The Midlakes Swimming Championship marked the end of an era and many coaching tenures for Island clubs at the King County Aquatic Center on Saturday.
The Mercerwood Shore Club’s dominance of the league came to an end as Edgebrook won the meet. The Shore Club scored a total of 1,657 points for second.
“They just had so many more swimmers than us,” said Mercerwood Shore Club Coach Alice Godfred. “We knew going into this meet it would be tough with so many of our swimmer gone on vacation. All the Island clubs are really strong this year.”
In fact, Mercer Island clubs finished in the top four spots out of 17 teams.
The Mercer Island Beach Club has made the biggest improvement during the past three years, moving from Division II up to Division I and placing third during the Championship meet with 1,388 points.
“We all have improved so much,” said Beach Club swimmer Cody Hall.
The Mercer Island Country Club finished strong and outdid expectations by finishing fourth with 1,028.5 points.
“We worked on fundamentals this week, and they did awesome,” said MICC Coach Chris Simpson.
The meet was the end of an era in many coaching ranks.
“I am happy to go out with the team looking so strong,” said Beach Club Coach Grant Garcia. “Even our year-round swimmers have set personal records.”
The Beach Club will lose Grant and Erin Garcia, along with Tad Homchick, as all will move on next summer to concentrate on school. Another coach who will move on is Shore Club’s Daniel Seetin.
“He is a great coach, and I give him so much credit for our success,” said Godfred. “We could not have done any of this without him.”
All four Islanders have been coaching or swimming since they were in grade school.
The meet was also the place for records. A.J. Rossman of the Shore Club set a Midlakes record of 17.37 seconds in the boys 8-and-under 25-yard backstroke. Lauren Poli of the Mercer Island Country Club swam the girls 15-and-under 50-yard breaststroke in a time of 30.15 for a new Midlakes record. Mercer Island Country Club swimmer Tyler Benster set a new Midlakes record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:42.97.
Complete results from the Midlakes Championship meet will be posted in the Mercer Island Reporter next week.
