Boys swimming earns eighth consecutive 3A KingCo dual-meet title
By Matt Phelps
Mercer Island Reporter
It would be easy to overlook the Mercer Island boys swim team’s final meet of the season last Thursday. After all it was just another regular-season meet. Most of the Islander swimmers didn’t even know who won the meet when they left Mary Wayte Pool.
The lopsided131-52 victory leaves little doubt that Mercer Island swam, dove and even breathed better than Newport that evening. But clinching the 3A KingCo boys swimming regular-season dual-meet title for the eighth year in a row is no small accomplishment.
“It is still an issue of pride,” said Mercer Island senior co-captain Jay Voit. “You don’t want to be the first team to break the streak.”
That streak stretches back to 1999. No other team even came close to the Islanders this year.
“It has been a fun eight or 10 years,” said Lowell who has coached the team since the 1998-1999 season. “We have a number of kids who are focused on improving and I am more concerned with performance. I didn’t even realize it was eight in a row until I saw (Mercer Island High School athletic director) Craig Olson and he congratulated me.”
The closest meet this season involving the defending state champions was two weeks ago when Mercer Island beat Bellevue 111-58 in an in-league dual meet.
Mercer Island took first in every event, and second in over half of the events, last week.
Against Newport, two meet records were also set by the Islander swimmers. Mercer Island diver Beau Riebe broke former Islander Lenny Lewis’ meet record against Newport of 205.60 by scoring 250.75. Riebe’s mark was not his highest of the season, but he is getting closer to owning every meet record for the Islanders.
The Islander relay team of Ian Fisk, Blake vanHartesvelt, Kyle Schaeffer and Jeff Benca set a meet record by swimming the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:36.55. The time was more than two seconds better than the mark set for qualifying for the state meet.
Schaeffer’s performance against Newport was one of the best of the season. The Islander earned his first state-qualifying time in the 200-yard freestyle, winning the race in a time of 1:51.21.
“It was long overdue,” said Lowell. “I know he was happy to finally get it.”
The state time was the team’s 17th of the season. Mercer Island had just eight state times during its championship year in 2005-2006.
Schaeffer also teamed with Tyler Benster, Voit and Fisk to win the 400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 3:25.18. Another Mercer Island team took second place in the same event.
Benster also earned an individual state time in 100 backstroke as he completed the event in 57.55 seconds. Islander Eric Stadius finished second in the event (58.43).
Another member of the 200 freestyle relay team, Blake vanHartesvelt, earned a state time as he won the 100 freestyle in a time of 50.48. Schaeffer finished third during the event (50.69).
Fisk, a Mercer Island freshman, continues to make a big impact on the team. He swam the 50 freestyle in a time of 22.06 seconds to win the event. VanHartesvelt was just a fraction slower and took second (22.68).
Islander sophomore Murray Longbotham won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:01.15. It was more than four seconds better than the state qualifying mark. Voit finished second in the 200 individual medley (2:05.63), while Mercer Island’s Chris Picardo took first in the 500 freestyle (5:16.83).
The Islanders are now preparing for the post season, which will start Friday as they host the KingCo championship meet at Mary Wayte Pool. The team has won the meet each year since its inception in 2002.
The meet will be bitter sweat for some of the team members.
“It is kind of weird to see the season come to an end,” said Voit. “You really start to understand what an experience, like the last four years, gives you as a person.”
