no one would fault her for doing so. The Cascade junior swims daily with her club team and recently swam well at the Junior National meet, but it says
a lot about her work ethic and dedication to her school that the junior not only competes, but is the center of Cascade’s team success. In 2010 she broke school records in the 200 freestyle (district champion, fourth at state) and 100 butterfly (district champion, fourth at state). Laurent also swa
m the anchor leg of the Cascade 400 freestyle relay, which made the state meet. “She could really swim almost anything,” Cascade coach Eric Smith said. Laurent is in Cascade’s top 10 in every event but the breaststroke. Smith calls her more of a distance swimmer, but that didn’t stop her from posting the third best time in school history in the 50 free. With Laurent in the water, no records are safe. “She could break them all,” Smith said.
Anna Keane
Meadowdale | Sophomore
Meadowdale swim coach Kati Girard has known Keane since she was 6-years-old, so it has been no surprise to her coach that Keane has become one of the area’s best. Keane finished second in the state 3A meet in the 50 and 100 freestyle, losing only to a senior in both cases. “She likes to sprint,” Girard said. Her coach hopes that Keane’s success can lift the Meadowdale relays to state-meet levels after missing out in 2010. Just because she is fast, however, doesn’t mean Keane will be swimming the final leg of the relays. “Because of her skill we have to put her in a different position,” Girard said. “Sometimes she’s better in a third position. It depends on where everybody else is and where her speed will help the most. Whatever I need, she’ll step in there and do it.” Keane doesn’t attend Meadowdale with her teammates since she is home schooled, but that hasn’t kept her from fitting in and becoming an important part of the team.
Caroline Schaufler
Marysville Pilchuck | senior
Hannah Taylor was supposed to be the leader of the Tomahawks after taking first in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke at the 4A meet in 2010, but Taylor moved to Gig Harbor and MP coach Jackie LeGore Hodgins believes that Schaufler is her most important returnee this season. “I think Caroline is definitely a leader for us when it comes to the way she is as a role model. She has many years of swimming underneath her.” Schaufler had strong swims at the district level in 2010 but only participated in relays at the 4A state level, where the Tommies hope to excel again. Schaufler’s leadership makes things easier for LeGore Hodgins, who now coaches both the Marysville Pilchuck and the Marysville Getchell teams. Both teams train and travel together, but compete separately, similar to the way Snohomish and Glacier Peak have functioned for the past several years.
Sarah Bettag
Archbishop Murphy | Senior
When Wildcats coach Mike McCloskey saw Bettag for the first time after the offseason he was impressed. His senior leader returned to the pool with serious definition in her shoulder muscles thanks to work she put in outside of the pool. After finishing fourth at the 2A state meet in both the 50 and 100 freestyle, Bettag and her coach have high hopes for this season. “She’s way ahead of where she’s ever been at this point in the season,” McCloskey said. He hopes that her increased strength will fuse with her already strong reflexes, which are of utmost importance in the sprints. “She’s got catlike instincts,” McCloskey said. “The 50 free is a different race. When it comes to sprinting, you have to have animal instincts. As a sophomore she took second in state in 50 free and with five yards to go she was in seventh place.” Bettag’s best time in the 50 is 25.09 seconds but McCloskey thinks she will have a chance to take the state crown if she can get down into the 24s.
KAITLIN TAYLOR
Jackson | junior
If you are looking to find Taylor, there’s a good chance you’ll find her with a smile on her face and around a pool. Who can blame the third-year Timberwolf for having fun. She experienced more success than most in her first two years. Taylor finished fifth in the 4A state meet in the 200 IM behind only swimmers who won’t be back next year and second in the state in the 100 butterfly. Jackson coach Drew Whorley, in his 14th season, is pleased to see how she has taken center stage for the team. “She’s a great kid with a lot of enthusiasm. She’s stepping up and displaying a pretty important role as far as leadership on our team.” Whorley sees a bright future for Taylor, who he thinks has the personality and the work ethic for success. “She’s a teenager like all the rest and they need encouragement and pats on the back, but she’s not scared to subject herself to the training and the pain that is involved in becoming a great swimmer and she’s right there knocking on the door of being classified as that.”
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