Hokanson wins 50 free, leads two Snohomish relays at state

FEDERAL WAY — Torsten Hokanson’s first state meet swimming the marquee event turned out pretty well.

The senior Snohomish High School swimmer became an individual state champion, winning the 50-yard freestyle at the Class 3A state meet on Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center. Hokanson, a multiple-time state placer at the 100 and 200 distances, decided along with his coaches that winning the 50 was a realistic goal. He proved them correct with a dominant swim of 20.40 seconds — over a half-second faster than the second-place time of 20.91.

“My speed has changed — I got really fast in the 50 over the years, so I changed over to that,” Hokanson said. “It was really fun. I love doing the 50. I love just swimming as fast as I can.”

In addition to his win in the 50, Hokanson anchored two Panthers’ championship relay teams Saturday. He teamed with fellow seniors Owen Collins and Connor Colloton along with freshman Rysen Tuomisto as Snohomish swept the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

Tuomisto, who impressed with a fourth-place finish in the 50, turned out to be the missing ingredient for the relay teams. Snohomish qualified for state in both events last year but did not make it to the finals. This year, with the seniors picking up the pace and Tuomisto’s addition, everything fell into place for the Panthers.

“Risen was kind of that missing link in making all those relays work,” said Snohomish coach Ron Belleza, whose team placed fourth in the standings.

Hokanson, the favorite to win the 50 based on times from around the state during the season, felt confident as he stepped onto the starting platform for the event that everyone stops what they’re doing to watch. He also ended some state bad luck this year. He’d been sick heading into state during his sophomore and junior seasons. He put that all behind him, and reminded himself to breathe as he prepared to dive into the pool.

“I’ve had problems in the past with getting too amped up,” said Hokanson, who also swims for the Bellevue Club Swim Team. “I’ve got to remind myself not to get too excited so I can remember to do everything in my race that I need to.”

Hokanson later finished second in the 100, and then turned his focus to the relays. Belleza reminded the boys that the one thing that could for sure defeat them would be a faulty relay takeoffs that would lead to disqualification. The touchpad system at the pool was not working properly, leaving the judgment of whether or not a swimmer dives in early up to the officials. He encouraged the boys to be conservative about making sure one boy touched the wall before the next took off.

“Then we get to the finals, and it’s like, ‘alright, let’s let it all hang out,’” he said. “At the same time, we’ve got to be so super-super-duper careful on these exchanges.”

Hokanson, with his individual events behind him, felt less pressure for the relays.

“The relays were super fun,” said Hokanson, who plans to swim in college. “I love doing the relays. It was really fun to swim with Risen in his first year. He’s super-fast. He’s going to break all my records probably in the next year or two, so I’m super excited for him.”

Collins, who led off both relays, placed third in the 100 breaststroke.

In the team standings, Shorecrest used its depth to finish second behind Bellevue. The Scots placed in 11 events, including a second-place finish behind Snohomish in the 200 freestyle relay. Colton Stoecker, who anchored the relay, placed fourth in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 500 freestyle.

Stanwood’s Levi Stiers won the 50 freestyle adaptive race and placed second in the 50 backstroke adaptive. Archbishop Murphy’s Evan Wold placed second in the Class 2A 100 breaststroke event.

Team scores

1. Bellevue 276; 2. Shorecrest 230; 3. Lakeside 196; 4. Snohomish 190; 13. Shorewood 52; 21. Lynnwood 23, 23; Everett 19; 35. Marysville Getchell 6; 37. Edmonds-Woodway 2.

Local individual medalists

200 medley relay—3. Shorecrest (Danny Stephenson, Ian Reece, Kason Kirkpatrick, Tristan Serrano) 1:35.86.

200 freestyle—4. Colton Stoecker (ShC) 1:42.97; 6. Zander Muilenburg (ShC) 1:44.29.

50 freestyle adaptive—1. Levi Stiers (Stanwood) 26.66; 3. Zander Krause (St) 30.53; 7. Austin Osburn (St) 1:40.44.

200 individual medley—5. Frederick Anderson (ShW) 1:55.06; 8. Ian Reece (ShC) 1:55.45.

50 freestyle—1. Torsten Hokanson (Sno) 20.40; 4. Rysen Tuomisto (Sno) 21.13; 5. Tristan Serrano (ShC) 21.64.

100 butterfly—5. Kason Kirkpatrick (ShC) 51.38.

50 backstroke adaptive—2. Levi Stiers (St) 33.94; 3. Zander Krause (St) 43.46; 5. Austin Osburn (St) 1:49.82.

100 freestyle—2. Hokanson (Sno) 45.50; 4. Rysen Tuomisto (Sno) 46.47; 7. Tristan Serrano (ShC) 47.26.

500 freestyle—5. Colton Stoecker (ShC) 4:43.66; 6. Connor Colloton (Sno) 4:44.89; 8. Muilenburg (ShC) 4:55.55.

200 freestyle relay—1. Snohomish (Owen Collins, Tuomisto, Colloton, Hokanson) 1:24.19; 2. Shorecrest (Reece, Serrano, Muilenburg, Stoecker) 1:26.89.

100 backstroke—8. Alex Lee (L) 53.68.

100 breaststroke—3. Collins (Sno) 55.39; 6. Reece (ShC) 58.94.

400 freestyle relay—Snohomish (Collins, Tuomisto, Colloton, Hokanson) 3:05.99.