Win in last relay carries M-P to title

MARYSVILLE — This is the golden year for the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks.

The Tomahawks won the final 400-yard freestyle relay to earn an 18-point victory and the 4A District 1 girls swimming and diving championship on Saturday afternoon at the Kamiak High School pool.

Marysville-Pilchuck sophomore Hannah Taylor won the 200 individual medley in a state-qualifying 2 minutes, 7.84 seconds and followed that with a 1:07.14 swim in the 100 breaststroke — another state-qualifying time — as the Tomahawks edged out Snohomish and Kamiak for the district championship.

“This is the ending that could’ve been written in a novel,” M-P head coach Jaci LeGore-Hodgins said before taking a celebratory plunge into the pool with her team. “We pointed it out after prelims and with diving results, there was the thought that we could get (the win) by six points if everyone maintained. But, of course, you don’t know what everyone else is going to do and that’s what makes the finals so exciting.”

The 400 freestyle relay, in which Taylor used a strong final leg to boost the Tomahawks to a winning margin of just .18 hundredths-of-a-second over Lake Stevens, clinched the team title.

“This team, different than any other team we’ve had in Marysville, has been able to handle pressure,” LeGore-Hodgins said. “We’d beaten all of these teams this year (with the exception of not swimming against Edmonds-Woodway), but this was a test. In the past, we sometimes haven’t been able to handle pressure well, so it was a real victory for this team.

“We’re calling this the golden year.”

LeGore-Hodgins said the slogan, printed on the team’s T-shirts, is indicative of the final year most of the swimmers will compete together with the scheduled opening of new Getchell High in Marysville set to cut into the Tomahawks team depth.

The absence of perennial favorite Shorewood, the 2009 district champion which dropped down to 3A this year, was evident, but so was the parity among the district teams and the emergence of young swimmers.

“We have a lot of very talented year-round coaches and very strong year-round teams in this area and that always creates a fantastic high school season,” Snohomish head coach Rob Serviss said. “I’m excited with what’s going to happen in the next couple of years.”

Of the nine individual events, just three were won by a senior as Taylor and Cascade sophomore Kalena Laurent (100 butterfly and 200 freestyle), Snohomish freshman Ella Brooks (100 backstroke) and Snohomish junior Madelene Baker (50 freestyle) all won events.

Laurent swam a state-qualifying time of 57.44 in the 100 butterfly.

“That’s what’s going to make things really exciting in the future,” LeGore-Hodgins said of the younger swimmers. “If you look at this meet, there weren’t that many seniors, and especially playing the important roles.”

“This meet is only going to get faster,” Serviss said.

Snohomish, which had just one senior competing in the finals, put on a strong showing given its youth and slim numbers.

“What they did with their small numbers was impressive,” Kamiak head coach Chris Erickson said.

Kamiak senior diver Fiona Weeks also set a Wesco and meet record score of 419.15 points earlier on Friday in the 1-meter diving competition, breaking Sarah Clark of M-P’s 2008 record of 408.80.

The district meet saw four different teams lead in scoring with none grabbing more than a 34-point edge among the top-three squads — even the separation between places four-through-six hovered in the 15-to-20 point range before Lake Stevens created some space at the end.

“This is such a great league to be a part of because of the coaching. Everybody that coaches in this league … everybody is an absolute scientist when it comes to swimming,” LeGore-Hodgins said. “No matter what they’re given, they always make a team out of it and that’s what keeps you on your toes when you’re competing against them. Plus, they’re all great chess players.”

Next week’s state meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, is a completely different challenge for the Wesco teams.

“I think there are a couple teams here that will make a showing for themselves at state,” Serviss said. “If you’ve got the talent to get yourself into the top four or five anything can happen. If you can get yourself in the running then you’ve got a shot and I think there are a few teams here that can give themselves that chance.”

At Kamiak Pool

Team scores—1. Marysville-Pilchuck 439, 2. Snohomish 421, 3. Kamiak 419, 4. Lake Stevens 338, 5. Jackson 300, 6. Cascade 296, 7. Stanwood 258, 8. Edmonds-Woodway 161, 9. Mariner 68, 10. Monroe 59.

State meet qualifiers

200 medley relay—1. Snohomish (Ella Books, Alexa Weyer, Valerie Stevens, Madelene Baker) 1:51.89*; 2. Marysville-Pilchuck (Melody Coleman, Hannah Taylor, Karoline Schaufler, Jewel LeValley)1:55.35; 3. Jackson (Kaela McKee, Rachel Creary, Kaitlin Taylor, Mimi Win) 1:56.05.

200 freestyle—1. Kalena Laurent (Cas) 1:55.36*; 2. Ashley Jay (EW) 1:56.33*; 3. Kelsey Fallstrom (LS) 1:56.59*; 4. Alisa Stang (Stan) 1:58.09*.

200 individual medley—1. Hannah Taylor (MP) 2:07.84*; 2. Laura Johnson (Kam) 2:13.46; 3. Madeline Summers (LS) 2:15.43.

50 freestyle—Madelene Baker (Sno) 24.67*; 2. Djenne Dickens (EW) 25.61; 3. Darcie Booth (Cas) 25.75.

Diving—1. Fiona Weeks (Kam) 419.15; 2. Marysa Eastman (MP) 369.25; 3. Charlene Kempf (Cas) 234.75.

100 butterfly—1. Kalena Laurent (Cas) 57.44*; 2. Kaitlin Taylor (Jack) 59.20*; 3. Laura Johnson (Kam) 1:01.42.

100 freestyle—1. Alisa Stang (Stan) 53.18*; 2. Madelene Baker (Sno) 53.39*; 3. Alexa Weyer (Sno) 54.20*; 4. Nichole Carlson (Cas) 55.18*; 5. Lindsay Vanderhoff (LS) 55.20*.

500 freestyle—1. Ashley Jay (EW) 5:12.21*; 2. Jewel LeValley (MP) 5:23.56; 3. Rachel Hartmeyer (MP) 5:32.48.

200 freestyle relay—1. Snohomish (Alexa Weyer, Ella Brooks, Shelby Garrison, Madelene Baker) 1:41.22*; 2. Cascade (Shelby Leathers, Nichole Carlson, Darcie Booth, Kalena Laurent) 1:42.88*; 3. Stanwood (Zanetta Uy, Maddie Divebliss, Alisa Stang, Whitney Weinert) 1:44.56).

100 backstroke—1. Ella Brooks (Sno) 1:00.15*; 2. Kaela McKee (Jack) 1:00.50*; 3. Madeline Summers (LS) 1:01.37*.

100 breaststroke—1. Hannah Taylor (MP) 1:07.14*; 2. Alexa Weyer (Sno) 1:08.68*; 3. Kelsey Fallstrom (LS) 1:11.16.

400 freestyle relay—1. Marysville-Pilchuck (Jewel LeValley, Karoline Schaufler, Melody Coleman, Hannah Taylor) 3:43.75*; 2. Lake Stevens (Kelsey Fallstrom, Madeline Summers, Felicity Speirs, Lindsay Vanderhoff) 3:43.93*; 3. Cascade (Shelby Leathers, Darcie Booth, Nichole Carlson, Kalena Laurent 3:44.84*.

*Class 4A state meet qualifying time.