Senior sets district records in 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly
By Tony Dondero
Enterprise reporter
Tyler Hayden set District 1 records in the 200-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly to set the stage for what he hopes will be state titles in both events at state Feb. 15-16 at the King County Aquatic Center.
Hayden won the 200 freestyle in 1 minute, 42.57 seconds to break his own meet record and won the 100 butterfly in 51.50 to set another meet record. Hayden is seeded No. 1 at the state 3A meet in both events.
Hayden met his goals for the meet and at state he’ll be rested and tapered and should go even faster, Shorecrest coach Bill Murray said.
“Everything is pointing in that direction so far,” Murray said. Shorecrest’s 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays both finished second at districts to qualify for state. The Scots put Hayden, their best swimmer, first in both relays to challenge the other swimmers to step, Murray said. The strategy worked. “They all split their best times by far,” Murray said.
The 200 free relay of Hayden, Max Williamson, Cliff Plesha and Louis Weber took second in 1:33.07. The relay is seeded eighth at state.
The 400 free relay team of Hayden, Williamson, Franklin Chien and Kevin McKay dropped seven seconds off their preliminary time and finished second in 3:26.21. The relay is seeded 10th at state.
“They stepped up big,” Murray said.
McKay overcame a sore shoulder to finish second in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:05.11 and move on to state.
“I really think he has room to improve in this weekend coming up,” Murray said. “I think he’ll swim faster times than he did at district.”
Divers Ben Wilcox (271.55 points) and Morgan Law (265.35) qualified for state, the first Shorecrest divers to do so in years.
“I’m really proud of our divers,” Murray said. “Ben and Morgan, they didn’t blow any dives. They didn’t have high sevens but they didn’t have threes. They had 11 good dives each that’s what it took at the meet.”
Murray is in-between treatments for colon cancer and will be on the deck for state as he was for districts.
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