SNOHOMISH — Shorecrest and Shorewood were locked in a neck-and-neck battle at the Class 3A District 1 swim and dive championships.
The Scots pulled away at the end to stamp their fourth consecutive district title Saturday at the Snohomish Aquatic Center.
Shorecrest tallied a score of 492, with the Stormrays finishing right behind with 461 points.
“This was one of the closest district meets we’ve been in,” Shorecrest head coach Scott Kelley said. “Our neighbors over there at Shorewood gave us all we could handle, and this meet was never in the bag at any point.”
Scots junior Colton Stoecker racked up individual first-place finishes in 200-yard freestyle and the 500 freestyle, finishing the 200 in 1 minute, 43.48 seconds and the 500 in 4:42.04. Both were state qualifying times.
Stoecker also anchored Shorecrest in the 400 freestyle relay, which the Scots finished in 3:14.52, breaking a district meet record which had stood since 2006. In addition, he helped the Scots to a crown in the 200 freestyle relay (1:29.01), a time just 0.03 seconds shy of a meet record.
“Colton had an amazing two swims in the 200 free and 500 free,” Kelley said. “He had our fastest splits on the relay tonight. As a distance swimmer, that’s pretty cool to see. He has a wide range of abilities.”
In the 50 freestyle, junior Tristan Serrano claimed first with a time of 22.16 seconds and was followed by senior Jack Wheatley (22.76). Both allocated for state competition.
Shorewood’s 200 medley relay group of seniors Ben Allen, Larson Buchholz and Dean Foral along with freshman Frederick Anderson finished first with a state qualifying time of 1:38.19.
“We’re just really proud of our team,” Shorewood head coach Jeremy Hunter said. “It’s a great mix of swimmers. We’ve got incredible senior leadership up and down the team. It’s fun to race Shorecrest, they always bring out the best in us. … It’s always a blast.”
Frederick also cashed in on the 200 individual relay, racing it in 1:56.69.
“Frederick is just the ultimate competitor,” Hunter said. “On a stage like this he does not get rattled, he’s so locked in. I knew when he got off that wall in the last 50 free (during the 200 individual medley) that he was going to chase everybody down.”
Snohomish takes third, rewrites record books
Despite a third-place finish, Snohomish got the most out of their star swimmers on Saturday night.
Panthers junior Torsten Hokanson blazed through the 100 freestyle in 46.45 seconds, setting a meet record by 0.05 seconds which had been held since 1987.
“I don’t really remember much,” Hokanson said. “I tend to black out during my races. … I didn’t even realize it for a few seconds. I got pretty excited. (It’s) a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication.”
Fellow juniors Connor Colloton and Owen Collins each broke school records in their respective swims. Colloton raced the 500 freestyle in 4:45.56, placing second behind Stoecker. Collins finished first in the 100 breaststroke (57.37), smashing his preliminary time by 2.82 seconds.
“I’m super, super proud of them,” head coach Ron Belleza said. “It’s not easy for them coming in on weekends and the mornings, but they work super hard. Torsten threw the hammer down after the 200 free, the records were always in the back of our minds (but) we didn’t know it was going happen tonight.”
OTHER LOCAL WINNERS
Cascade’s Yurii Onofriichuk finished first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.97 seconds, a meet record which he had previously broken in the preliminaries on Thursday (52.28).
Shorecrest junior Dash Jackson won the diving event with a score of 237.80.
Full team results: 1. Shorecrest (492), 2. Shorewood (461), 3. Snohomish (249), 4. Mount Vernon (174), 5. Stanwood (146), 6. Marysville Getchell (145), 7. Cascade (123), 8. Edmonds-Woodway (105), 9. Lynnwood (103), 10. Mountlake Terrace (86), 11. Ferndale (48), 12. Everett (47), 13. Oak Harbor (44), 14. Meadowdale (29).
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