She looked up the meet records for the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays and sent out a quick text.
“I texted everyone saying ‘Oh my gosh, (our times are) so close. We can do this,’” Sullivan said.
The tactic worked like a charm Saturday afternoon at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way as the Tumwater 200- (1 minute, 40.61 seconds) and 400-free (3:40.87) relay teams set meet records in both events en route to wrapping up second place with 205 points, the best team finish in school history.
“That was icing on the cake,” Tumwater coach Laurel Smith said of the records.
Lake Washington (235) took home the 2A title while Ellensburg (160) was third.
“We all got our heads in it and everyone just stepped up,” said a grinning Sullivan while cradling the second-place trophy.
The relay teams also included Anneke Stoker, Alex Cumings and Lorraine Hack.
“I thought we had a chance after yesterday because our times were so good,” Smith said. “But I didn’t think meet records.”
Sullivan individually had a stellar day as well, but her mettle was tested. Because the team decided to swim the 200-free relay instead of the 200-medley relay, the event lineup put Sullivan through an endurance test like none other.
“We decided to go for it, and that meant Abby was going to be doing 200 free, 100 free, 100 back and 400 free,” Smith said. “That’s a lot of events in a row. But she went for it.”
If the senior was tired, it wasn’t reflected in her times. Sullivan (52.38) held off Ellensburg’s Taylor Wilson (52.88) in the final 25 yards to win the 100 free, and then swam a 58.85 to win the 100 backstroke.
The T-Birds got other strong individual finishes as well. Hack finished second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.25, coming up short against Hockinson’s Julia Sanders (56.61), who won her fourth straight state title in the event. Sanders also became the first 2A swimmer to win eight 2A individual championships.
Stoker was fourth (54.97) in the butterfly, and added a sixth-place finish in the 200-free final with a time of 2:05.75. Rachel Howard finished third in diving, scoring 295.75 points.
Other area 2A finishers included Capital’s Hannah Willoughby, who finished sixth in the 500 free with a time of 5:34.26.
