SPORTS: Port Townsend places at swim meet (PA, Sequim compete)

FEDERAL WAY — The young Port Townsend girls swimming team placed in two events and finished 16th overall out of 31 teams at the Class 1A/2A state swimming and diving championships Saturday at King County Aquatic Center.

Port Townsend, one of just two 1A squads competing a level up at the state meet, earned a seventh-place finish from its 200-yard freestyle relay team of Julia Griffiths, Serena Vilage, Averi Richert and Renada Walcome in 1 minute, 49.35 seconds and an eighth-place performance from Griffiths in the 50 free in 26.20.

“The girls are so positive, and having the chance to swim in this world-class pool is wonderful,” Port Townsend coach Anji Scalf said.

“It was tough waiting through nearly half the meet for this event to start, but they kept cool heads.”

Griffiths, Vilage and Walcome are all freshmen, while Richert is a sophomore.

Port Angeles advanced its 200 free relay team to Saturday’s 3A finals after a 16th-place finish in Friday’s preliminaries.

The team of senior captain Emily Little, sophomores Tarah Erickson, Kelsey Macias and freshman Tracie Macias finished 15th and bested Friday’s time with a 1:48.34 swim.

The Sequim Wolves’ lone state representative, Rachel Hardy, finished 14th in both the 50 free and 100 free in Friday’s 2A preliminaries.

WIAA State Swim Meet

Local Competitors

1A/2A

Finals

Port Townsend 16th Overall

50-free: 8. Griffiths, 26.20

200-free relay: 7. Griffiths, Vilage, Averi Richerts, Renada Walcome 1:49.35

Preliminaries

50-free: 6. Griffiths 25.90

100-free: 12. Griffiths 58.16

100-breast stroke: 14. Vilage 1:17:00