MUKILTEO The M-P boys junior varsity swim and dive team spends most of their season under the radar, but shined in the Wesco championships at Kamiak High School.
The Thursday, Feb. 1 meet allowed JV swimmers and divers one more opportunity to qualify for the Feb. 8 4A districts in front of their family and friends at M-PHS.
JV coach Meredith Jenks said she it was a fantastic meet overall and was ecstatic for the teens.
They did so, so well. We had around 80 percent of our swimmers turn in best times, she said with a smile that could be seen through the phone line.
The boys were supportive of each other and did a great job of cheering one another on.
M-P placed a total of six swimmers and one diver in the top 5, one a half dozen in the top 10 overall.
Four Tommies will join their varsity counterparts from both the Wesco North and South after turning in wildcard performances Ian Hathaway in the 100-yard butterfly, Ranin Stone (500-yard freestyle), Chris Giddens (100 backstroke) and Colin Kreiger (100 breaststroke).
Kreiger swam to a second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:13.27, Hathaway came in seventh place in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:11.24, Stones 15th-place time of 6:34.88 was speedy enough to advance in the 500-yard freestyle, and Giddens 13th-place finish time of 1:11.51 in the 100-yard backstroke allowed him to compete one week later.
Jenks said a total of 18 swimmers and four divers will represent the host Tomahawks at the M-P pool.
Even though they didnt advance, the 200-yard medley relay team of Brandon Caldwell, Keito Swan, Hathaway and Kreiger placed fourth in a time of 2:02.15 to give M-P 22 points.
Chris Henninger tallied 11 points for the Tommies in the diving portion of the meet with a score of 91.3.
The 400-yard freestyle team of Caldwell, Ranin Stone, Ryan Shay and Neal Haney swam to a fourth-place time of 4:08.55.
Britt Mann (2:17.69) and Gabe Gribler (2:18.42) combined for nine points with eight and ninth-place, respectively, finishes in the 200-yard freestyle.
Hathaway swam to an eighth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:38.71.
The 50-yard freestyle was such a busy and popular event that it featured 24 heats, and Kreiger topped all of his teammates with a 11th place overall time of 26.62 seconds.
Haney placed sixth in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 58.92.
Another notable finish was the fifth-place 2090-yard freestyle team of Haney, Riley Drabb, Gabe Gribler and Ryan Shay. The foursome finished in a time of 1:46.48 to give M-P 20 points.
The Feb. 8 4A District swim prelims are slated to begin at 5 p.m. at M-PHS.
The District diving competition is slated for the following day at 4:30 p.m.