FEDERAL WAY
A Saturday morning showdown looms between Shorewood, Kamiak and Gig Harbor for the state 4A swim and dive title at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
Shorewood and Kamiak qualified all three relays into the finals on Friday, Feb. 20. Gig Harbor won the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay preliminaries but was disqualified in the 200-medley relay.
Kamiak’s Daniel Schmidt is battling a strep throat and mononucleosis but qualified for the 50 freestyle final and swam on the 200 freestyle relay.
Shorewood is 100 percent healthy and had no disqualifications but all three teams are neck-and-neck and it comes down to the finals.
“I think all three teams have done what they needed to do win it in finals,” Shorewood coach Scott Kelley said.
Shorewood senior Bryan Michaels cruised to the best preliminary time in the 500 freestyle (4:40.51) and finished second in the 200 freestyle to Cascade’s Sean Nesheim with a time of 1:42.55, .38 seconds off the pace.
Nesheim, Michael’s main rival in the 500 free, got disqualified for a false start.
“That’s disappointing,” Michaels said. “I was really looking forward to that race…It would’ve been a great race.”
Michaels also swam on the 200-medley relay (third, 1:40.29) and 400-freestyle relay (second, 3:17.10).
Shorewood’s 200 freestyle relay finished fourth on day one in 1:31.57.
Also making the finals for Shorewood are Mackey Hopen in the 500 freestyle (seventh, 22.13), and Thor Stenfjord in the 100 freestyle (fifth, 48.55) and 100 backstroke (fifth, 55.38.
Making consolation finals for the Thunderbirds are Marcus Gill in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke, Tim Tan in the 100 butterfly and Hopen in the 100 freestyle.
Complete preliminary results are at www.wiaa.com. Video from the day’s events can be found for free at www.floswimming.org.
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