Gig Harbor Finishes Eighth in State Championships

Gig Harbor High School finished in eighth place in the team scoring of the 4A state swim and dive championships on Saturday in Federal Way.

The Tides were led by senior Dakota Moist, who swam to a third place finish in both the 100 fly and 100 backstroke.

Moist swam a 53.61 in the 100 fly and a 53.51 in the 100 backstroke.

He teamed up with Will Frame, Evan Indahl and Erik Nielsen to finish in eighth place in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:21.17.

Frame swam to a seventh place finish in the 100 free and Indahl finished likewise in the marathon 500 free.

The 200 free relay team was the same with the exception of Devon McMenimen instead of Moist and finished in eighth place in the A-Final.

In the 2A championships, Interlake claimed a number of individual titles on their way to a second place team finish. Sehome ended the day on top, taking the team title with a score of 106. The Saints came in with 98 points as a team and Pullman High School was a distant third with 53 points.

Interlake set the tone early by swimming a meet record time of 1:37.35 in the first event, the 200 medley relay. Four seniors, Eldon Cummings, Alex Rockwell, Victor Hsiao and Yuji Nelson were on the winning relay team for Interlake. Rockwell also won the 50 free by swimming a time of 22.13 and Cummings set another meet record of 48.33 in the 100 free.

In the 2A diving competition, both junior Austin Fahrenholtz of Port Angeles and senior Brian Drake of Squalicum broke the previous meet record score of 334.9 and Fahrenholtz's 376.10 was good for a first place finish. Kamiak took the 4A team title with a score of 240.50, which was a full 70 points ahead of second place finisher Todd Beamer despite not finishing in first in any of the 12 events.

"We overcame some obstacles, these guys did a great job," said Kamiak coach Chris Erickson. "These guys really wanted to bring home that big trophy."

The highest finisher for the Knights was sophomore Liam Sosinsky, who came in second place in the 100 breast, earning All-American consideration with a time of 58.35. Richland finished third at 158, Newport was behind them at 138 while Stanwood and Eastlake ended in a tie with identical team scores of 128.

The individual stars of the 4A meet included Eastlake's Edward Kim, who as a freshman collected two state titles in the 50 free with a time of 21.32 and the 100 free with a time of 45.56, which was fast enough to earn automatic All-American qualification.

"It's a great start to my career and I just want to keep up the good work," said Kim. "I just want to keep my goal in mind, do my best every year and practice hard."

Eastlake swim and dive coach Kate McCary, who was named 4A coach of the year, talked about Kim's superb freshman season.

"We can't ask for much more than what he's done," said McCary. "The success he's had has really helped the rest of the team, they have definitely fed off of it."

Senior Matthew Roe of Stanwood also collected a pair of state championships by taking the 200 free at 1:42.44 and the 500 free by going out 4:37.78, nearly three full second ahead of second place finisher Cameron Johnson of Roosevelt.

In 3A competition, Eastside Catholic's Ethan Hallowell stole the show by winning the 200 free with a meet record time of 138.18 and the 100 free with a mark of 44.75 in the finals. Both of those times were also automatic All-American times and helped earn Hallowell the award for the top individual swimmer at the meet. Hallowell called the feeling upon winning his record eighth state title "unreal" and also talked about using the EC crowd and the atmosphere at KCAC to his advantage down the stretch.

"It's been a fun four years," said Hallowell in conclusion.

"It's always a treat to be in his presence to be honest, he's a wonderful kid," head coach Rick Wertman from Eastside Catholic added.

Mercer Island used perhaps the deepest and most talented team regardless of classification to take the 3A team title going away.

Mercer Island coach Chauntelle Johnson emphasized the importance of team depth, noting that every swimmer who entered the pool earned points for the Islanders on Saturday.

"We come here with a team goal, we try to look at as 'this is our year'," said Johnson. The Islanders took home several individual titles as well, including the 200 medley relay and the 100 breast.

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