FEDERAL WAY — The North Olympic Peninsula had five swimmers and divers reach the podium at the Class 2A state championships at the King County Aquatic Center over the weekend.
Port Angeles’ Wei-Yan Fu, Tristin Butler and Cameron Butler each advanced from Friday’s preliminaries to Saturday’s finals in two individual events and two relays, the maximum amount of events allowed for a single swimmer.
The top-16 moved on from the preliminaries to the finals. The top-eight finishers in each event reach the podium.
Fu, a senior, achieved the area’s best finish by taking fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.82 seconds. Fu also finished 14th in the 50 freestyle.
Tristin Butler, a junior, earned a spot on the podium by taking sixth in the 500 freestyle (4:54.45). He also finished 16th in the 200 individual medley.
Cameron Butler, a freshman, finished the 200 IM in 2:04.37 to place eighth. He also took 11th in the 500 free.
Fu and the Butler brothers also reached the podium in the 400 free relay, teaming up with Karsten Hertzog to take seventh with a time of 3:28.41.
Fu, the Butlers and Kaleb Sheldon also placed 13th in the 200 medley relay.
Sequim sophomore Matthew Craig had the area’s best showing in the 1-meter dive, taking eighth and reaching the podium with a strong finish.
Craig entered the competition in 15th placed and still held that spot at the end of the semifinals.
Then came the big finish.
“He executed three dives beautifully in the finals, moving him up from 15th to 8th place — a podium finish,” Wolves coach Linda Moats said.
“We are very proud of and happy for Mathew to have obtained a podium finish this year.”
Craig earned 275.10 points in the finals.
He placed 15th at state as a freshman in 2015.
Port Angeles diver Scott Methner took 12th with a score of 246.80 in the finals.
In Friday’s prelims, Port Angeles’ Nathan Bock broke the two-minute mark in the 200 freestyle for the first time (1:59.21) to place 18th.
Hertzog took 17th in the 500 free, missing the finals by one spot.
Bock and Hertzong joined Sheldon and Kody Kuch for a 19th-place finish in the 200 free relay.
As a team, Port Angeles finished 11th with 68 points. Anacortes earned the 2A championship with a score of 231.5.
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Compiled using team reports.
