By John Fisk
Special to the Reporter
In a hotly contested 3A girls swim and dive state tournament held at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way on Saturday, the Mercer Island girls swim and dive team were unseated from their perennial top berth by a powerful team from Lakeside.
As five-time defending state champions, the Islander girls were able to place swimmers on the podium in nearly every event, but were unable to match the depth of the Lakeside team, scoring 279 points to take second place behind Lakeside’s 333 points.
“I am so proud of this team,” coach Chauntelle Johnson said. “The girls fought hard, had amazing performances and were able to place second overall ahead of very good teams from Bainbridge and Bellevue. It’s an incredible accomplishment and testament to the continued strong support for swimming in this community.”
Highlights of the meet included a first-place finish by Leah Fisk in the 200 yard freestyle with an All-American consideration time of 1:50.64, and Sabrina Kwan sharing the top spot in the 100 yard butterfly with Sophia Chien of Holy Names Academy, tying for first at 57.66. Fisk and Kwan went on to make additional podium appearances, with Kwan taking fifth in the 50 free (24.84) and Fisk placing third in the 500 free (5:00.14).
Bellevue’s Kim Williams continued to dominate high school girls swimming, earning Swimmer of the Meet behind her two first-place finishes, with record-breaking times in the 200 yard IM (2:00.35) and the 100 breaststroke (1:01.80).
Sophomore Maeve Murdoch enjoyed fourth-place honors in both the 200 free (1:55.61) and 100 free (53.96), and senior Angela Riggins placed eighth in both the 200 free (1:58.99) and 500 free (5:20.80). Ellie Williams took seventh in the 500 free (5:17.19) and Audrey Hixon placed sixth in the 100 back (1:00.60) to round out Mercer Island’s podium appearances.
Coach Johnson noted, “Nearly every swim was a personal best time over the two days of the meet. The team really outperformed themselves.”
Hadley Michaels, the Islanders only state diver, finished in ninth place with a score of 309.10 points. Mercer Island relays had a strong showing with the team of Kwan, Sofija Raisys, Emily Koksu and Williams taking third in the 200 medley relay (1:51.28), and an additional third-place finish in the 200 free relay by Sammie Edwards, Murdoch, Fisk and Kwan (1:39.93). Dropping over two seconds from their preliminary qualifying time, the 400 free relay team comprised of Murdoch, Williams, Riggins and Fisk, placed second with a time of 3:38.00.
