BELLINGHAM - They must put something in the water at Arne Hanna Aquatic Center.

One day after watching freshman teammate Cole Avery complete his quest to qualify for the Class 2A State Championships in all eight individual boys' swimming events, Sehome senior Casey Klipsch duplicated the "ironman" feat.

Klipsch turned in a winning time of 5 minutes, 10.51 seconds in the 500 freestyle, bettering the state-qualifying standard by more than eight seconds and helping the Mariners to a 121-64 Northwest Conference victory over their city rivals from Squalicum on Thursday, Jan. 26. Though the Storm came up short against the Mariners, it won another NWC dual against Mount Vernon 109-71.

With Klipsch and Avery now qualified in every event, Sehome is home to two-thirds of the 2A ironmen so far this year.

"It was pretty cool to be able to do it," Klipsch said, "especially when you consider that Cole and I are two of only three guys that have done it this year. ... I didn't know if I was ever going to be able to do it. My breaststroke is my weakest stroke, and I didn't know if I would ever be able to qualify in that. My sophomore and junior years, I tried so many times to qualify, and I just couldn't do it."

Klipsch said he finally overcame that hurdle on Wednesday, Jan. 25, in a pair of duals against Mount Vernon and Bellingham.

With that out of the way, all he needed to do was to qualify in the 500 - an event he said he had only swum three or four times previously for Sehome.

And he wasn't going to be denied on Thursday, as he beat second-place Mitchell Scott of Squalicum by more than 32 seconds.

"I never would have believed that he'd been able to qualify in every event when he came here," Sehome coach Don Helling said. "He was as skinny as a stick as a freshman, but about the end of his sophomore year, he started to get a whole lot faster. Since then, he's been a pretty good all-around swimmer. He may not be a standout in every event, but he's come a long, long ways since his freshman year."

While Klipsch grew into a standout for Sehome (10-0, 6-0 NWC) over the past four seasons, his fellow ironman Mariner has been a star since he first hit the water wearing a Sehome swim cap.

"Cole has been an all-around swimmer since he was coming up through age-group swimming," Helling said. "The neat thing about him is he sees weaknesses in events, and then he works so hard, going after those weaknesses to make himself better. That's very rare in such a young swimmer."

Avery definitely saw a chance to challenge himself on Thursday. Rather than shying away from a head-to-head battle with defending state champion Gus Evans of Squalicum in the 100 breaststroke, he tackled it head on.

Though the two were facing each other as high school rivals for the first time, Evans and Avery are pretty familiar with each other from their time swimming for the Bellingham Bay Swim Team.

"Me and Gus are always going against each other," Avery said. "Even in practice, we probably swim against each other once or twice a day. We have a good friendly rivalry."

As friendly as it might be, Evans had no intention of losing on Thursday.

"I knew it was going to be tough," Evans said. "I knew he really wanted to beat me. He was saying he was going to get me and stuff, joking around before. You know, he probably could in just about any other event, but I wasn't going to let him in the breaststroke."

The friendly banter between the two definitely got the attention of their Storm and Mariner teammates, who lined the deck and rhythmically cheered on their swimmer each time their heads popped above the water during the event.

Evans got out to a quick lead from the start, but Avery appeared to narrow the gap on the second 25 yards. But just as it appeared the youngster might have a shot to knock off Evans, the junior put the pedal down for the second half of the race and won with a time of 5:10.51. Avery finished about a second behind in 5:42.59, a time Helling said would have been the fourth-fastest in 2A entering the day.

"I like a challenge like that," Avery said. "I knew it was going to be really tough to knock him off in his event. It was great to swim Gus and get second-place points for my team."

Evans also was pleased by the challenge he received from Avery, who also won the 200 freestyle and improved his state mark in the event to 1:47.75.

"I like to swim against the best competition I can," Evans said. "Swimming against somebody like Cole pushes you to swim better and become better. Even though I didn't get to swim against Patrick (Gregory, Sehome's usual breaststroker who finished second to Evans at state last year), I knew Cole was going to push me to swim as hard as I could."

Gregory instead swam the 100 freestyle, where he finished second to teammate Allen Cui (51.67) and on two of Sehome's three winning relays. Klipsch was a double winner, as he also came in first in the 50 freestyle and improved his state time (22.62 seconds). Isaiah Grambo (200 individual medley), Curran Wilbour (100 butterfly) and Andy Small (100 backstroke) also won events for Sehome. Small's time of 59.03 seconds qualified him for state in the event.

Squalicum grabbed wins in two of the three relays in its dual against Mount Vernon and got individual wins from Roy Evans (200 IM), Rylan Korby (diving), Mitchell Scott (500 freestyle) and Westy Summerton (100 backstroke).

While the Storm (7-2, 5-2) wrapped up its regular season and now starts preparations for the Feb. 10-11 2A Northwest District Meet, Sehome still has one big regular-season challenge remaining, when it takes on unbeaten Anacortes in a meet that will determine the NWC crown. The Mariners are will attempt to win their eighth straight conference or league title on Tuesday, Jan. 31, when they host the Seahawks at Arne Hanna Aquatic Center.

"Anacortes has got very good depth," Helling said. "They also have some very good top-end swimmers, as well. What I see this meet coming down to, though, is their depth against ours."

Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2271.

SEHOME 121, SQUALICUM 64

200 medley relay: Sehome (Casey Klipsch, Isaiah Grambo, Curran Wilbour, Zac Adams) 1:48.38*; 200 freestyle: Cole Avery (Sehome) 1:47.75*; 200 individual medley: Isaiah Grambo (Sehome) 2:13.78; 50 freestyle: Casey Klipsch (Sehome) 22.62*; Diving: Rylan Korby (Squalicum) 139.65; 100 butterfly: Curran Wilbour (Sehome) 1:00.90; 100 freestyle: Allen Cui (Sehome) 51.67; 500 freestyle: Casey Klipsch (Sehome) 5:10.51*; 200 freestyle relay: Sehome (Patrick Gregory, Cole Avery, Andy Small, Allen Cui) 5:10.51*; 100 backstroke: Andy Small (Sehome) 59.03*; 100 breaststroke: 1. Gus Evans (Squalicum) 1:01.75*, 2. Cole Avery (Sehome) 1:02.95*; 400 freestyle relay: Sehome (Allen Cui, Andy Small, Cole Avery, Casey Klipsch) 3:26.60*.

*State qualifying time.

SQUALICUM 109, MOUNT VERNON 71

200 medley relay: Squalicum (Westy Summerton, Gus Evans, Mitchell Scott, Hans Kogan) 1:50.90; 200 freestyle: Jason Yarrow (MV) 2:04.10; 200 individual medley: Roy Evans (Squalicum) 2:30.74; 50 freestyle: Kevin Yarrow (MV) 23.85; Diving: Rylan Korby (Squalicum) 139.65; 100 butterfly: Kevin Yarrow (MV) 57.76; 100 freestyle: Jason Yarrow (MV) 55.74; 500 freestyle: Mitchell Scott (Squalicum) 5:42.59; 200 freestyle relay: Mount Vernon (David Groesbeck, Simeon Billick, Kevin Yarrow, Jason Yarrow) 1:39.79; 100 backstroke: Westy Summerton (Squalicum) 1:04.43; 100 breaststroke: 1. Gus Evans (Squalicum) 1:01.75*, 2. Cole Avery (Sehome) 1:02.95*; 400 freestyle relay: Squalicum (Westy Summerton, Neall Koetje, Andi Dekoster, Mitchell Scott) 3:48.42.

*State qualifying time.