SNOHOMISH — For the second-consecutive season, Lake Stevens stepped up in a district setting.
After garnering their first 4A District 1 league title last winter, the Vikings boys’ swim and dive team proved it again in 2023 behind star power and depth as they etched another team championship in the books Saturday at the Snohomish Aquatic Center.
“They practiced and work so hard for this,” Lake Stevens coach Brady Dykgraaf said. “You can see they all have a blast together, it’s easy to swim fast when you’re not alone, and special things happen when you trust the kids to do well.”
The Vikings ended with an overall score of 527, 66 points ahead of second-place Kamiak (461), with Glacier Peak (361), Jackson (356) and Mariner (148) finishing behind.
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Throughout the event, Lake Stevens leaned on sophomore breakout swimmer Camden Blevins-Mohr to come through in big races, and he did just that.
Blevins-Mohr helped tally up first-place victories in the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relay events, as well as a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, relinquishing first to standout teammate Garrett Chesley, a senior who finished with a time of 51.53 seconds. However, Blevins-Mohr put forth perhaps his best performance of the day in the 50-yard freestyle.
“That was a special swim for Cam,” Dykgraaf said. “He got past his lifetime best twice today. … Top to bottom, the whole pool was filled with lifetime bests.”
Blevins-Mohr turned on the jets in the 50 freestyle, edging past Glacier Peak junior Kaiu Taylor with a time of 21.69, 0.19 seconds faster than Glacier Peak’s Kaiu Taylor’s 21.88.
“I felt hyper-aware,” Blevins-Mohr said. “At some point in the middle of the race it didn’t even feel like I was swimming, I was just pushing out all my energy. I looked over and I saw Kaiu right next to me, I had let everything go, and I did that. It was awesome.”
The sophomore got plenty of help throughout the afternoon, with 10 Vikings finishing in the top-3 across all nine individual events.
Chesley provided victories in the 100-yard butterfly (51.53), 100-yard backstroke (52.32) and contributed to the Lake Stevens win in the 400 freestyle relay (3 minutes, 17.19 seconds), which included Blevins-Mohr, sophomore Coren Coe and senior Laird Marlatt.
“It was an all-around incredible team effort for us,” Blevins-Mohr said. “Everybody just went crazy. I don’t even know what to say. … Everyone was so excited and happy when they stepped in here today. From the moment we walked in, everyone was in such a good mood.”
KAMIAK SWEEPS DIVING EVENT
Despite ending the day with only one other individual win, which came from junior Bryan Zi Wong with a time of 5:02.07 in the 500-yard freestyle, Kamiak held down second place largely due to their dominance when it came to diving.
The Knights originally had eight district qualifying divers, but could only trot out four of them on Saturday.
Kamiak ran the table in that department, with sophomore Cade Farmer coming up the biggest with a score of 318.30, followed shortly by senior Eli Farmer (316.20).
Other sophomores Zack Warren (295.15) and Aaron Wu (236.35) finished the job for Kamiak.
OTHER STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
In what was a challenging team showing, Mariner sophomore Vyron Domingo gave the Marauders a bright spot to turn to.
Domingo made it two-for-two when it came to the 200-yard individual medley race, garnering his second district crown in as many years.
Jackson’s junior duo of Ethan Georgiev and Ethan Chen-Parks chalked up trips back to state competition in their respective events.
Both came up clutch in the opening 200 medley relay alongside teammates Nathaniel Nguyen (senior) and Nikolai Esparza (junior), when Timberwolves bested Lake Stevens by .03 seconds to take first.
Georgiev, who placed 11th in the 100 freestyle at state last winter, won that event with a time of 47.74 seconds. He also captured first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:46.34.
Chen-Parks added his outright victory towards the end of the meet, finishing the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.19, over a second faster than any other swimmer.
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