Le claims breastroke title with ‘one of the best races of my life’

Squalicum sophomore Yanran Le figured she needed nearly a perfect effort in the final of the 100 breaststroke at the Class 2A State Championships on Saturday, Nov. 14, at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

She was going up against the defending state champion in Archbishop Murphy’s Danielle Booth. And to make things even more difficult, Booth was upset that Le had a faster time in the preliminaries on Friday, Nov. 13, and won their last meeting at the Northwest District meet.

“I have raced her in the past, so I knew it was going to be a fun race,” Le said in a phone interview. “Even at district it was a pretty close race. I knew she was a sprinter and would go out really fast. I had to go out somewhat fast and keep up with her, and if I did that, I knew the last 50 I might have a chance. But when I turned around and saw that I had won, it really did shock me.”

Le turned in a school-record time of 1 minute, 4.68 seconds to beat out Booth by a full second.

Squalicum coach Randy Elsner estimated the two swimmers were even with about 25 yards to go, but Le turned it one to knock seven tenths of a second off her personal best.

“I knew I had to swim one of the best races of my life,” Le said. “I swam my race, touched the board, turned around and was in shock.”

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Le claims breastroke title with ‘one of the best races of my life’."