Olympia area swim, boys tennis and cross country teams prepare for postseason
High school sports postseasons get underway this week with 4A and 3A league meets in girls’ swimming and diving, cross-country and boys’ tennis. Here’s what’s happening with Olympia area teams and athletes.
SWIMMING and DIVING
Olympia heads into the 4A South Puget Sound League championships after a familiar regular-season finish. The Bears beat every 4A SPSL team but one in dual meet competition for the fourth consecutive year, the lone exception being, again, Curtis.
Juniors Lauren Wilson and Emerson Moore will each swim two individual events for Olympia on Saturday in the league finals at Rogers of Puyallup.
Wilson will swim the 200-yard individual medley (best of 2:15.29) and 100 back (1:01.42) and will participate in the medley relay and 400 free relay. A sprinter, Moore will race the 50 free (25.97) and 100 free (56.62) as well as the medley relay and 200 free relay.
Muriel Stein will compete in the 100 fly (1:05.96) and the 200 relay. Lucy Skiles will go in the 500 free (5:54.02) and the 400 free relay. Elisa Myers will swim the 100 breast (1:14.18) and the medley relay.
Jenny Jang, Sara Wilson and Elle Sochacki all will swim relay legs.
Qualifiers will advance to the District 3 4A meet next week at the Curtis Aquatic Center in University Place.
The 3A South Sound Conference conducts its league championships Thursday at Mt. Tahoma, beginning at 5 p.m. The four Thurston County schools competing comprised the bottom half of the dual meet standings with North Thurston fourth at 4-3 overall, 3-3 in league.
Capital, Timberline and Shelton all finished below .500.
Capital senior Camden Martin has pared nearly a second off her fifth-place state finishing 2018 mark in the 100 back with a 58.97. She’s also swum a 5:21.05 in the 500 free, an event she finished eighth in state a year ago.
Other standouts could be North Thurston junior Avery Campbell and Timberline diver Ashley Babkirk.
Qualifiers will return to Mt. Tahoma for the District 3 3A meet next week. Class 2A Evergreen Conference schools begin their post-season with a sub-district meet hosted by Tumwater at River Ridge’s pool next Wednesday. River Ridge itself, a 2A SPSL member, will compete in its league meet at Lindbergh on Friday, November 1.
CROSS COUNTRY
Olympia’s boys go into the 4A SPSL championship meet Thursday at Fort Steilacoom as heavy favorites. The Bears, ranked sixth in the statewide coaches poll, boast three of the league’s top six runners in Connor Griffith (15:28.6 personal record for a 5,000-meter course), Ethan Coleman (15:32.6) and Max Barnes (16:04.4).
Olympia’s girls project in the middle of the pack, with senior Katie Riggs (20:09.1) the top individual.
Qualifiers move on to the District 3 Westside Classic championship meet next weekend at Chambers Bay Golf Course.
In the 3A South Sound Conference, Yelm’s Bryce Cerkowniak (15:22.3) and North Thurston’s Samir Amin (15:34.8), both juniors, have the top two marks going into the boys’ league meet, also on Thursday at Fort Steilacoom.
On the team level, the Rams’ boys, who also have Ian Coker (16:48.5) and Charles Carriker (16:56.9) with sub-17-minute bests, are expected to win the team title over Yelm. Kelan Herness and Ryan Lange are the Tornados’ best behind Cerkowniak.
Brock Knowles (16:34.2) of Shelton and Capital junior Troy Peternell (16:56) are individuals to keep an eye on.
In the girls’ race, Capital, led by Aubrey Harrington (18:55.3), is projected to finish second while Alauna Carstens (19:27.2) could help Shelton into a top-half finish.
Class 3A qualifiers will also run at Chambers Bay next week.
River Ridge will compete in the 2A SPSL meet on Saturday at Fort Steilacoom. Solomon Bilderback, Phillip Norby, Zach Fredach and William Lindauer give the Hawks’ boys a tight-knit pack. Mianna Tanguileg paces the River Ridge girls.
Teams from the 2A Evergreen Conference go straight to the District 4 meet on Halloween Day at Lewis River Golf Course.
Top-ranked Northwest Christian has six of the top 11 runners in the 2B Pacific League going into Thursday’s boys league meet at Ocosta High School, led by second-seeded Noah Phillips (15:50), who will be chasing Ilwaco’s Daniel Quintana (15:48.1) for the top spot. Cameron Nielsen and Garrett McSheffery are the Wolverines’ other top runners.
In the girls’ race, third-ranked Northwest Christian has a pack of four runners within a minute of each other in Josie Ryder, Isabella Freidline, Rachel Carlson and Tosin Faleke, but will have to contend with two stars from Life Christian Academy ranked first and second in the league.
The Wolverines project to breeze to the team title but their top runners will have to catch LCA’s Gabby Martin (18:06.3) to claim the individual title, an extremely tough task.
Pope John Paul II is a good bet to record a perfect score of 15 at the 1B/2B SeaTac League boys meet Thursday at Kitsap Golf and Country Club. The second-ranked Eagles have the league’s top 10 runners, led by Kobe Deutscher (15:49.7), and only the top five score.
The same perfection is possible on the girls’ side where Clare Kondrat (20:13.1) leads five PJP2 runners atop the seeding.
In Central 2B, Rainier’s boys, led by Dylan Davis and the ninth-ranked Mountaineer girls, with Selena Niemi and Sophie Beadle up front, should do well in District 4 action next week.
TENNIS
Olympia’s boys finished second in 4A SPSL dual meet play and head into this weekend’s league championships at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.
Capital (5-2) and North Thurston (4-3) led Thurston County teams in the 3A SSC dual standings, claiming third and fourth places. They’ll join Timberline, Yelm and Shelton in the league championships this weekend at Central Kitsap.
Tumwater and W.F. West tied atop the 2A Evergreen Conference dual standings at 7-1. They’ll enter district play next week.
This story was originally published October 23, 2019 at 6:00 AM.