SILVERDALE — The Port Angeles boys swim team came in second place at the annual Swimvitational Meet in Silverdale.
The event, restricted to just eight swimmers per team, included athletes from eight other schools — Bremerton, Central Kitsap, Gig Harbor, Kingston, Olympic, North Kitsap, Peninsula and Shelton.
Port Angeles clinched second place with 208 points, trailing only 3A powerhouse Gig Harbor, which secured first with 291 points. Peninsula rounded out the top three with 158.
Relay performances fueled Port Angeles’ success, earning 108 team points. Port Angeles also saw some impressive individual contributions. Thomas Jones led the way with 24 points, while Finn Thompson and Miles Van Denburg each contributed 12 to the team total.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Thompson, Van Denburg, Nolan Medgin and Jones took top honors in one of the meet’s most exciting races. After trailing Gig Harbor through the first two legs, Van Denburg closed the gap to just 0.01 seconds with a 24.38 split in the third leg. Thompson sealed the comeback with a scorching split of 23.06, leading Port Angeles to a 3.5-second victory.
The Roughriders’ 200 medley relay team of Jones, Nolan Medgin, Van Denburg and Thompson came in second place and also achieved a major milestone — a state qualifying time of 1:48.04.
“Breaking 1:50.00 last Wednesday gave us all the confidence that the state cut was within reach,” said coach Sally Cole. “The boys knew their combined best splits could get them there — it was just a matter of bringing it all together when it mattered. It came down to teamwork and execution and they rose to the occasion.”
The meet concluded with the 400 freestyle team of Jones, Van Denburg, Ross and Thompson securing a strong second-place finish, capping off a day of outstanding swims for the Roughriders.
In individual events, Jones added to the Roughriders’ medal haul with a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle. Despite trailing by two seconds at the 100-yard mark, he clawed his way back to clock a personal best of 1:57.66, touching out North Kitsap by 0.40 seconds. Isaac Meek swam into 10th place with a time of 2:08.67, shaving 1.5 seconds off his best time and contributing another three points.
In the 200 individual medley, Van Denburg posted a solid third-place finish with a time of 2:17.18. The 100 butterfly saw teammates Edward Gillespie and Patrick Ross push each other to strong finishes, taking third and fourth place, respectively, with times of 1:03.42 and 1:04.39. The duo scored a combined 21 points.
Medgin delivered a standout performance in the 100 freestyle (57.01), placing ninth with a new district-qualifying time.
The 500 freestyle brought the most significant time drops for Port Angeles. Jones took third again, clocking 5:18.82 — a 7-second personal best — while finishing a full 23 seconds ahead of his North Kitsap challenger. Meek (6:00.27) and Jensen Wolfe (6:04.96) added points with 10th- and 12th-place finishes, both with personal bests.
In the 100 backstroke, Thompson added another third-place finish for the Riders with a time of 1:01.94, while Wolfe battled to secure fifth, edging Bremerton by just 0.31 seconds for a personal-best 1:09.82, adding 10 points.
In the 100 breaststroke, Medgin took fifth with a time of 1:10.24, adding another 10 points.
