3A/2A State Swimming | Kennedy’s small team in position
FEDERAL WAY - So what if Kennedy’s swim team isn’t working out of the deepest pool.
Among the state’s best high-school programs, Kennedy has undoubtedly one of the smallest, with only 30 girls. But that hasn’t stopped the Lancers from swimming to the brink of their first state swimming title in school history.
“It’s going to be cool if we get it, because swimming’s not a big deal like football at our school,” said senior Brianne Lindblad.
With the Kennedy football team out of the postseason, the swimmers have the opportunity to be Kennedy’s big winners of the fall season. If the results of Friday’s preliminaries hold up in today’s finals at the King County Aquatic Center, the Lancers will win the team title. And they also have the potential to leave with as many as seven gold medals from the 12 events.
“We’re really fast,” Kennedy coach Marc Stock said, “but we’re really small.”
Lindblad, last year’s champion in the 100-yard freestyle and the 100 backstroke, finished the preliminaries with the top times in both. She was also part of Kennedy’s 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay, which each emerged Friday as the favorites.
In the 100 butterfly, Kennedy junior Nikki Vetterlein finished tied with Highline’s Beth Cate at 58.22 seconds. But Bainbridge’s Isabel Williams, the defending champ, was only .05 seconds behind them.
The Lancers also had three seconds in the preliminaries. Junior Allie Vetterlein, Nikki’s twin sister, finished second to Cate in the 200 individual medley. Nikki Vetterlein finished behind Lindblad in the backstroke, and Emily Fenster finished second in the 500 freestyle to Skyline’s Andie Taylor.
Now the Lancers have to make those finishes hold up today to take the trophy back to Burien. Mercer Island leads a host of teams ready to snag the lead if the Lancers give it up.
“Mercer Island’s a big rival, and we really want to beat them,” said freshman Mariah Crockett, who finished seventh in the 50 freestyle.
Notes
• Taylor, last year’s champion in the 200 and 500 freestyle, was far and away the top finisher Friday in those events. But she said her preliminary performance “was not her best. I think I can go faster tomorrow.” Taylor set the state record in the 200 freestyle of 1 minute, 48.51 seconds in last week’s district meet.
• Issaquah sophomore Helen Lui was the top finisher in the 50 freestyle (24.06), and senior Samantha Pang was the top finisher in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.79).
• Auburn sophomore Shawna Jordan had the best score - 295.25 - in the diving competition.
• In Class 2A, Fife junior Nakayla Chan set a meet record in the 200 individual medley (2:12.16). The Centralia 200 freestyle relay also set a meet record with a 1:14.36.