Storm posts 3 top marks, breaks state meet record in medley relay

The Squalicum girls’ swim team kicked off its quest to win a third state title in impressive fashion on Friday, Nov. 13, during the preliminaries of the Class 2A State Championships at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

The Storm 200 medley relay of Serena Allendorfer, Olivia Nielsen, Yanran Le and Tiana Varang smoked the old the meet record in the first event of the day with a quick time of 1 minute, 49.78 seconds. That was more than two seconds faster than the old record of 1:51.89 set by Squalicum in 2011.

“It’s pretty cool,” Squalicum coach Randy Elsner said in a phone interview. “As far as swimming, a lot of people don think momentum is a very big thing. I think momentum plays a very big role.”

It certainly did Friday, as they weren’t the only Storm swimmers to set a blistering pace, as Le turned in the top time of the day in the 100 breaststroke with her preliminary time of 1:05.55.

“The school record is 1:05.40, so she’s got her eyes on that one,” Elsner said. “The girl who was second wasn’t very happy about not being seed No. 1, so that’s going to be a pretty good race tomorrow.”

As if that weren’t enough, Squalicum’s Allendorfer, Sophie Booth, Nielsen and Varang had the top time of the day in the 400 freestyle relay to wrap up the day with a time of 3:42.16. That time also might be in range of reaching Tumwater’s meet record mark of 3:40.87 set in 2012.

In all, Squalicum had 13 swimmers or divers qualify for the championship finals of their events, as well as all three relays, putting it in prime position to contend for a title during the finals on Saturday, Nov. 14. The top eight swimmers or relays in each event during Friday’s preliminaries advance to the championship finals, while the next eight head to the consolation finals and can still earn points for their team.

Sehome also sent all three relays and two other individuals through to the championship finals.

“We had an outstanding day,” Sehome coach Don Helling said. “We came in without as many in scoring position as we’ve had in the past. But we had lots of solid time drops. We have a chance to crack the top four. ... I’m really proud of how all our girls swam up.”

Lynden got two individuals and one relay into the championship final, while Bellingham will have one swimmer and two divers contending for state titles on Saturday.

Here is a look at the preliminaries of each event:

200 medley relay: Joining the Storm in the championship final will be Sehome, which turned in the fifth-fastest time (1:56.22). Alia Malella, Grace Kim, McKenna Sakamoto and Leah Day swam the event in the preliminaries for the Mariners. Lynden will swim in the consolation final after finishing 12th Friday.

200 freestyle: Bellingham’s Gitte Gosvig knocked more than two seconds off her seed time to grab the last slot in the 200 freestyle final with her time of 2:02.93. Squalicum’s Booth was only five hundredths of a second behind, but will swim in the consolation final after placing ninth.

200 individual medley: The Storm got a pair of swimmers into championship final, as Le finished third in 2:13.57 and Nielsen was seventh in 2:18.15. Both swimmers saw drops from their seed times.

50 freestyle: Squalicum again had two swimmers qualify for the championship final, as Varang (third, 24.75 seconds) and Allendorfer (fifth, 24.95) each dropped about a half second off their seed times. Sehome got Sophie Grambo (15th) and Leah Day (16th) into the consolation final.

Diving: Squalicum had four divers place among the top 16 in the first day of competition with Juliana Jeffrey fifth (146.46 points), Jordan Cucksey seventh (134.25), Amber Carson eighth (132.25) and Helene Synnott 11th (121.50). Bellingham’s Sunni Sternhagen sat 14th (120.10) and Chloe Roth was 15th (112.10).

100 butterfly: Nielsen turned in the second-fastest preliminary time and was just three tenths of a second behind Archbishop Murphy’s Kaelee McCloskey after dropping more than a half second off her seed time. Sehome’s Sakamoto will swim in the consolation final after placing 14th.

100 freestyle: Allendorfer and Varang each had nice drops from their seed time, but Allendorfer dropped a little more to turn in the third-fastest prelim time in 54.01 seconds. Varang was right behind in fourth (54.26). Sehome’s Hannah Holmgren dumped nearly two seconds of her seed time and will join them in the championship final after finishing sixth (55.00).

500 freestyle: Malella dropped more than five seconds off her seed time to turn in the third-fastest preliminary time (5:17.24), which broke a school record that Helling said was more than 20 years old. She’ll be joined in the championship final by Lynden’s Sarah Hollander (fifth, 5:21.79) and Booth (eighth, 5:33.31). Gosvig finished 10th to qualify for the consolation final.

200 freestyle relay: Sehome’s Holmgren, Grambo, Day and Sakamoto shaved nearly two seconds off their seed time to finish third in 1:43.78. They’ll be joined in the championship final by Squalicum, which saw Le, Shaye Fowler, DeKoster and Booth finish seventh after also dropping nearly two seconds (1:45.11). Lynden and Bellingham made the consolation final.

100 backstroke: Malella also made it into a second individual championship final by placing third with a time of 1:00.37. Hollander was right behind in fourth in 1:00.70. Sehome’s Miranda Blackburn qualified for the consolation final in 13th.

100 breaststroke: Le was the only Whatcom County swimmer to make the championship final, but Sehome’s Holmgren (ninth) and Kim (10th) and Squalicum’s Jessica Lann (14th) will compete in the consolation final.

400 freestyle relay: All three Whatcom County relays qualified for the championship final. In addition to Squalicum, Sehome’s Grambo, Sakamoto, Malella and Holmgren were third in 3:48.67, while Lynden’s Shelby DeWaard, Hollander, Jadyn Elias and Annie Uribe were eighth in 3:59.19.

Class 3A: Ferndale’s Kyrie Fairbairn just missed qualifying for the consolation final in the 200 and 100 freestyles, placing 17th in both events, just over a half second from qualifying in both events.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 1:25 PM with the headline "Storm posts 3 top marks, breaks state meet record in medley relay."