FEDERAL WAY — Like the team-first swimmer he is, Josh Bottelberghe was more interested in talking about his team’s accomplishment than his own.
The Columbia River won 200 freestyle relay and earned a fourth-place team finish — believed to be the school’s highest finish in boys swimming, fourth-year coach Alyssa Manlow said — at Saturday’s finals of the Class 2A state swimming and diving championships.
Yet it was hard to overlook Bottelberghe’s feats. The junior earned 2A swimmer of the meet, voted on by the Washington Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association, following individual titles in the 200 freestyle (1 minute, 39.87 seconds) and 100 breaststroke (55.01).
Both were personal-best and meet-record times by Bottelberghe.
Bottelberghe now joins older sisters Jessica and Monica — who both swam for River — as multiple state title winners in their family. The sisters have a combined five individual state titles between them, and Josh Bottelberghe now has three in addition to last year’s Class 3A title in the 100 breast.
“I feel like I had my path set,” he said.
The foursome of Bottelberghe, Isaac Wooten, Ben Phelps, and Rob Mead swam a 1:30.71 in the 200 free relay not long after River’s 200 medley relay placed second to kick off the meet (1:40.33).
As Bottelberghe described it, they “swam out of their minds” to take home a first-place time.
For Mead, a first-year high school swimmer with club experience, won his first title in the 100 free (47.31) and was runner-up in the 100 backstroke (51.29). The team point total was the only thing on his mind in the final 25 yards of his 100 free race, as Kingston’s Timothy Gallagher began closing in. Mead won in three-tenths of a second.
His individual title was more special, he said, knowing he contributed to his team’s point total, which made for a memorable weekend for the Chieftains.
“It’s pretty great,” he said. “Not only that, but my seeing my teammates succeed.”
Columbia River’s 165 points was fourth behind state champion Kingston (225), Steilacoom (213.5) and two-time defending 2A champion Anacortes (193).
Swimming an individual sport? Definitely not, said sophomore Sam Walker, who finished seventh in the 500 free (4:53.08) and the support of his teammates is a big reason why.
“I know I wouldn’t have done that well without the next to me,” said Walker, who also swam in River’s 400 free relay.
Washougal’s Isaiah Ross was third in the 200 free (1:45.65) and fourth in the 500 free (4:47.41). Hockinson’s Joe Dodd led a Hawks squad with a sixth-place finish in the 50 free (22.59) and also anchored the team’s ninth-place time in the 200 free relay (1:34.73).
