Prep Girls Swimming Roundup: State results for Blast Zone athletes
Stay in Your Lane — Woodland’s Stuart reaches podium twice; Kelso, Mark Morris and Kalama also active
Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com
1A/2A State Meet
Two-thirds of the local prep swimming co-op team were represented this weekend at the King County Aquatic Center for the 1A/2A Girls Swimming State Championships, but it was a Woodland swimmer who left more foes in her wake over the course of the weekend.
Karlen Stuart, a junior from Woodland placed sixth in the 50-yard freestyle race with a time of 25.36 seconds on Saturday, improving slightly on her preliminary time (25.41) from Friday. Maya Geddes of Bainbridge won that race with a time of 24.45 seconds..
In the 100-yard freestyle Stuart placed seventh with a time of 57.64 seconds, which was also an improvement over her preliminary time (57.64) from Friday.
Stuart won the 50-yard freestyle at the District meet the previous week at Dick Mealy Memorial Pool, and placed second in the 100-yard freestyle.
Meanwhile, Mark Morris was represented by junior Paige Wirtz, while Kalama once again had senior Emma Anderson in the water until the season’s penultimate day.
Anderson was able to improve slightly on her District finals time in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:09.22 on her way to an 18th place finish in the Friday’s preliminary race. She also improved on her District performance in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:21.41. That time left her 22nd overall in the prelims. Both times were in line with her rankings coming into the meet, but were not enough to advance to the finals in either race.
For Anderson, who is hoping to find school to swim for in college, it was a full circle moment as she completed her prep career.
“This pool, the (King County Aquatic Center) is where Emma first learned to swim as a little girl, paddling and blowing bubbles,” noted Mark Morris coach Richard Carr.
Wirtz also turned in a dependable performance at the State meet with a time of 6:09.13 in the 500-yard freestyle preliminary race. That time was just off her personal best, which left her ranked 21st and outside of the qualifying zone for the finals.
Wirtz is the daughter of Dane and Sarah (Calhoun) Wirtz, both known entities in the Longview School District and swimming record holders at their respective alma maters of Kelso and R.A. Long. Paige will return for one more season in baby blue next fall, when she will continue to chase her mother’s school records in both the 200 and 500 yard freestyle.
“Overall, the girls did well handling the difficult higher level of competition less than a week after a demanding and exhausting District Championships just to make it to this meet,” Carr noted.
3A State Meet
Kelso was represented in the water at the 3A Girls Swimming State Championships by its 400-yard freestyle relay team of Trinity Noga, Mili Whipps, Emily Tennant, and Natalie Brown.
The Hilanders top relay team finished in 22nd place in Friday’s preliminary race with a time of 4:12.76, which was just off their District finals time from the previous week.
“They swam. Had a good time,” Kelso athletic director Bob Kickner said. “(They) finished where they started, (but) didn’t qualify for Saturday.”