A week after falling to its conference rival at the KingCo championships, Mercer Island boys swim and dive couldn’t overcome Bellevue at the 3A Sea-King District championships Saturday, Feb. 14 at Mary Wayte Pool. Bellevue won with a team score of 333, while Mercer Island was second at 213.

The Wolverines won all three relay events, edging Mercer Island’s team of Andrew Fukuda, Ben Gore, Oliver Hoff and Ian Caldwell by a tenth of a second in the meet’s final relay, the 400 freestyle relay. Bellevue won at 3:13.64.

The Islanders had a district champion in Caldwell, who won the 50 free title at 21.54, edging runners-up Michael Lorr of Interlake and Rory Carlson of Ballard, who both finished at 21.83. Caldwell was also runner-up in the 100 free at 46.84, just behind Franklin’s Dean Nguyen (46.67).

Oliver Hoff was second in the 500 free (4:49.74) and placed third in the 200 free (1:47.63). Gore was second in the 200 IM (1:57.31), while Fukuda took sixth (2:02.63). Gore was also fourth in the 100 fly (53.49), and Fukuda was fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.27).

Ben Dixon was third in the diving event (402.7), while Mercer Island’s team of Gore, Hoff, Connor Vacca and Caldwell took third in the 200 free relay (1:30.57), and the team of Christopher Shinn, Ben Stoops, Fukuda and Vacca were sixth in the 200 medley relay (1:43.31).

The district meet marked Mercer Island’s third-straight runner-up finish to Bellevue. The Wolverines topped the Islanders for the dual meet title and beat Mercer Island 549-517 at the KingCo championships.

Mercer Island will look to finish strong when the Islanders compete at the 3A boys swim and dive state championships, Feb. 20-21 at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.