FEDERAL WAY — After placing second at last year’s state meet, Marysville Getchell diver Brooke Wherley set a goal — she wanted to become the first state champion in the school’s history.
Mission accomplished.
Wherley placed first at Saturday’s 3A state swim and dive championships with a score of 438.85, over 22 points better than Bellevue’s Hannah Walsh, who finished second.
It was a special moment for the senior when she realized she had won the state championship.
“I was so happy. I was happy that I could make my coach proud. I was happy that I could make Marysville proud, especially with everything that’s been going on. That was what I was most happy about,” Wherley said, referring to last month’s shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School.
Marysville Getchell’s head coach Jaci LeGore-Hodgins echoed Wherley’s sentiments.
“When you look at everything that’s happened in Marysville the last month and what these kids have dealt with, for her to just be a true champion dealing with all sorts of different emotional challenges around her and to be able to stay focused and still be an incredibly supportive teammate, classmate and captain, it just speaks volumes about her depths and strengths as a person,” LeGore Hodgins said.
Wherley finished second to Southridge’s Danielle Freund a year ago. Freund won with a convincing score of 416.35, more than 57 points better than Wherley’s score of 359.25.
“Last year, I really wanted to win, but I kind of figured it might not have been an attainable goal like it was this year,” Wherley said. “This year, I had a lot more confidence, especially since I had a better season coming into it than I had last year.”
Wherley’s winning point total Saturday was almost 80 points better than her total from a year ago. She credits much of that improvement to doing tougher dives.
“This year, I had dives that were harder and I landed on my hands more, which always gets you better scores because it’s not as big of a splash,” Wherley said.
Wherley led Walsh by better than 15 points going into her final dive, but never felt she had the championship locked up.
“I was still (nervous), you never know,” she said. “My last three (dives) were three of my easier ones, so it was nice to go into it without really worrying about trying to hit it. I just tried to stay consistent and on top of it.”
According to LeGore-Hodgins, Wherley has been diving especially well in the weeks leading up to the state meet.
“Two weeks ago she just had a quantum shift where she started diving like a diver we’ve never seen before in high school diving,” LeGore-Hodgins said. “She was just ripping dives at practice.”
Behind Walsh in third place was Glacier Peak senior Annika Dayton, who finished with 373.35 points.
“She’s improved so much from last year to this year,” Wherley said of Dayton. “I know that she did a lot of diving over the summer. I knew she was going to end up (on) the podium, but I didn’t know where she was going to be. I was super proud of her. She did amazing.”
Five of the top 16 divers on Saturday were from either Marysville Getchell or Glacier Peak.
Wherley was the only Wesco swimmer to win a state championship in any of the 3A events. Dayton had the next highest finish of any other competitor in the league.
Edmonds-Woodway’s Luci Brock and Stanwood’s Karlie Rimat tied for the highest finish in any of the swimming events, finishing fourth in the 200-yard individual medley and 500 freestyle, respectively. Rimat also finished fifth in the 200 IM, one spot behind Brock.
Shorewood’s Britt Blomso earned a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke.
Edmonds-Woodway earned the highest Wesco team finish, placing 11th. Just before the final 3A event, Warriors’ head coach Kate Trettevik was honored as the 3A coach of the year as voted by the state’s other head coaches.
Seattle’s Lakeside High School won the state championship with 333 points, 531⁄2 points better than second-place Mercer Island.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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