Timberline’s Hannah Barker breaks own record, wins two individual events at 4A district meet

Sophomore Hannah Barker watched from second place as Curtis High School’s Willow Lopez-Silvers broke her school’s record in the 100 backstroke on Friday.

So Barker figured she should go break Timberline’s school record in the finals of the same event Saturday.

Her own record, that is.

Barker finished in first place in the 100 backstroke with a personal-best time of 57.79 seconds Saturday in the finals of the 4A West Central District girls swimming championships at the Curtis Aquatic Center.

Lopez-Silvers took second in 59.19 seconds, which was .14 seconds slower than her school-record time the junior set the previous day.

“Going into the finals I knew Willow was going to go for it,” said Barker, who also took first place in the 500 freestyle and helped two of Timberline’s relay teams qualify for the 4A state championships. “So I just went my best. I thought, ‘I’m just going to go for it, I’m going to break my own record.’ And I did.”

Gig Harbor won the team title with 338 points to Stadium’s 319. Olympia finished in sixth with 171 and Timberline was eighth with 130.

Barker didn’t have to sweat out the 500 freestyle quite as much. But she still beat her season-best time and took first in 5:08.35 — with Meghann McLaughlin of Decatur finishing well back in second place at 5:21.87. Olympia’s Lacey Wright was third in 5:22.58.

“I knew I wasn’t going to have much competition,” Barker said. “But then I went my best time. I was super, super stoked.”

The top six from each finals event advanced to the 4A state championships. Some swimmers entered with a state-qualifying time in an event already.

Olympia’s Ally Norman placed third in the 100-yard butterfly, but not by much, finishing in a time of 59.57. Kentridge’s Haley Childress finished first in 59.49 and Puyallup’s Lindsey Muiznieks was second in 59.51.

“I could see them in the turns and stuff, so I was just trying to keep up,” said Norman, who finished almost two seconds faster than her preliminary time.

Norman also finished sixth in the 100 backstroke in 1:02.04. Then she helped Olympia’s 200-yard freestyle relay team — which also featured Honour Middleton, Maya Hansen-Tilkens and Melissa Ward — finish third in 1:45.30 behind first-place Gig Harbor (1:41.37) and second-place Stadium (1:41.99).

Olympia’s 200 medley relay team — comprised of Michelle Yan, Emma Song, Norman and Middleton – took fifth, qualifying for state with a time of 1:56.99. Puyallup took first in a time of 1:50.12.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Timberline’s Hannah Barker breaks own record, wins two individual events at 4A district meet."