Olympia freshman Tony Ponomarev nabs a pair of podium finishes at the 4A state swimming championships

Olympia High School freshman Tony Ponomarev finished fourth in the 200-yard individual medley and fifth in the 100 freestyle at the Class 4A state swimming and diving championships Saturday at the King County Aquatics Center.

His placings were close to where he was seeded coming into the events, but Ponomarev was less concerned with his placings and much more pleased with his times after his final event concluded.

“I was very happy with my 200 IM,” he said. “The 200 IM was way better (than yesterday) and I feel like the 100 free could have been if I got a full cool down after my 200 IM. The 200 IM, that was my personal best by almost 2 1/2 seconds, so I’m extremely happy with that.”

Ponomarev tweaked his neck while cooling down after the IM, which kept him from his normal routine.

He finished the 200 IM in one minute, 54.45 seconds, which was also more than a second better than his time in Friday’s preliminaries. His time of 47.19 in the 100 free was also faster than his prelims time.

Ponomarev said his neck did bother him during the finals of the 100 free, but he was able to push through to move up one spot from where he qualified on Friday.

“I definitely felt it,” he said. “It was all the finish, too. I was right with them until the end, and I just put my head down and came in fifth place.”

After two top-five finishes as a freshman, the future looks bright for Ponomarev.

“Hopefully I can be a state champ somewhere in these three years,” he said. “Probably not next year, but junior year if I can. Being a state champ would be awesome.”