Prep swimming: Fast times for Jackson High

MUKILTEO — On Saturday, there were two thoughts in the minds of swimmers at the District 1 4A Girls Swimming and Diving Championships: Swim a time to get into the state meet or get a feel for some strong competition if they had already posted a state-qualifying time.

Jackson chose the latter.

The Timberwolves had been there and done that with setting state qualifying times.

But notch five All-American times? They did it Saturday, posting four All-American automatic times (200-yard medley relay, 200 individual medley relay, 50 freestyle and 500 freestyle. The Timberwolves breezed to the team victory with a total of 456 points, 83 ahead of second-place Shorewood at 373.

“We looked at the meet and talked about what our strengths are before we headed into this weekend,” Jackson head coach and 2008 Wesco Coach of the Year Drew Whorley said. “You just get them relaxed and with some confidence and they can do what they did today whenever they want.”

For all teams involved in the meet, it was an extremely fast pool that provided multiple records, whether Wesco records or personal bests.

But Jackson was on a whole different level. Every single Timberwolves swimmer had her fastest time of the season.

In the 200 medley relay, Jackson began the day by laying down a one minute, 48.98 seconds, besting the All-American Automatic time of 1:49.32. It was two seconds faster than Thursday’s preliminary mark.

“That’s what people keep telling us,” Whorley said in regards to the whirlwind of talk about the Timberwolves being the team to beat at state. “I truly believe if they keep showing up and working hard, they can accomplish anything.”

Amber McDermott — a 15-year-old who has been swimming since the age of seven — swam three personal All-American Automatic times for Jackson, and contributed in both the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. The comical thing is she “wasn’t really looking for All-American times.”

“I want to win state in both of my individual events,” Amber McDermott said. “Sure, we don’t want to be too confident and cocky, but I think we can do it. I think there is a pretty good chance we can win state.”

Amber’s sister, Courtney McDermott, swam a state-qualifying time of 1:56.06 in the 200 freestyle.

Stanwood made history, sending its first-ever swimmer to state. Alisa Stang achieved the feat and will swim in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Stang set six school records during the district meet.

Sarah Clark set a meet record with a score of 408.80 points in the diving event for Marysville-Pilchuck. Kamiak’s Fiona Weeks improved her score from Friday’s prelims by nearly 106 points to place second with 369.55 points.

Alana Pazevic of Jackson missed an Automatic All-American time by .01 on Thursday with a 23.87, but improved to 23.74 in winning the 50 freestyle ahead of Kamiak’s Louise Moores at 24.61 and Snohomish’s Madelene Baker at 25.56.

Cassie White of Lake Stevens was the only swimmer to break the one-minute barrier in the 100 butterfly, stopping the clock at 59.56.

Kamiak was third overall with 297 team points and has a solid team in the 200 freestyle relay that finished behind Snohomish.

The state meet is next Friday and Saturday at the King County Aquatics Center.

At Kamiak Pool

Team scores—1. Jackson 456, 2. Snohomish 379, 3. Shorewood 373, 4. Marysville-Pilchuck 365, 5. Kamiak 297, 6. Lake Stevens 230, 7. Edmonds-Woodway 213, 7. Oak Harbor 213, 9. Stanwood 149, 10. Mariner 75, 11. Mountlake Terrace 74, 12. Cascade 42.

State qualifiers

200 medley relay—1. Jackson (Amber McDermott, Marina Pomar-Enders, Alana Pazevic, Erin Halladay) 1:48.98*; 2. Kamiak (Juleigh Duke, Nathalie Klein, Hannah Kohagen, Louise Moores) 1:55.10; 3. Snohomish (Madelene Baker, Emily Ferreira, Valerie Stevens, Jasmine Labitzke) 1:55.95; 4. Shorewood (Kyah Wilkinson, Bethany Gehrke, Laurin Williams, Tara McIntyre) 1:57.03.

200 freestyle—1. Courtney McDermott (Jackson) 1:56.06; 2. Tara McIntyre (Shorewood) 1:57.04; 3. Marina Pomar-Enders (Jackson) 1:57.30; 4. Jay Ashley (Edmonds-Woodway) 1:57.66; 5. Danielle Holstein (Edmonds-Woodway) 1:59.16.

200 individual medley—1. Amber McDermott (Jackson) 2:01.50*, 2. Laurin Williams (Shorewood) 2:10.87; 3. Emily Ferreira (Snhomish) 2:13.12; 4. Cassie White (Lake Stevens) 2:14.37.

50 freestyle—1. Alana Pazevic (Jackson) 23.74*; 2. Mouise Moores (Kamiak) 24.61; 3. Madelene Baker (Snohomish) 25.50.

Diving—1. Sarah Clark (Marysville-Pilchuck) 408.80; 2. Fiona Weeks (Kamiak) 369.55; 3. Marysa Eastman (Marysville-Pilchuck) 336.25.

100 butterfly—1. Cassie White (Lake Stevens) 59.56; 2. Kendall Vincelette (Marysville-Pilchuck) 1:02.01; 3. Ciara Hu (Oak Harbor) 1:02.05.

