ANACORTES — The four members of the Wildcats winning 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams swam to individual and group success, setting several meet records and helping the Wildcats take second place in the 2A District Swim and Dive Finals with 237 points.
Senior Alec Barnard was awarded Swimmer of the Meet, won both the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly breaking his own meet records, and swam on the winning relay teams. His 22.06 in the 50 freestyle came in under the 22.11 record he set Friday, while the 51.87 he posted in the 100 butterfly beats the 52.37 he swam last year.
Sophomore Austin Barnard had a similarly successful night. He won the 500 freestyle with a 4:47.76, besting the meet record of 4:50.12 that he set in his Freshman year. He also took second in the 200 freestyle with a 1:47.82 and swam on both winning relay teams.
The Wildcats sent out the same four swimmers in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Hunter Cosgrove and Stephen Boden rounded out the team. They didn’t set any individual records but Boden won the 200 Individual Medley and took second in the 500 freestyle while Cosgrove won the 100 Backstroke and took second in the 100 freestyle. The team broke a meet record in the 400 freestyle relay, swimming a 3:17.87 to beat Sehome’s time of 3:20.26 from last year.
Archbishop Murphy moves on to swim in the state tournament next Saturday. According to Wildcats head coach Mike McCloskey all of his swimmmers who placed in an event at the district meet are qualified for state except Alex Walczak who has a good chance to “wildcard in” in the 50 free. McCloskey clarified that the state tournament runs three heats of eight players and allocates 16 spots ahead of time, then takes the top eight times that were not allocated to fill out the remaining berths.
Even with the strong team he is taking, McCloskey predicts a tight race.
“Sehome, Murphy, Anacortes and Squalicum will be duking it out for the title. We are just going to go right back at it and do it again.”
At Fidalgo Pool
Team Scores: Sehome 281, Archbishop Murphy 237, Anacortes 233, Squalicum 152, Lake Washington 136, Lynden 115, Bellingham 52, Burlington-Edison 47, Sammamish 41, Sedro-Woolley 21.
Top Archbishop Murphy finishers: 200 medley relay—7. Archbishop Murphy (Adam Gunselman, Bryce Lewis-Smith, Paul McGoorty, Alex Walczak) 2:02.97; 200 freestyle—2. Austin Barnard 1:47.83; 200 individual medley—1. Stephen Boden 2:02.07; 50 freestyle—1. Alec Barnard 22.06*, 8. Alex Walczak 24.17; Diving—2. Elliott Forde 314.95, 5. Steven Kane 261.35, 6. Rory Krueger 258.60; 100 butterfly—1. Alec Barnard 51.87*; 100 freestyle—2. Hunter Cosgrove 50.20, 10. Alex Walczak 54.06; 500 freestyle—1. Austin Barnard 4:47.76*, 2. Stephen Boden 4:55.69; 200 freestyle relay—1. Archbishop Murphy (Hunter Cosgrove, Stephen Boden, Austin Barnard, Alec Barnard) 1:31.45; 100 backstroke—1. Hunter Cosgrove 55.36; 400 freestyle relay—1. Archbishop Murphy (Hunter Cosgrove, Stephen Boden, Austin Barnard, Alec Barnard) 3:17.87*
*Meet record
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