Sarikaya savors state debut

FEDERAL WAY — Aydan Sarikaya learned a valuable lesson in her state meet debut.

Timing is everything.

The Shorecrest freshman warmed up too soon and paid the price during the finals of the Class 3A/2A state swimming championships Nov. 13 at the King County Aquatic Center.

Sarikaya was seeded first in the consolation final of the 500-yard freestyle but slipped to seventh in a time of 5:29.98.

Instead of loosening up 15 minutes prior to her race as usual, Sarikaya misjudged the pace of the meet and jumped the gun on her 10-minute warm-up routine.

“I miscounted how long the diving would take and I didn’t add in all the award ceremonies,” Sarikaya said. “So I ended up warming up and I was out of the pool for about 30 minutes before the 500. If I had gone back in, I’d have done even worse than I did.”

The swimming events are generally delayed for close to an hour during the diving competition. The 500 freestyle is three events later.

“After the break with diving and the extra set of awards, it threw her off,” Shorecrest coach Bill Murray said. “She warmed up a little early and then she started to think about it.”

Through the first 150 yards of the race, Sarikaya was in fifth. She dropped to eighth with 100 yards to go before coming back to finish seventh in the heat and 15th overall.

“I was very cold and my legs were very tight,” Sarikaya said. “Now I know what to expect in the future and how it’s going to be in the finals.”

In the preliminaries Sarikaya swam a season-best time of 5:21.58 to place fourth in her heat. The top three finishers all advanced to the championship final.

“My goal for (Saturday) was to stay in ninth place, but it didn’t really work out that way. I think top 16 is fine for me,” Sarikaya said. “I was really satisfied with the way I swam (Friday). I swam my fastest (high school) time and I felt good. I felt like I had even more energy.”

Sarikaya was the only Shorecrest swimmer to advance to state.

“It’s been a great learning experience for her,” Murray said. “Going into the next three years she’ll know what she’s preparing for. Mentally she’ll be stronger next year.”