100 freestyle—1. Alana Pazevic (Jackson) 52.03**; 2. Louise Moores (Kamiak) 54.69; 3. Erin Halladay (Jackson) 55.00; 4. Madelene Baker (Snohomish) 55.26; 5. Meghan Blue (Snohomish) 55.91.

500 freestyle—1. Amber McDermott (Jackson) 4:46.68*; 2. Laurin Williams (Shorewood) 5:02.44; 3. Courtney McDermott (Jackson) 5:07.04; 4. Danielle Holstein (Edmonds-Woodway) 5:12.45; 5. Marina Pomar-Enders (Jackson) 5:16.59.

200 freestyle relay—1. Snohomish (Madelene Baker, Jasmine Labitzke, Meghan Blue, Emily Ferreira) 1:42.98; 2. Kamiak (Hannah Kohegan, Nathalie Klein, Jennifer Le, Louise Moores) 1:44.58; 3. Lake Stevens (Cassie White, Kelsey Fallstrom, Samm Purnell, Lindsay Vanderhoff) 1:44.69.

100 backstroke—1. Kami Girard (Marysville-Pilchuck) 1:01.84; 2. Lindsay Vanderhoff (Lake Stevens) 1:02.48; 3. Alisa Stang (Stanwood) 1:02.58.

100 breaststroke—1. Emily Ferreira (Snohomish) 1:05.86**; 2. Nathalie Klein (Kamiak) 1:08.21; 3. Alexa Weyer (Snohomish) 1:10.03.

400 freestyle relay—1. Jackson (Alana Pazevic, Erin Halladay, Marina Pomar-Enders, Amber McDermott) 3:34.66**; 2. Snohomish (Madelene Baker, Tessa McCurdy, Alexa Weyer, Meghan Blue) 3:49.96; 3. Shorewood (Alicia Hoverson, Helen Jenne, Bethany Gehrke, Amber Armstrong) 3:55.40.

*Automatic All-America time.

**All-America consideration time.

3A District 1 meet: At Anacortes, Kim Allyson won the 200- and 500-yard freestyle races and swam on the winning 200 freestyle relay team to lead Shorecrest to the team championship. Katlyn Christenson won the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke and swam on two winning relay teams to lead Glacier Peak to second place.

At Fidalgo Pool

Team scores—1. Shorecrest 327, 2. Glacier Peak 251, 3. Mt. Vernon 173, 4. Ferndale 173, 5. Lynden 95, 6. Everett 94, 7. Meadowdale 90, 8. Lynnwood 67, 9. Sedro-Woolley 22

Wesco state qualifiers

200 medley relay—1. Glacier Peak (Katlyn Christenson, Amanda Muchmore, Melissa Randolf, Amy Ruiz) 1:58.23; 200 freestyle—Kim Allyson (Shorecrest) 1:59.59; 200 individual medley—1. Katlyn Christenson (Glacier Peak) 2:15.72, 2. Kina Ackerman (Meadowdale) 2:16.02, 3. Laura Millet (Shorecrest) 2:17.62; 50 freestyle—1. Melissa Randolf (Glacier Peak) 24.86; Diving—1. Maria Hawkins (Glacier Peak) 214.00, 2. Neva Mahler (Shorecrest) 194.20; 100 butterfly—1. Melissa Randolf (Glacier Peak) 59.13; 100 freestyle—2. Katlynn Whittum (Lynnwood) 59.03; 500 freestyle—1. Allyson Kim (Shorecrest) 5:15.10, 2. Laura Millet (Shorecrest) 5:16.62, 3. Kina Ackerman (Meadowdale) 5:24.74; 200 freestyle relay—1. Shorecrest (Allyson Kim, Danielle Good, Claire Wickstrom, Laura Millet) 1:47.12; 100 backstroke—2. Alexa Peters (Shorecrest) 1:06.62; 100 breaststroke—1. Katlyn Christenson (Glacier Peak) 1:10.85; 400 freestyle relay—1. Glacier Peak (Katlyn Christenson, Amy Ruiz, Amanda Muchmore, Melissa Randolf) 3:49.35.

2A District 1 meet: At Anacortes, Amy Renslo and Katie Main finished 1-2 in the 100-yard butterfly to lead Archbiship Murphy to third place in its first-ever district meet. Both swimmers qualified for next week’s state meet in two individual events. Renslo was second in the 200 individual medley. Main was second in the 500 freestyle. Renslo also qualified as part of the third-place 200 medley relay team. Diver Rosalie Corrigan qualified for state by finishing second in her event.

At Fidalgo Pool

Team scores—1. Anacortes 293, 2. Squalicum 267, 3. Archbishop Murphy 190, 4. Sehome 183, 5. Bellingham 179, 6. Burlington-Edison 88, 7. La Conner 23.

Murphy state qualifiers

200 medley relay—3. Sarah Bettag, Sarah Main, Amy Renslo, Bryn Michael 2:05.53; 200 individual medley—2. Amy Renslo 2:23.73; Diving—2. Rosalie Corrigan 164.80; 100 butterfly—1. Amy Renslo 1:03.67; 2. Katie Main 1:04.78; 500 freestyle—2. Katie Main 5:30.27.