MARYSVILLE — It was all smiles for the host Tomahawks as they placed second in the 4A District 1 meet Nov. 7.

Scoring 403 points, Marysville-Pilchuck’s girls swimming team finished behind Shorewood’s 479 in the 13-team meet.

“Kudos to Shorewood,” said Tomahawks coach Jaci LeGore Hodgins. “That just goes to show you how deep they are. Our mission is going to be to get after those Thunderbirds next week.”

LeGore Hodgins was referring to the state tournament Nov. 12-14 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way — a meet that the Tomahawks will send 12 athletes to compete in nine of the 12 events.

Heading the way for Marysville is freshman Hannah Taylor, who rebroke one of her five school records. Taylor bested the field in the 100-yard breast stroke with a 1:08.92 mark, and blew away the competition in the 200-yard medley with a 2:06.97 time, finishing more than six seconds ahead of the competition. Her time in the IM broke her old record of 2:07.58 of earlier this season.

Taylor also helped two Marysville relays earn a trip to the state meet. To start the meet, the foursome Taylor, Leah Gordon, Jewel LeValley and Kendall Vincelette placed second behind a stacked Shorewood team.

“It’s sort of a backhand compliment that they shifted their lineup to face us,” LeGore Hodgins said, referring to Shorewood’s mixing in their best sprinters in order to get a favorable result. “But there was a little disappointment because we came in as the favorite in that event and didn’t end up winning.”

Marysville’s team finished in 1:55.23, about a second and a half behind Shoreline. The other relay, the 400-yard freestyle, consisted of Taylor, LeValley, Voncelette and Megan Shoemaker, won by more than a second, with a time of 3:43.54.

The other two Tomahawk state participants will be Jewel LeValley, who finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, but her time of 1:59.16 was good enough to qualify her outright, and Sarah Clark scored 399.70 points on the 1-meter dive to win the event.

Swimmers either had to finish in the top three or best a pre-determined state swim time.

After the event, LeGore Hodgins was named coach of the year by her peers and she deferred the spotlight to her assistant coaches.

“It’s all about the people you have around you,” she said. “I have gurus everywhere I look! I feel like I’m working at Microsoft and I’ve got four co-managers. I’m just the lucky one that happens to be in charge of it all.”

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