Shelton trio reaches podium at 3A boys swimming and diving championships
As Shelton senior Troy Krumpols was musing about his team’s chances at the Class 3A boys swimming and diving championships two weeks ago, he wondered if the Highclimbers’ divers had ever all earned a trip to the podium for a top-eight finish.
Rob Phelan, Shelton’s assistant swimming and diving coach, told him that had never happened.
That’s when Krumpols knew the Shelton trio of himself, Jon Netzel and Zach Netzel were about to make school history.
“I thought this would be the first year us divers would podium together,” Krumpols said. “It turns out all of us did.”
Jon Netzel took second in the one-meter diving event Saturday with 409.55 points, followed by Krumpols in sixth with 372.15 and Zach Netzel in seventh with 341.25. Glacier Park’s Connor May won with 461.05.
As a team, Shelton finished 15th at the Class 3A meet with 50 points — 42 of them came from the diving trio.
“It’s a little bit different,” Phelan said of Shelton’s accumulation of diving points. “You wouldn’t normally go that route.”
It gave the divers a lot of pride.
“We’re very happy about that,” Jon Netzel said. “I’ve never seen it done at our school before.”
Bellevue won its second straight 3A team title with 349.5 points, ahead of Bainbridge (288). North Thurston placed 21st with 26 points.
Franklin’s Dean Nguyen had a big day, sweeping the 200 freestyle (1:39.60) and 100 freestyle (45.56).
CLASS 4A
Olympia High School’s highlight came in the 50-yard adaptive freestyle, an event for special needs swimmers. The Bears’ Jackson Overstreet defeated a 10-man field in 30.71 seconds, drawing cheers from the King County Aquatic Center crowd.
“Jackson is just a fantastic young man,” Olympia coach Mel Smith said. “He’s missed one practice and one meet in four years. He’s always there, always polite with everybody and he does whatever we ask him to do for a workout.”
Overstreet also won the 50 adaptive backstroke in 40.75 seconds.
Andrew Wright, Olympia’s lone swimmer in the championship finals, finished eighth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:58.28
Olympia’s medley relay of Wright, Matthew Kamimura, Eli Champage and Zach Walker took seventh in 1:40.56.
Olympia finished 11th with 84 points. Newport won its third consecutive state title, and Curtis nosed out Issaquah for second place.
CLASS 2A
Anacortes repeated as state champs with 231.5 points, ahead of Shorecrest’s 207.
In a swimming rarity, Anacortes’ Elliott Hofferth and Lindbergh’s James Buchanan tied in the 200 individual medley, each finishing in 1:58.08. Hofferth also won the 100 butterfly (51.96), and Buchanan took the 100 backstroke in 52.54.
This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Shelton trio reaches podium at 3A boys swimming and diving championships."