Monica Bottelberghe of Columbia River and Julia Sanders of Hockinson each recorded the fastest preliminary time in both of their individual races on Friday during the first day of the WIAA Girls Swimming State Championships in Federal Way.
Bottelberghe’s times were both fast enough for All-American consideration. She swam the Class 3A 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 51.28 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 51.01. The Chieftain junior won the 200 free state title last year and finished second in the 100 free as a sophomore.
Sanders, a double champion at the 2011 Class 2A state meet, qualified first in the 200 individual medley (2:10.41) and in the 100 butterfly (58.02). In 2011, Sanders won the 2A butterfly and the 2A 50 freestyle.
“My times were not my best (Friday), but they were OK for prelims,” Sanders said.
Sanders also swam on the Hockinson 200 free relay team that had the 10th best preliminary time on Friday (1:48.99), missing a spot in Saturday’s championship race by 0.32 of a second.
Sanders said she is somewhat sad that Saturday will be her final high school swim meet. But she isn’t carrying specific expectations into her races.
“I’m just going to do the best I can do and enjoy it,” Sanders said.
In the 3A meet, Darya Samiee of Mountain View qualified for Saturday’s finals in the 500 freestyle. The Thunder sophomore had the fifth fastest preliminary time (5:13.21). In the 100 breaststroke, Samiee just missed the championship finals with her ninth-place preliminary swim (1:08.88).
Carly Cannon of Hudson’s Bay qualified sixth in the Class 3A 100 backstroke (59.79).
In the 2A meet, Seton Catholic junior Ada Beale qualified fifth in the 200 individual medley in 2:16.55 and ninth in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.18).
In the 4A meet, only one Clark County competitor advanced to the championship finals. Union’s Andrea Young qualified fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.23 and seventh in the 200 IM in 2:11.15.
