Edmonds-Woodway’s Nate Stoll made sure that he’ll be booking a return trip to the Class 4A state swimming championships.
In the Warriors’ second meet of the season, the junior standout recorded a time of 22.74 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, 0.11 under the state qualifying time.
“That’s really nice to get that out of the way,” said Stoll, who finished 18th in the event at last year’s state meet.
Both Stoll and Edmonds-Woodway head coach Matt Delaney decided he would make a concerted effort to qualify for state earlier this season.
“With Nate, what we talked about was we always put so much energy toward the state qualifying meet just to get him to state,” Delaney said. “It’s really nice to have it done early. So we’ll look for much more success at the actual state meet this year.”
Stoll also is only a few hundredths of a second off a second state qualifying time in the 100 backstroke. Stoll advanced to state in that event last season, placing 19th overall.
Stoll is one of three returners in the 200 freestyle relay along with senior Sean Maden and junior Bryan Shiu. The Warriors finished 12th in that event at state. The same three along with ex-Warrior Rick Aaroe also advanced to state in the 200 medley relay.
Sophomore Michael Stepenski is a strong candidate to move into the open slot in both of the relays, Delaney said.
Both relays have a shot at making it to state, Stoll said. “It’s definitely going to be close. Last year, it was pretty close too. We’ll definitely be down to the wire. I think we can do it.”
Stoll, who swims year-round, is working to approach the high school meets with a little more laid-back attitude. He noted that swimming can be an intense sport.
“I think taking it easy sometimes, still working hard, but being a little bit more laid back about it definitely helps me be less stressed,” Stoll said. “Whatever happens, happens. Obviously, I get to go to state so that’s cool. That’s a bunch of stress off right there.”
Though they didn’t advance to any individual events last season, Maden and Shiu have in previous state meets and the two should be among the Warriors’ top individuals.
Edmonds-Woodway graduated several seniors and also lost some other key swimmers from a year ago. Where the Warriors have gained is a large influx of freshmen, along with some new sophomores and juniors.
“We, especially in our sprint freestyles, took a little bit of a hit in our depth,” Delaney said.
But Delaney hopes that some of the freshmen will be able to fill in those holes as they gain more experience.
“We have a lot of good freshmen,” Stoll added. “They keep on getting better. Some of the sophomores from last year have improved. We definitely have a lot of up-and -coming guys.”
Delaney also coaches the Mountlake Terrace squad, which currently has eight individuals.
The top returners are Justin Lee (200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke) and co-captain Brett Somers (100 and 200 freestyles), who Delaney said has made incredible strides from last season. Another top Hawk returner is co-captain Spencer Milner.
Youth movement hits Mavs
The Mavericks are by no means a team top heavy with experience. Meadowdale only had a handful of seniors back, but a pair of underclassmen with strong backgrounds give the team a solid nucleus.
Sophomores Sam Atkinson and Michael Keane both recorded a pair of individual victories in last week’s Western Conference South Division clash with district rival Edmonds-Woodway.
Atkinson won the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. The Meadowdale standout had a time of 2:06.60 in the 200 individual medley, just 6/10th of a second off a state cut. Atkinson recorded victories in the 100 backstroke and the 500 freestyle. Both swim for club teams in the offseason. At last year’s district meet, Atkinson and Keane both had top 12 finishes in each of their individual events.
Meadowdale coach Kati Girard expects some state swims out of her sophomore duo.
Another sophomore standout is Darren Howell, whose top events are the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle.
Meadowdale, like other teams, was significantly impacted by the snow. The 95-75 loss to the Warriors was only the Mavericks’ second dual meet of the season.
“We’re kind of getting in the swing of racing,” Girard said. “We had some good swims. … I think the guys were excited and pumped up even though it was not a win.”
Meadowdale’s practice schedule also has been disrupted and the upcoming holiday break won’t help matters.
“We just have a lot to do race-wise,” Girard said. “We’ve got a lot of learning to do.”
Lynnwood, which also is coached by Girard, has a roster of nine individuals. The Royals are led by Rob Evers. Other Lynnwood standouts include brothers Trever and Kyle Eddy.
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