By Pierre LaBossiere
Peninsula Daily News
FEDERAL WAY — Port Angeles’ Andrew Methner came in third and Crescent’s Micah Scott came in fifth in the state in the 2A Swim and Dive championships held at the King County Aquatics Center on Saturday.
Methner and Scott’s finishes were the best of the Olympic Peninsula swimmers and divers, though a number of area swimmers made the state finals.
Methner tallied 273.65 points, not far behind state champion Elijah Drew of Bellingham, who talled 305. Scott, who competes with Methner as a teammate during the regular season but competes separately in the postseason, had 258.70 points. Scott was the only diver from a 1B school to place.
Olympic League 2A Division schools were a powerhouse at the 2A meet, with Olympic High School winning the state championship with 253 points. Kingston came in third with 204 points, while North Kitsap came in seventh with 110. Kingston won five of the 11 events, while Olympic won three.
Port Angeles finished 14th with 36 points, while Sequim finished 19th with 18.
The best Sequim finishes were by the Wolves’ two relay teams.
The Sequim 200-yard medley relay team (Jax Thaxton, William Payne, Kaleb Needoba and Alex Berikoff) finished 11th with a time of 1:49.49. The Wolves’ 200-yard freestyle relay team (Thaxton, Zen Graham, Nedoba and Berikoff) finished 14th with a time of 1:37.72.
The Port Angeles 200 IM team (Alex Hertzog, Cameron Butler, Josh Gavin and Taylor Martin), finished 12th with a time of 1:49.98.
Butler ended up placing in three relay and individual events. He finished 11th in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:02.04 and 13th in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:07.02.
Other top preliminary finishes include:
100 backstroke — Martin, PA, 19th, 59.49; Hertzog, PA, 22nd, 1:02.25; Thaxton, Sequim, 23rd, 1:02.93.
500 freestyle — Gavin, PA, 20th, 5:22.55.
200 IM — Gavin, PA, 21st, 2:18.48.
50 freestyle — Thaxton, Sequim, 24.05.
100 butterfly — Hertzog, PA, 23rd, 1:01.55.
