FEDERAL WAY — Strong swimmers swimming strong relays should put the Port Angeles boys swim and dive team at least in the mix for winning a team state championship this weekend.
The Roughriders are sending 10 athletes to compete in 12 events at the Class 2A state championship today and Saturday at King County Aquatic Center.
Sequim is sending two athletes in three events, and Crescent has one diver diving at state.
Among the 12 events for the Riders are the three relays: 200-yard freestyle, 400 freestyle and 200 medley.
That is significant, because at championship meets the relays are worth double the points of individual events.
Port Angeles knows this well. The Riders won two relays, the 200 medley and 400 free, at last week’s district meet, and the 76 points earned from those wins propelled them to the program’s first boys district title in school history.
“If you are up there with the relays, and you have multiple relays, then you are in the running,” Port Angeles coach Rich Butler said.
“I think we can probably place higher than we ever have.”
John Macias, Jay Liang, Wei-Yan Fu and Tristin Butler team up to swim both the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay for the Riders.
The 200 medley relay team enters state seeded fourth, with its time less than one second from the top spot.
“The 200 medley, it’s a close call. It’s a very, very close call,” Liang said.
“We’re all like barely a second difference. The three other teams that are ahead of us, they’re really close to what we’re doing.”
The 400 free relay enters state with the second seed and is two seconds from No. 1.
Macias, Liang, Fu and Butler also will each swim two individual events in addition to the two relays.
“It’s no surprise why those two relays are as strong as they are because all four of those guys have two individual events that they are doing also,” Butler said.
Macias has legitimate chances to win state titles in both of his individual events, the 100 backstroke and the 100 free, and thereby become the Port Angeles boys’ first state swimming champion of Butler’s tenure as head coach. (Austin Fahrenholtz won diving state titles in 2011 and 2012.)
“John certainly has the potential of winning an individual event,” Butler said.
Macias enters state as the favorite in the 100 back, and he is more than a half-second ahead of the second-seeded swimmer.
He is seeded second the 100 free, and is less than half a second behind favorite Eric Olsen of Anacortes. Beyond Olsen and Macias is a three-second gap.
That’s a huge difference, but it doesn’t mean the 100 free is a two-man race.
“The kid he’s second to right now is the kid he competed against at districts, and so he kind of knows that kid, in that sense,” Rich Butler said.
“Now, the other ones are about three seconds behind, but I have never in my life told an athlete, ‘This is a sure thing. Don’t worry, those guys will never be fast enough.’
“So he’s going to have to hold his own, but he has a very good shot at winning an individual state title.”
Entering as one of the favorites adds pressure, but Macias is familiar with swimming for a high placing on the second day of the state meet, having placed fifth in the 100 back and 200 individual medley last year.
“I really am happy that I made top eight [in 2014] because it gave me a lot of experience with high ranking,” Macias said.
“I got so nervous last year, I kind of crumbled under my nerves, but it was really good.”
Liang and Tristin Butler both will swim in the 200 individual medley, and both have a shot at making the top eight.
Liang credits competing with Butler for helping him advance to state.
“Honestly, it’s good to have someone that’s faster than me so I can compete against them, make myself faster,” Liang said.
Liang also will compete in the 100 breaststroke. Butler’s second event is the 500 freestyle, which also will features his teammates Karsten Hertzog and Milo Atwater.
Wei-Yan Fu is swimming the 50 free and the 100 butterfly.
Atwater and Hertzog also are competing in the 200 freestyle.
They are also half of the 200 free relay, along with Kody Kuch and exchange student Dario Andereozzi, which is less-heralded than the other two relays but not less exciting to their coach and teammates.
“I’m . . . excited about the 200 freestyle relay,” Liang said.
“We made a state time [in the 200 free], and they actually made state time by themselves, too, so I’m really happy for them, and I really hope they can advance also.
“I give them props for pushing themselves.”
Port Angeles also will have two divers at state, Scott Methner and Vincent Ioffrida.
Their training partner, Lucas DeFrang, also will compete as Crescent’s lone state representative.
Sequim sending two
Also diving at state will be Sequim freshman Matthew Craig.
Craig went to a diving camp last summer, which was beneficial when he showed up to practice with the Wolves at the beginning of the season.
“He learned quite a few dives during the summer,” Sequim coach Linda Moats said.
“He progressed really quickly because he already knew a lot of the dives already.”
Moats expects Craig to gain valuable experience at the state meet that should prove favorable in next year’s state championships, and beyond.
“I think it will be very good for him,” Moats said.
“He’s actually got really good diving control. So, I think, if not this year, he has a much better chance to make it in the finals next year.”
Eric Prosser is making his fourth state appearance and will be the Wolves’ only swimmer at state.
The senior will compete in the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke.
Prosser has reasonable chance to swim his way to Saturday in both events.
“We’ve been working real hard on [the 200 individual medley]; dissected it so we know what to work on,” Moats said.
“We’ve been helping him with different aspects of the stroke . . . so he feels comfortable.”
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
