Whatcom County swim teams gets 18 wild-card berths to state meet

The Whatcom County girls’ swimming programs received 18 additional bids to the Class 2A State Championships when wild-card berths were announced Sunday, Nov. 8.

Wild cards are given to the next fastest swimmers or relay teams in each event that do not qualify through district competition or by posting a qualifying mark to fill out the fields in each event.

The following Whatcom Country swimmers received wild-card bids to state: Squalicum’s Kristina DeKoster (200 freestyle), Madyson Flaming (200 freestyle and 500 freestyle), Jordan Suskey (diving), Juliana Jeffrey (diving) and Jessica Lann (100 breaststroke); Sehome’s McKenna Sakamoto (200 individual medley and 100 butterfly), Wanling Kratzman (200 individual medley), Leah Day (50 freestyle), Sophie Grambo (50 freestyle), Maya Helms (diving), Marianna Kemp (500 freestyle and 100 backstroke) and Miranda Blackburn (100 backstroke); and Bellingham’s Sunni Sternhagen (diving) and Avey Bathum (100 breaststroke). The Lynden 200 freestyle relay also received a wild card.

Ferndale’s Kyrie Fairbairn also will take part in the Class 3A State Championships, as she finished third in the 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle at the Northwest District Meet on Saturday, Nov. 7. The top four qualified.

Fairbairn turned in a time of 2 minutes, 3.69 seconds in the 200 freestyle and 57.05 in the 100 freestyle.

Also placing have strong showings at the district finals were the 200 medley relay team (Annie English, Ellie Baader, Fairbairn, Sarah Letchworth), which placed eighth in 2:17.04, the 200 freestyle relay team (Fairbairn, Baader, English, Letchworth) which placed ninth in 2:04.40, and the 400 freestyle relay team (Kaitlyn Olinger, Serena Deannuntis, Courtney Waytashek, Kaili Laakso), which placed 11th in 5:06.17. The Golden Eagles finished ninth out of 12 teams.

The state championships will be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13-14, at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

NOTE: Spelling of Avey Bathum’s name corrected Nov. 10, 2015.

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Whatcom County swim teams gets 18 wild-card berths to state meet."